[All, Warning: this is a long post, and may be of interest only to some of you, especially certain posters here that are referenced by Valuespec. This is primarily a reply to a message I received earlier today from him, and includes my stated desire--at the end--that he and I take any future correspondence off of this thread in order to clear the board of this sort of thing. Here's hoping he responds favorably to this request.]
Hi Valuespec,
Here are what I believe to be the relevant excerpts from what you earlier wrote (followed by my comments):
<Paul, thanks for your tactful words, in spite of our differences of opinion.>
Glad you accepted them as tactful; it's never my desire to be needlessly offensive.
<I said I would probably not write (I believe) for the next few days as I was planning on taking a couple-day trip. This trip has been delayed for numberous reasons, the most recent being the weather and the strong stock market.>
Thanks for this explanation.
<I am here because I took the time to look at this company and didn't like it.>
Valuespec, please listen to me with an open mind. You've made this point more than abundantly clear...and you keep making this same point (in various ways), over and over and over and over and over and over and over ad nauseum...If you actually had a financial stake in the company (meaning: if your money is at risk like mine is), I and others might be more inclined to want to listen to you. Question for you: is this something you can understand, or do you have a hard time understanding it? I'm not being patronizing here, I just really would like to know.
<After I was almost lynched on this thread after my early posts,>
Please! A lynching? I think not. This is the real, nitty gritty world of investing. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
To be fair, anyone who wishes to reread any earlier exchanges between you and others can surely do so--and can draw their own conclusions. And without excusing some of the more negative posts directed towards you, I will say that I believe that much of the criticism you received was FAIR and understandable criticism. I won't belabor the point any more; it's my personal assessment of these earlier exchanges, that's all. What's more, it's not up to me to defend you or anyone else. It's up to YOU.
<I decided to stick around and prove my point as both a hobby and as a learning experience for myself. This will be a case study of which I will post when it is over (6 to 12 months?).>
Valuespec, this thread has been a learning experience for me (and many others) too. But this is decidedly NOT a hobby for me. And this is where...I'll say this as kindly as I can...it might be appropriate for you to exhibit a bit more restraint at times. Most of us are here because we have our own money invested in this thing.
I'll tell you, I'd feel more than a bit strange posting as often as you do--posting such lengthy posts at that--especially if my personal financial risk were zero. Do you understand my point? Not being nasty, just properly critical I think. And this has nothing to do with free speech or anything, it has more to do with propriety.
<I am also here for many other reasons,...>
Yes; again, NONE of which have put your personal capital at risk.
<What about Raleigh's WAY off predictions? Why haven't you chastised him for being so unrealistic, IMO?>
Oh, please. Raleigh of all people doesn't need chastisement or any such thing. I've enjoyed reading all his posts for several reasons, including:
ú I've looked at Raleigh's track record and am favorably impressed, to say the least.
ú With my money on the line, I've genuinely appreciated all the DD he's done on Franklin--much more both in quality and quantity than I could ever hope to do;
ú I, too, believe FTEL's price will rise to levels in the teens--and beyond. What's more, if Raleigh's timing on a particular date & price happened to be off, so what? I'm a big boy; I know what--and what not--to base my personal investing decisions on. Plus, his timing has been ON a number of other times on a number of other things. Finally, I'm not worried about the timing of the upward price move I believe is imminent, because I'm confident it'll get there. I'm not a trader; I'm an investor. And this has nothing to do with Raleigh or anyone else; it's MY philosophy. I don't think I trust myself enough to trade!
<What about the quality of reseach on this thread by many of the leaders?>
I think that, with a few exceptions, it's impressively high.
<I chastised this group because you are acting like greedy children.>
See, this is the kind of thing that just doesn't fly with me, for two reasons:
ú I, for one, am not acting like a greedy child, nor are so many others.
ú Although contentiousness is hopefully something I'd never personally feel comfortable engaging in, the posts that HAVE been antagonistic in tone towards you and a couple others are this way for many understandable (to me, anyway) reasons. Furthermore, it's not my job to get caught up in anyone else's belligerency, so as a general rule I don't. I will, of course, if you're including me in your use of the word `you' above (in "I chastised this group because you are acting like greedy children"). Are you?
<Many like Doug and Vic are even outright lying about me ever owning, or saying I own, FTEL. Why haven't you rebuked them?>
Excuse me? Again, because it's not something for ME to rebuke them for. Because it's not my job; it's YOUR job. You sound like a little boy here, you really do. In my opinion, they might be right, or might be wrong, but I DON'T CARE. I've learned so much of substance from Doug and vic that my impression of them is justifiably favorable. Thus, there's no need for me to even be involved in it. I wonder why you're trying to drag me in to this petty stuff? Straighten it out yourself...
<Anyway, no matter what you think of me or my intentions, or even the quality of my information, we will all see IF FTEL DOES PERFORM sometime in the future with a "storm" of revenues. In the meantime, we'll I'll just wait and we'll see who was right.>
Aha. Can't you see why I might be having a problem with this entire post of yours? Obviously, if your bottom line is simply "Anyway, no matter what you think of me or my intentions, or even the quality of my information, we will all see IF FTEL DOES PERFORM sometime in the future with a "storm" of revenues. In the meantime, we'll I'll just wait and we'll see who was right...", why in heaven's name did you even feel the need to include all this other stuff in your response to me? A genuine question, given these clearly-written, albeit sarcastic ("storm") words of yours.
<The volume has been high the last few days. Does anyone wonder why?>
Well, we know why now: Meyerson.
<"waiting for the future to vindicate my words">
Again, a real obnoxious tag line, in my opinion.
Valuespec, this board has its share of fluff and nonsense, but it's also been blessed many times over by some prescient analysis and DD by many people, and I for one appreciate it. May I please ask you to email me privately with any future comments you wish to make to me? Reason: I'd like to keep any correspondence we may have off of this FTEL thread, as I don't feel it's fair to the other posters and lurkers to wade through this stuff. Also, know that this is an unusually long post from me, and as a general rule I don't have the time to post such lengthy replies. I think this post must be well over 1,000 words or so!
Shalom,
Paul Hofmann
105136.1434@CompuServe.com |
