Mr. Forthright,
The public messages I posted were a long time ago, not as strong as you imply, and you have posted nearly a thousand entries since then, of a different character. None of my messages supported the endless bickering, threats and loaded questions that you submitted. Furthermore, anyone, including me, who posts a private correspondence to you intends it to stay that way, and you owe anyone the courtesy of requesting permission from them before you post publicly. Nevertheless, you have my permission to paraphrase in your own words any understanding you had from my private messages, but not to quote bits and pieces of them out of context. Public messages you can repost anywhere you like, I stand by anything I said, at the time I said it, and in the context I said it. I don't pretend to spout universal and timeless truths. I encourage you then and now to engage in constructive, logical criticism, and offer either supported arguments or just plain opinion, then and now, but I disparage completely your posts 'flaming' other posters with unsubstantiated or inappropriate opinion and innuendo, particularly those sneering at the Canuck national character or the mess we've made by getting our buck down so low. This doesn't make us stupid or shady, just unlucky and unwise in our choice of government, which happens in the USA and elsewhere as well. Such posts are not constructive and beneath all of us trying for an informed debate. Often, your criticism of others has so focused on your intention to flame, that you overlooked the obvious value of stocks like GPW to continue the war of slurs on a personal level. In them, you have impugned we Canadians with shady characters, and that I personally have misrepresented both facts and NR's, and opinions as facts, which is tantamount to calling me a liar and to my face. This is not so, and I have clearly posted a differential between fact and opinion, whenever I thought the distinction might be confusing. You called me and others on GPW a promoter, and worse, an amateur, which I am not. If I wanted to promote something, I could b.s. with the best, but here on SI is one of the few opportunities for us to get to know and trust one another's character, so that when we suddenly jump on and warn our fellow small investors of something we hear or detect or sense or opine, then our friends here on SI can react according to their confidence in us. That's not hype, that's help! You accused many of us to be guilty of hype on GPW, when we know that we are not and repeatedly assured you of it, and if you would just take the time to do a little homework yourself, you would realize it. Someone who disagrees with you, and has a more positive projection for a stock, is not necessarily a "hypester", or some other such sneering epithet, I or they simply may have a different investment model, analytical technique, or world view than do you. I want to hear from them, and have them explain their view to me before you flame them into silence. I want to hear their opinions directly, and judge for myself whether I will react to them, and why, and not be "policed" by you or any other poster. Threats to "watch" or "police" or "report" or implications of disaster if we express an opinion are not welcome. There's an implied arrogance in those threats that most of us shy away from. I want to be able to carry on an innocent discussion of generalities during periods of no concrete news without being aggressively challenged to justify my very existence and every word by you, or aggressively questioned as to where I may have gotten an opinion. I want to be able to post half-baked thoughts, so that others may help me finish the baking, without being trashed. These are common courtesies of everyday life, manners in other words, and there is no reason to not observe them here. If someone else angers or frustrates you, there is no need to stoop to their level. You always have the option of ignoring them, and choosing to discuss the issues with someone whose viewpoint is more interesting or consensual with you. I'm sure I would gain something from 'lurking' along the thread and watching you and others follow out a train of thought in that fashion.
I hope you too come back to SI threads with help, not hype, not even reverse hype, and that you do not have a hidden agenda. Give a little more value to opinions other than your own, and we will all do the same for you. Throwing a little cold water on the mating dogs is OK, but shooting them dead is a socially unacceptable response.
I posted to you asking you to correct my interpretation of your posts, and offer some sort of retraction or perhaps an apology. You told me it was my fault for misunderstanding your rather obvious slant, as you have told others . Many others in many other private e-mails have concurred that you have slipped into destructive and unrealistic banter. MForthright, the misunderstanding was yours, was not our fault, and all those who disagree with you are not to blame for something, or guilty of some devious ulterior motive. Is it any wonder that those of us really working hard to analyze our investments, and dig out the truth on our investments, sometimes at substantial cost and personal effort, would eventually suspect that you were really part of some sort of plot to short cover. It seemed the only rational explanation.
As I just pointed out in my last post to GPW, you have just done a lot to redeem our confidence in you by apologizing to L.D., and by your return to (I think) objectivity on Sanguine(I don't own or understand any of Sanguine, BTW, I was just watching the 'tenor' of your posts). I hope you won't take my frankness as some form of further incitation to flaming, but instead as an honestly held opinion, shared by many others, that I need not take the time and energy to share with you, but I think you are worth hearing the truth as I see it. And, as I said on GPW, I'll get past having my tail fluffed up, if you will just return to a balanced and rational debate, where you may be able to offer much from your experience.
I would ask that you review your post, and ask, honestly, the same questions of yourself, that you ask of me. That's why the "change of heart", and it's up to you to change all of us real people back to MForthright supporters, if you so wish. The ball is in your court.
Murray |
