Investment site?

[richfool]

Now, there is more than one there I rarely see. Plus I can say I never post on, or even bother reading, Cycling or Sports Bar yet strangely enough this does not have the slightest effect on my ability to either read any other TLF thread, or to post on whichever thread I wish to. Why should it? Nothing stops people posting on any financial topic they really want to.

I think a lot of it comes down to how people navigate the boards. If you're only interested in investment posts, then to browse the site by scanning all New Posts from the menu seems bizarre and bound to lead to frustration.

Why not just subscribe only to the investment forums then use the tools that the board software helpfully provides to see new posts there (either through notifications, or through using the red icons on the subscription list).

Scott.

Yes, as several have said, one can filter what boards one looks at, but as things have been evolving, less and less posters have been posting on the investments boards, and particularly the Investment Trust etc board, where my main interests lay, which then leaves one feeling, - what's the point, there's nothing to follow, - type of thing, which is where I am now.

I am also where I want to be with my portfolio, so have been thinking that I should get on with what's left of my life, rather than expending so much time following TLF, where sometimes some of the posts can be provocative or argumentative.

When living in the Far East, I was a moderator on a forum out there for many years, where I wasted too much of my time, policing posters who had nothing better to do than argue all day long (and about nothing). I eventually concluded then that there were better things to do with one's time. I'm not suggesting things are like that on TLF, though its not without it's more provocative posters.

I think because of the dearth of investment material, and specifically IT related material, on TLF, it is time to step back and just become an occasional voyeur. I don't see the point in seeking out interesting articles and going to the time and trouble posting extracts and links in order to stimulate debate, which is what I have been tending to do recently, when there are fewer and fewer people are interested. It's not productive use of my time.

Thanks to the many who have informed me with their informative posts over the years.

Regards

Richfool

PS. For those who contributed to the "where can I stopover en route to the far East" thread, I booked the Bus class direct flight for next month.

[Lootman]

I am also where I want to be with my portfolio, so have been thinking that I should get on with what's left of my life, rather than expending so much time following TLF, where sometimes some of the posts can be provocative or argumentative.

Perhaps that is the simple explanation i.e. that most of us are comfortable with what we do, investment wise, and so there isn't much left to resolve.

The HYP folks do what they do, the IT folks do what they do, the passive indexers do what they do, and so on.

And TLF does take effort, as opposed to parking myself in front of the TV and watching Bloomberg or CNBC, listening to world-renowned investors, whilst sipping on a cold brewsky.

Maybe entropy is at work, so the quality of investment commentary declines just as the endless stream of "we wuz robbed" Brexit posts reaches critical mass. Sorry to see you go, and good luck with your flight (I have used Xanax and Ativan, which are similar).

[Itsallaguess]

I am also where I want to be with my portfolio, so have been thinking that I should get on with what's left of my life, rather than expending so much time following TLF

Perhaps that is the simple explanation i.e. that most of us are comfortable with what we do, investment wise, and so there isn't much left to resolve.

The HYP folks do what they do, the IT folks do what they do, the passive indexers do what they do, and so on.

Whilst that might well be true, I think for me personally it's slightly missing the point in terms of my disappointment around how far this place has shifted away from it's more investment-focussed origins.

Many of the 2016 Lemon Fool intake will have moved here from The Motley Fool with an appreciation and understanding of investment-based topics that were learnt and nurtured in that great Motley Fool community.

In those days, anyone new could land inside those Motley Fool boards from anywhere at all, and simply sit there, soaking up the great investment-based discussions, and rightly see it as a free training ground for where many of us are today, regarding our current financial situations. A free training school community for personal finance and investment - that's how I'll always see the old Motley Fool community, and I owe it untold gratitude for how it nurtured my interest and gave me lots of much-needed confidence in those early investment years.

But whilst, as you say, that might well be fine for many of us now - my single biggest regret with the how far this site has shifted since 2016 is that I simply don't see it as the kind of place where I could now start again from scratch, soaking investment-based discussions up and feeling my way into an area of life that has such huge importance.

The essence of the broad Motley Fool investment community that allowed that to happen has been almost completely eroded and chipped away, leaving a site that may well still have an old, tattered sign above the door proclaiming it's investment-based roots, but where anyone landing here with a keen, wide-eyed interest in joining the type of investment-based community that the Motley Fool was able to properly value and nurture, will find themselves rapidly disappointed and let down.

So for me, my great sadness around how far this site has deteriorated over recent years isn't really about our portfolios that mostly just run themselves nowadays - it's about the almost complete obliteration of all those torches that lit the way for others who aren't there yet.

The others that we used to be...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[Dod101]

I am not sure that in posting my original effort (intended as a grumpy old man letting off steam) I anticipated quite the sort of reaction it got but in the current 'Quick links/Active topics' page out of the 25 posts, if we were generous, about half of them are vaguely investment/finance related, and so anyone dropping in on the site would be hard pressed to see it as an 'investment site' and certainly it is not living up to its description 'Shares, Investment and Personal Discussion Forums'

The thing is, even if they had a mind to, I am not sure what the owners could do about that anyway, except remove some of the overtly non investment forums. It is presumably traffic they want, since that supports the advertising. They provide the space and it is up to the users what they do with it. I see it as substantially taken over by a few prolific posters who happen to mostly want to comment/complain about the current political and financial situation in the UK and certainly there has been plenty to comment about in recent months.

The other worrying thing is that there are posts made which are plain wrong and yet they are made as though from some authority which knows what it is talking about!

Dod

[88V8]

The other worrying thing is that there are posts made which are plain wrong and yet they are made as though from some authority which knows what it is talking about!

Including some from me, no doubt, being as I am not omniscient.

I am also where I want to be with my portfolio, so have been thinking that I should get on with what's left of my life, rather than expending so much time following TLF

Perhaps that is the simple explanation i.e. that most of us are comfortable with what we do, investment wise, and so there isn't much left to resolve.

Whilst that might well be true, I think for me personally it's slightly missing the point in terms of my disappointment around how far this place has shifted away from it's more investment-focussed origins.
Many of the 2016 Lemon Fool intake will have moved here from The Motley Fool..... anyone landing here with a keen, wide-eyed interest in joining the type of investment-based community that the Motley Fool was able to properly value and nurture, will find themselves rapidly disappointed and let down.
So for me, my great sadness around how far this site has deteriorated over recent years isn't really about our portfolios that mostly just run themselves nowadays - it's about the almost complete obliteration of all those torches that lit the way for others who aren't there yet.

A few things here:

First, the newbies... tend to have the same questions, and the oldies get tired of answering the same questions. One sees that in pretty much all forums, I think. The newbies have to mature and take over. Is that happening here? If not, why not?

Second, some of the keystones of TMF didn't migrate. WShak for instance, and Loglorry. And Valuemargin. And Luni was winding down anyway. Johnnycyclops. Mark Taber.
And doubtless others who posted on boards I did not inhabit, or whom I have momentarily forgotten.
Where did they go? Twitter? I don't use Twitter.
ADVFN and LSE are mostly day-traders, not all but mostly. What replaced TMF, if not TLF?

Thirdly, as has been said, we're in a downturn, society, investments, it's harder to feel bullish about investing when things are going to hell in a handcart. Growth shares that don't, for example.

Fourthly, HYP. That was a large part of the investment traffic. Then we began to realise it wasn't as easy and foolproof as it looked, and some of us drifted into ITs - I blame that IAAG geezer - where there really isn't that much to discuss.

Fifthly, the TR advocates who rather marred the atmosphere for a while.

Sixthly, the acceleration of 'social media' and the tendency for everyone to have an opinion about everything and look for somewhere to express it. Which results in a busy and divisive Current Affairs board that's sometimes interesting but often unhelpful to the collegiate atmosphere. As I've said before I would be happy to see it gone, but otoh it keeps most of the politics out of the other boards and one doesn't have to to read it.

And finally, the novelty of BBs has worn off.
Perhaps we should just be glad of what we still have, and not expend so much angst lamenting what was.

V8

[tjh290633]

Just a comment. TMF had a vast number of boards that you could describe as fringe subjects. This site has far fewer. I only looked at the boards on TMF that interest me. I do much the same here by looking at the boards which I moderate, then look at "Unread posts" for any others of interest. My estimate is that maybe 25% of those interest me.

We do get people who are looking for help and advice, where we can only reply in the "If it were me", or "What I have done in such an instance", frame of replies. From what I see, this continues. Is the frequency lower than with TMF? Difficult to assess. It is not confined to the financial boards. People ask about travel, plumbing, environmental matters, etc.

Traffic is lower on established financial boards because much of the subject has been gone over and there are fewer major new ideas. HYP was novel at the turn of the century. Tracker funds are relatively new. Green investing is even newer.

I have a feeling that this discussion is nostalgia driven.

TJH

[mc2fool]

Just a comment. TMF had a vast number of boards that you could describe as fringe subjects.

Indeed, and certainly a vast number that were non-investment. Here's the Wayback Machine snapshot of the TMF UK Discussion Boards main menu taken on 8-Nov-2016, a week and a bit before it closed down.

The links are "live" in that if you click on, say, Fool Cafe you will go to the similarly archived list of boards under that category ... or at least, the first 20 of them; once there you have to click on Show Me More at the bottom right to see the rest.

https://web.archive.org/web/20161108191838/http://boards.fool.co.uk/

Alternatively the following captures the list of all the non-company boards at that date:

https://web.archive.org/web/20161108191841/http://www.fool.co.uk/help/community/boards-a-to-z/

I will leave it as an exercise for anyone sufficiently bothered to add up the number of investment vs non-investment boards ....

[dealtn]

Fifthly, the TR advocates who rather marred the atmosphere for a while.

Again!

Can you not find a more appropriate label? TR is a truth and reality and shouldn't be an insult. It applies to all investment strategies.

[SalvorHardin]

In common with so many prominent figures,

I voted Leave, and I left[1].

[1] Either in person, or just sent my hedge fund or other business abroad.

Please put me out of my misery. Who are you quoting here because I can't find the original anywhere on the thread. Perhaps the post was deleted?

I have no idea what Uncle is talking about either, and his comment was (presumably?) directed at me.

It was probably directed at me. I've had quite a few of of these from remainers over the years, not just on TMF/TLF. They say that because I voted to leave the EU then I shouldn't invest outside the UK (the remark about a hedge fund looks like an attempt to link it with Rees-Mogg's firm). Laughable, particularly as some remainers are very much "Little Englanders" when it comes to investing.

As to some comments on this thread about people showing less interest in investing because markets have fallen, I've been doing the opposite and have placed more trades in the past two months than I have in any year since I started investing in 1981. Almost all the purchases were American and Canadian shares, except from a reasonably large of Great Portland Estates at 391p in late September (up 35% as I type this - link below).

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=36077&p=533083#p533083

Warren Buffett's comment in 1974 about "feeling like an oversexed guy in a whorehouse" when looking at shares after a big market crash springs to mind when I look at some American sectors, particularly REITs.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2008/09/warren_buffetts_dirty_words_of.html

[monabri]

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2008/09/warren_buffetts_dirty_words_of.html

I like WB's "Eunuch" analogy!

[Charlottesquare]

I think reduction in H Y postings is partly that some from the High Yield demos no longer invest using a particular philosophy and therefore, as there are more perms to our selections than the Scotland 1978 team, there is no system that really can be outlined, explained or discussed.

I cannot really explain why I started with UK HY shares, moved over to investment trusts mainly with decent yields and covering more overseas interests and now manage a merged mainly yield type equity portfolio with an overall circa 4-5% yield and a mix of UK shares, UK ITs and Berkshire Hathaway.

There is no logic/philosophy except targeting, overall, circa 5% , following my gut and spreading by geography where I am comfortable.

If I have no system what is there really to discuss?

[Itsallaguess]

Just a comment.

TMF had a vast number of boards that you could describe as fringe subjects.

And it was great - brilliant in fact.

As are almost every single one of the non-investment boards on this site, which almost all help to contribute to a sense of positive, broader community.

The clue is in the word 'fringe' though Terry, and my addition of the word 'positive', which I think helps to differentiate between beneficial non-investment topics and those that unfortunately help to turn the site into the argumentative twitter-fest that it''s now become...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[88V8]

Fifthly, the TR advocates who rather marred the atmosphere for a while.

Again!
Can you not find a more appropriate label? TR is a truth and reality and shouldn't be an insult. It applies to all investment strategies.

Me? I know what I mean by it in the context of these boards. Those who advocate liquidating capital growth as a means of providing income. For some reason they've gone quiet of late.

If you prefer another label, feel free to create one.

V8

[dealtn]

Fifthly, the TR advocates who rather marred the atmosphere for a while.

Again!
Can you not find a more appropriate label? TR is a truth and reality and shouldn't be an insult. It applies to all investment strategies.

Me? I know what I mean by it in the context of these boards. Those who advocate liquidating capital growth as a means of providing income. For some reason they've gone quiet of late.

If you prefer another label, feel free to create one.

V8

Those aren't Total Return advocates then. A better label might be Portfolio Management, managing the size of your investment portfolio including the sale of investments to withdraw and to provide "income" perhaps. Total Return is something completely different.

[XFool]

I am not sure that in posting my original effort (intended as a grumpy old man letting off steam) I anticipated quite the sort of reaction it got but in the current 'Quick links/Active topics' page out of the 25 posts, if we were generous, about half of them are vaguely investment/finance related, and so anyone dropping in on the site would be hard pressed to see it as an 'investment site' and certainly it is not living up to its description 'Shares, Investment and Personal Discussion Forums'

The thing is, even if they had a mind to, I am not sure what the owners could do about that anyway, except remove some of the overtly non investment forums. It is presumably traffic they want, since that supports the advertising. They provide the space and it is up to the users what they do with it.

Quite so.

I see it as substantially taken over by a few prolific posters who happen to mostly want to comment/complain about the current political and financial situation in the UK and certainly there has been plenty to comment about in recent months.

The other worrying thing is that there are posts made which are plain wrong and yet they are made as though from some authority which knows what it is talking about!

So? What is stopping you challenging such "plain wrong" posts with correct arguments and reputable facts and figures? Show them they are wrong"!

[richfool]

Fifthly, the TR advocates who rather marred the atmosphere for a while.

Again!
Can you not find a more appropriate label? TR is a truth and reality and shouldn't be an insult. It applies to all investment strategies.

Me? I know what I mean by it in the context of these boards. Those who advocate liquidating capital growth as a means of providing income. For some reason they've gone quiet of late.

If you prefer another label, feel free to create one.

V8

Those aren't Total Return advocates then. A better label might be Portfolio Management, managing the size of your investment portfolio including the sale of investments to withdraw and to provide "income" perhaps. Total Return is something completely different.

I don't think the OP intended his post to digress into a discussion about TR. Why not start a new topic, if that's what you wish to discuss, rather than dilute the theme of the OP.

[Dod101]

I am not sure that in posting my original effort (intended as a grumpy old man letting off steam) I anticipated quite the sort of reaction it got but in the current 'Quick links/Active topics' page out of the 25 posts, if we were generous, about half of them are vaguely investment/finance related, and so anyone dropping in on the site would be hard pressed to see it as an 'investment site' and certainly it is not living up to its description 'Shares, Investment and Personal Discussion Forums'

The thing is, even if they had a mind to, I am not sure what the owners could do about that anyway, except remove some of the overtly non investment forums. It is presumably traffic they want, since that supports the advertising. They provide the space and it is up to the users what they do with it.

Quite so.

I see it as substantially taken over by a few prolific posters who happen to mostly want to comment/complain about the current political and financial situation in the UK and certainly there has been plenty to comment about in recent months.

The other worrying thing is that there are posts made which are plain wrong and yet they are made as though from some authority which knows what it is talking about!

So? What is stopping you challenging such "plain wrong" posts with correct arguments and reputable facts and figures? Show them they are wrong"!

I do, I do. You are not paying attention!

Dod

[simoan]

It looks like this thread has in itself become an illustration of the problem. People with very set views and closed minds unwilling to accept that there are many ways to make money from investing in equities and fixed interest, and most importantly, the way we each choose is dependent on our own financial circumstances, risk tolerance and outlook. It's this lack of acceptance of different ideas which I find most frustrating.

I would need to wear the most rose tinted pair of glasses ever made to look back at TMF with the fondness described by many here, but then I'd stopped posting a year before its demise because the investment threads were so boring and lacking in any fresh ideas. Similarly, the vast majority of posts were on a very active board (LoST?) where politics was discussed, just the same as people are complaining about now. So, personally I don't see much difference at all, and as such, I don't understand what all the fuss is about either.

All the best, Si

[XFool]

The other worrying thing is that there are posts made which are plain wrong and yet they are made as though from some authority which knows what it is talking about!

So? What is stopping you challenging such "plain wrong" posts with correct arguments and reputable facts and figures? Show them they are wrong"!

I do, I do. You are not paying attention!

Show me!

[XFool]

It looks like this thread has in itself become an illustration of the problem. People with very set views and closed minds unwilling to accept that there are many ways to make money from investing in equities and fixed interest, and most importantly, the way we each choose is dependent on our own financial circumstances, risk tolerance and outlook. It's this lack of acceptance of different ideas which I find most frustrating.

Well yes. It was ever thus?

I would need to wear the most rose tinted pair of glasses ever made to look back at TMF with the fondness described by many here, but then I'd stopped posting a year before its demise because the investment threads were so boring and lacking in any fresh ideas. Similarly, the vast majority of posts were on a very active board (LoST?) where politics was discussed, just the same as people are complaining about now. So, personally I don't see much difference at all, and as such, I don't understand what all the fuss is about either.

Exactly!