It's Been Fun

I've been a member of ET for some time, joining in 2011 under another name, and I remember when there was a lot to be learned here. In fact, I didn't become profitable until speaking with a few members here and going down a path of study suggested by them. Even further, such studies lead to me learning to read the markets with a high degree of accuracy. For that reason, I'm grateful for having found ET.

However, I've got to renounce my membership because what was once a great community for traders has turned into nothing but a constant bickering match of why someone else's method can't or won't work. It is that true that such discussions will take place on a trading site but for these discussions to be constant is insane. Since this has become the norm, there really isn't anything else to learn nor discuss because it appears that even many of the other trades who used to add value to past discussions don't post anymore...maybe for the same reason. In other words, this site has become nothing but one big place of trading pessimism and cynics.

My intention in creating this thread isn't to gain attention or anything of the sort, but more so to alert others on what this site has become. I'm sure ET veterans aren't fazed but the way that the forum currently functions can be a real deterrent for new members. How can they learn or even add to discussions when there is always someone fussing and claiming that nothing will work?

Again, it's been fun and I wish you all much success in your trading. If I am to return at some later date, it'll be only after I've made $500k or more out of the markets with proof so that I may show aspiring traders that despite what the overwhelming number of pessimists on here say, it is possible to trade successfully.

 

I've got half the active users on this site on ignore but every time I ignore one, 5 more come out of nowhere. As for reporting, is the behavior I'm describing even a violation of the rules?

 

Money Trust and I don't see eye-to-eye politically but I've always liked his input into the trading forums. It's always been constructive. If we keep driving away guys like him while keeping obvious trolls and naysayers, well ... not good. Some people are afraid to start threads for fear of getting attacked right out of the gate before a discussion even gets going. And if a good discussion does get going there's still a chance some bomb thrower will show up just to see if he can derail the discussion. Is it really worth the page views just to let this place turn into a troll slum?

I especially 'love' the jackholes who show up to say "ah geez, this shit is sooooo boring. Why are you guys even wasting time/words/whatever on this stuff?". Always makes me wonder who's pointing a gun at their heads and forcing them to read and post about a topic they don't like.

Getting us those moderated threads would help immensely. Just being able to exclude the most obvious trouble makers would be a huge improvement and might even encourage some long-time members to start posting again.

 

It varies. Some probably regard me as a troll, I can be prickly at times. That's cool. If somebody wants to start a moderated thread where I am excluded, then more power to them. So long as I have the same option, there's no harm.

But I will say surf's constant hating of everything TA has gotten old quite some time ago. Wasn't he once banned for exactly that type of posting? We get it, TA isn't for everybody. But an entire forum here has always been dedicated to TA and the haters are just trolling at this point. Surf has his own journal and he can hate TA as much as he wants there. I wouldn't dream of going into his journal to tell him how wrong he is. But he invades practically every pro-TA thread to nay say. It's old, tired and trollish..

 

Like Money Trust, I too have benefited greatly through this forum. I would like to echo his sentiment by elaborating on your analogy of the classroom.

For me, the most valuable classes were those where the teacher implemented a structure that supported Socratic dialog. They were not about simply sitting back and listening to a lecture. The class was alive with participation, questions and disagreements ensconced within an ethos of respect. Constraint breeds creativity. The ethos was the constraint that permitted freedom.

ET has lost the ethos that sustains valuable discussion. It is not just a matter of technical features. Sure, any member can start a thread with ample freedom of speech. But instead of the discussions being Socratic in nature, they are now vitriolic. What this does may not be apparent in your immediate site statistics. It drastically changes the quality of participation. Vitriol engenders fear. Abundance and generosity have regressed. There is a very obvious feedback effect here.

I believe experimenting with small changes to foster respect within discussions will go a long way towards restoring the culture. Perhaps this may take more than relying just on the 'Ignore' and 'Complaint' features.

 

IMO no real cure for all the endless postings (fights) that are irrelevant to the subject of the thread over who has the biggest ding-dong. Boys will be boys!!