Magna Moderator* 07-02-03 06:26 PM Roger Hershey is taking a leave of absence, but I'm sure we'll see him again soon, in one form or another. I sense an urban legend forming.
I think his signature said it all. "say bye-bye to Sam, Vinny, Nolan, Abra, LeonJ, ronbgelf & Jim Radid (my apologies if I forgot a few). All booted off the site, only to return. All 7 say that persistance is essential to success"
Whoever he was, he certainly got his "money's" worth making a mockery of everyone who has tried to gain or give anything worthwhile at ET. While I was more than happy to stay out of the fray he created about getting the moderators riled up (or whatever happened....I really tried my hardest to ignore the whole episode), I could not help but take a quick look through some of the threads. Seemed to me that he was just trying to instigate something between Magna and Inandlong. While I have no idea what it was about, nor do I care, I know one thing for sure. That is that Baron has shown that he has great common sense in his choices of moderators. Now I know that no one can make all the people happy all the time. I also know (using a very obvious example) that Babak takes far too much heat for no reason. But also, being a moderator in the Chit Chat forum has to be a thankless job. And despite the flack Babak takes, to me it is amazing that he keeps his cool, and continues to do the impossible. While the definition of "moderator" is self evident, the people that do it are just as human as the rest of us. They have opinions, and are entitle to express them. They can make errors. We all do. Big deal! Along comes a Roger Hershey, and this guy got (gets?) his thrills by being an agitator. There will always be people who get a thrill by stirring something up. With or without a reason. As I write this, some guy has posted a link to his website on several forums. This will be stopped I imagine very quickly. When the kid who posted on virtually every forum about his going to Oxford did that, he was stopped. For some reason, MrMarket seems to get some degree of dispensation for posting the same thing over and over in different forums. Some stays, some gets deleted. But really, his need for attention, just like Roger Hershey's seems to be more than the rest of us need to be subjected to. If MrMarket needs to let us know about his 19" biceps, or the size of any other parts of his anatomy, why do it in the trading forums? In that one respect I admit to being surprised at Inandlong's decision to re-instate MrMarkets previously deleted thread. But with only the first post, which any of us could have written for MrMarket by now. How many times does he need to tell us how he is the world's greatest stock picker? How big his arms are? How "desirable" he has made himself by voting himself a "10" on some absurd "hot or not" site for the the clinically insecure? Roger Hershey calls Aphie every vulgar name in the book, and is insulted that he isn't given the respect he believes he is entitled to? Five year olds know that respect is earned and not granted on demand. Five year olds can see for themselves that anyone who doesn't count their losses, and only counts their winners is a "cheat". Or delusional. And five year olds don't need to hear from me, or from anyone, that anyone who says "I am better than you...you WISH you could be as great as me" (to paraphrase MrMarket, I have no desire to bother finding his exact words), is a pathetic soul with a desperate need for attention. I make a habit of NOT responding to MrMarket. Tonight, though, I felt it was time to say something. Because it seems that guys like MrMarket, Roger Hershey, and so many others that come on this site for the sole purpose of self aggrandizement have been seriously diminishing the site. Where is Longshot? Here is another danger IMO. I know for a fact that there are a lot of teenagers that come on this site hoping to learn something. Then they "learn" that using steroids is a "good thing". Being drunk, having beer for breakfast is a "good thing". Yes, these kids have parents. And yes, the average 14 year old should have enough common sense to know that the kinds of things they hear from a Longshot, and his many aliases are just stupid. But even so, what is the redeeming value of these posts? It is a good thing that Baron has "moderate" moderators. If it was up to me, I would delete 90% of the posts. Or make it a pay site. There are a lot of very bright people that contribute and share here. But there are more that come here to agitate. Throw insults at each other. Who needs these people? One thing is for sure. If a credit card were required (not even a fee, just some kind of "proof" of legitimacy), than we wouldn't be so inundated with many offensive and worthless posts. People have asked me both on the public forums and by PM why I hardly (if ever) post anything about trading anymore, as I used to quite a bit. The reason is very simple. There is NO UPSIDE. I never told anyone that what they did was wrong. I never said that what I did or how I did it was the only way. But the abuse I took for trying to share some of what I learned the only way I know (experience) just made it not worth the effort. So now I can debate cars, and politics, and religion, and anything else in Chit Chat, and I know I will not cost anyone anything if they should take my advice and lose. And I won't have to explain away how absurd it is to listen to the braggarts that say they can make 5% a day. And I won't be subjected to being called a "piker" by stating that I am happy if I can average just a fraction of a percent per day return. I will leave the great trading advice to be given by guys that never book losses, have huge biceps (very important in trading), and that can tell us how great their trades in the big S&P contracts were (after the fact). And also, to the guys that make a call (always a 50/50 shot), and make a whole thread about how great they are because they won a coin toss. Peace, Rs
I really think I don't have the disposition to be a moderator. I could list about 25 people I would NOT ban. Get rid of the rest!! It would be very dull if I were in charge. (Edit...I guess I already made my list) There are some omissions, and I apologize for them...both good and bad (Kymerfye comes to mind as an asset who I omitted when I made the list initially. FPC seems to have been on my good side that day He isn't always. : http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16262&perpage=6&pagenumber=38 RS PS: Here is the post that even now still exists on several forums. The "member" (Gary_McLaughlin) has at this point, made a total of 5 posts. So all of them are touting his "FREE STOCK PICKS" which is a blatant come-on for a pay site. I can't believe the posts still stand. I have have noticed that Don Bright too, has been posting less and less about trading (seems like it anyway, maybe it is because I no longer log on during trading hours). Like I said, there is really no upside. I always thought Don did his best to be helpful. If he was "guilty" of promoting his firm, then so what? He is a paying advertiser. But his trading advice was given freely and there was no harm in it for anyone. Like all advice, it was "take it or leave it". It certainly wasn't like he was encouraging children to use steroids, or have beer for breakfast. He did not use abusive language to argue a point. Actually, I don't recall him ever initiating any argument. The guy tried to defend himself, and did it like an adult. Yet, like the moderators, he seemed to be fair game for those who enjoy making attacks.
Roger Hershey was one good fella. It's a shame that Magna shut him down, because I enjoyed his journal. Even though he had a loud personality, he always made good market calls. His journal would have told the tale.
You can't get rid of mrmarket. He is like the great Lon Chaney, the man of a 1000 meats and cheeses.....