Black Swan! Come Back!

Water Cooler
#61

Agreed the guy was a nut, of the emotionally unstable, insecure and egotistical variety. Not the cool, funny and entertaining variety.

As for greenman, he is country as a chickencoop and doesn’t understand how you can’t have ‘skeleton’s in the closet’ if you are completly transparent about said skeletons. That being said I kind of like the guy in small doses.

This board does suck though, its full of more dick jokes then an off brand judd apatow movie. With the exception of a few posters I find it hard to beleive that actual professionals post on this board

#62

Sure, the guy had some viewpoints on guns and exercise regimens and things like that that seemed extreme to me, and he defended them when challenged. Lots of people here have wierd or extreme viewpoints here, and by-and-large, they are allowed to defend them, just not with profanities, epithets, and ad-hominem attacks. Extreme viewpoints are not really the problem, though perhaps they exacerbate it a little.

As far as I can tell, though, he didn’t use his moderating powers to enforce conformity to his views on guns and exercise and financial markets, but simply to enforce stuff that’s already written down in the policies of AF use.

And, as far as I can tell, he also didn’t call people names and engage in ad hominem attacks, except perhaps in response to ad hominem attacks on him, and that’s a good quality for a moderator. I didn’t follow his stuff super-closely, so maybe I’m wrong on that, but that was my understanding.

Most importantly, the comments I referenced about the quality of discussion in this forum and the level of vitriol are on-point whether or not I agree with his stance on guns, long-distance running, dangers of kayaking, etc… When I caught him in NY and had beers with him, he seemed like a pretty normal guy and part of our discussion included a very satifying analysis of markets and the dynamics of asset management organizations - the sort of discussions that we used to have much more frequently here on AF. We did not get into a shouting match over guns or whether his exercise routine was the best way to live life.

My post was not about how AF is worse because we need more pro-gun exercise-fundamentalists here. It’s how we really need to stop crapping on each other and talk more about markets and less about fapping.

#63

I wonder how much BS pays you to make him look like a martyr.

#64

The answer is he pays me $0.

I defend him here because moderating this board is a pretty thankless task, so I know a bit about his experience there. A bunch of people whining about freedom of speech because they don’t get to say f*ck and nggr with all the letters included. We’ve set the bar at an amazingly low level and people can barely even manage that without feeling their God-given rights are being trampled.

When there was some decent finance and markets discussion here, it was worth trying to keep people civil and in line, but without that, one starts to wonder why one should even care. He decided he shouldn’t anymore, and although I haven’t gone there yet, I understand the temptation.

I’m still here partly because there are a few personalities (ohai, STL, jmh, bromion, numi, MLA, and even you, FT, and a few others I can’t think of now) who still add some good financial thinking now and then, and I like to keep in touch. There’s also CvM and IEV who post some funny commentary and some things that provoke some thinking about managing our existence. And its nice to get krnyc and nana’s perspective on things as well as have some fun teasing them a little bit (but always with respect). Bhattisatva is good to hear from as well because it is nice to know that someone can catch a break, do well for himself, remember that it was both luck AND hard work that made his success happen, and not get his ego super-inflated.

#65

I understand it’s a thankless task (I was a moderator years ago at another site) but that gives no reason for a moderator to go overboard and instigate online fights with other members. Maybe you simply didn’t see those threads. I, at first, thought someone hacked BS’ account.

I think it’s safe to say 2 years later that Ohai would have been a better choice as moderator #2. Even the great Chad (owner not moderator) can make mistakes sometimes. It’s not too late to correct it.

#66

OK, If it’s true, then that’s not a good thing. I didn’t happen to see those threads, or if I did, I came in the middle and didn’t have a good sense of how those fights started and may have assumed he was holding off on bans and deletes as long as possible (something I generally think is a good thing).

The one thing I did see was him telling stormy to tone his language down pretty forcefully, and I happened to agree with him there. But maybe there were other events I was not aware of.

In general, this is why it’s better to have more than one moderator. I am finding, for example, that there’s too much for me alone to moderate, and it is good to have more than just my (and Chad’s) opinion on things. Also, if when some AF member goes off on a rampage about me and I am feeling either grumpy or angry, it can be helpful for to ask another moderator to step in and try cool things off. Like any other human being, it can be hard to get one’s bearings when angry or defensive - I feel I do a better job than many, but can still be a challenge.

I’ve been talking with Chad about going through a process of selecting a new board member/moderator to replace BS. The basic idea would be to have nominations here, and perhaps an election, and Chad (owner) would have the right to veto a choice if he felt the person selected was too extreme in some way or would not balance the interests of the site owner and AF community appropriately.

I decided that what we should do is first have a published set of expectations for board memebers, so that if Chad does veto someone, there are known standards that board members and moderators should be held to, and therefore it doesn’t seem so arbitrary. An expectations for board members would also be good for the community because it would identify guidelines to determine what the AF community can legitimately complain about to Chad or other board members if a moderator is abusing their authority. The board could then decide to ask the moderator to change or tone down their behavior if necessary, or terminate their privileges if that is not sufficient.

Finally, we may eventually separate board membership from moderating duties if we need to have more moderators. Board membership is more about thinking through what policies and procedures should be (so far, not so many, but that’s why I’m working to create some), whereas moderating is more about day-to-day monitoring.

I’ve been caught up with other things so have fallen behind on the “expectations of board members” project, but I did make some progress last week, and hopefully we will be moving forward on other stuff soon.

#67

I’m just gonna throw out there, a lot of the “personal attacks” people have been talking about aren’t attacks at all but just teasing/jokes that people might be taking a little too personally. Not all, but qutie a few of them.

#68

Ya’ll fools be hatin.

#69

So are you back from the dead? Or are going back into hiding now?

I, for one, think you added lot of spice. It’s definitely less fun since you’ve been gone.

#70

Apparently BS has done this before?

#71

^ Yes, he has a history of disappearing for months at a time and then posting 100x/day when he’s back.

#72

rip bchad

#realMensch

#73

Yeah, this is at least his third time disappearing. Assuming he did not get eaten by a bear, I have three theories:

  1. He’s doing a masterful job of trolling in absentia

B) He’s a perfectly normal dude that’s just busy and/or taking a break from AF

  1. He does have some mental health issues, he’s cracked, and someone should probably check in on him

It’s probably B…busy with work, family, maybe some personal stuff going on. But, 3 isn’t out of the realm. I mean, if I had to bet on an AFer to have a psychotic break, it’d be him (followed closely by ACE, p.p-style).

On another note, Blake really did have some good posts from time to time. If I was for a HoF (and I’m not), he’d get my vote for first ballot inductee.

#74

Yeah hes a chill dude, we hung out in NYC with the AF meetup.

He has a girl and a child. He’s prob focused on a few things off of here.

No doubt, he’ll be back though.

#75

So I should put my money on you having a psychotic break?

#76

Nah, I’m pretty stable these days and on meds till I die…

#77

Wasnt on AF at this time but damn I miss bchad. Always a refreshing intelligent take on things. This could be said for pretty much all corners of the internet right now

#78

That’s a bummer…for me anyway. You’ve always been my favorite crazy person.

#79

^ Chad always seemed genuine. Wasn’t really one for sarcasm or trolling. Very authentic, intelligent, kind hearted guy. That said, this is water cooler where topics are untethered. I am serious all day long at work and I view WC as my internet smoke break that includes fun shenanigans and engaging topics unrelated to what I’m doing at work. Personally I enjoy the cast of characters WC has to offer and it doesn’t really matter to me if the person on the other end is actually who or what they say they are it just matters that what they have to say contributes to the greater discussion in either an intelligent, comedic, or insightful way.

#80

I agree, i enjoy a lot of the joking around that goes on here as well. There are certainly times it gets out of hand but in general i think WC is good for what it is. Investments/Career forum is available for a bit more serious discussion as well which I enjoy