I was a mod on a non-investing-related forum once upon a time. I was a longtime member, and the mods there were pretty inconsistent. Some heavy handed, some too lax, in my opinion.
It wasn't long before I became one of the heavy handed among the new mods. While I thought I was acting in the forum's best interests, keeping things orderly, I ran up against complaints that every time a topic got going, I split it up. How hard is it to follow the new thread, I thought, if I insert a link.
Still, some members felt like they had a sword hanging over them.
Bogleheads is fairly strict. It's like the Singapore of forums. The good part is that topics don't drag on too long. The bad is that you can't really chit chat organically without private messages, and not everyone wants to use PMs.
I like that they don't tolerate political comments, b/c when I read the Washington Post or the Wall Street Journal, the comment section whether it's under a piece about fuel cells or a recipe for dandelion wine, inevitably turns to "thanks, Obama" or now, to Trump. And Bogleheads is free of that.
I don't like the same policy at other times because I can't insert a relevant comment about rising grocery prices in a thread about dividend growth. (not an argument for dividends).
I haven't learned my lesson b/c I am still very much in favor of moving-not-deleting, or as one airline CEO would say, re-accommodating.
Like Tenn said, it can be a daunting task. It can be like cleaning the Agaean stables. I have been too abrasive with mathkak in the past where I should have made one anti-timing post (per thread) and dropped out. Even getting too friendly is a mistake, lest it be misconstrued as a tacit acceptance of market timing.
I have voiced my displeasure with all the non-pp or modified pp's that contain the word Permanent in the title. Some cannot even be called Lazy Portfolios. The most common one is the so-called pp without cash. Then there's leverage. Now there's timing.
I hate that newbies have to wade through that stuff,that non-pp strategy disguised as an acceptable variation in the main subforums. That's really where we should be as Draconian as the bogleheads forum. We should move it to the vp, and then I won't have to feel like such a dick for constantly calling it out.
