New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

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New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by Alex Frakt »

The forum has adopted a new Forum Policy which can be found at Unacceptable Topics - Greater Fool Investing Strategies

I'll quote it here. Note that the exact wording may change as we receive further feedback, but the basic message will not.
Greater Fool Investing Strategies

Eventually, one runs out of greater fools. - Burton Malkiel

Discussions of investment strategies based on securities or physical assets that have no underlying value or negative expected long term returns are prohibited. Examples include: cryptocurrencies; lottery tickets; tulip bulbs; Ponzi, pyramid, and multi-level marketing schemes; affinity frauds; and market manipulation schemes.
Why are we doing this?

Although the tagline of this site is Investing Advice Inspired by Jack Bogle, we have never previously had any rules regarding the types of investments and investment strategies that could be discussed here. I have always felt that it was unnecessary as I could rely on our members to appropriately respond to questionable advice and ideas. Indeed, in my opinion, these discussions are an essential part of the value of the site.

However in the case of crypto, the message is so dangerous and the backers are so numerous and relentless that we feel we are asking too much of our members who are trying to counter their claims. Also, the sheer number of positive posts about crypto on this site already appears to be leading some unsophisticated investors to believe that these are investments in the traditional sense or that crypto investing somehow has the backing of the Bogleheads community. We have also witnessed what happened to other sites in the recent GameStop saga and wish to have a policy prohibiting any such type of attempted market manipulation on this site before it becomes an issue.

What's our problem with cryptocurrency?

It is my and the Advisory Board's feeling that the cryptocurrency market as currently constituted is extraordinarily risky and should not play a significant role in a prudent investor's portfolio. The risks go far beyond what we are used to dealing with in regulated market securities. like volatility or bankruptcy risk or interest rate risk. Crypto exposes you to non-market risks such as losing the keys necessary to claim your ownership of the tokens, having your tokens stolen by hackers or the operators of the exchange holding them, or having your tokens on an exchange seized by government agencies. All of these have already occurred on multiple occasions. And then there is the largest risk of all. In a very real sense, crypto tokens are already bankrupt. They have a literal value of nothing, they have a future value of nothing. Thus their price depends entirely on whether enough people are willing to ignore this fact and exchange real money for nothing. The only basis for buying them is the hope the the price will go up because it has gone up before. We have a 400 year history of fads like this in the financial markets, none of them ended well,

Note
- This policy is limited to discussions of investing strategies. Discussions of cryptocurrencies in other contexts is still acceptable, for example for money transfers or microtransactions or the current thread on crypto trades and tax loss harvesting.

10/19/21 Edit: What about BITO, the new futures ETF?

This still falls under our prohibition. Our ban on crypto discussions is ultimately based on cryptocurrencies' lack of intrinsic value. While the ETF structure greatly reduces non-market risks, purchasing it is still a purely speculative gamble, not an investment.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by AerialWombat »

I, for one, am happy to see this action taken.

Kudos to the Advisory Board! :sharebeer
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by celia »

Greater Fool Investing Strategies

Discussions of investment strategies based on securities or physical assets that have no underlying value or negative expected long term returns are prohibited. Examples include: cryptocurrencies; lottery tickets; tulip bulbs; Ponzi, pyramid, and multi-level marketing schemes; affinity frauds; and market manipulation schemes.
Alex, If you're going to use this criteria, why don't you also include California housing, Precious Metal funds, and the VIX index?
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by chw »

I also support this action, given the basic investing principles of this board, and the highly speculative nature of crypto investing. To continue the discussions on this board regarding crypto (which seem to be spreading like weeds), could seem to legitimize these investments on this forum.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by calwatch »

You can live in California homes.
Most gold is used for jewelry, industrial, and dental uses - only about 1/3 goes to the bullion market. Silver and platinum also have their uses, much like speculating on energy futures, interest rates, or foreign currency.
VIX is a derivative and is more similar to crypto, but I don't see substantial discussion of trading VIX as a means of making money.
There are plenty of places to talk about crypto on the Internet and if the management feels this shouldn't be one of them, that's fine with me.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by Alex Frakt »

celia wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 2:32 am
Discussions of investment strategies based on securities or physical assets that have no underlying value or negative expected long term returns are prohibited.
Alex, If you're going to use this criteria, why don't you also include California housing, Precious Metal funds, and the VIX index?
The first two both have an underlying value and at least neutral expected long term returns. Before costs anyway. Both theory and practice have shown that holding assets with low correlations to other parts of your portfolio can increase risk-adjusted returns even where that assets expected returns are low. That analysis does not extend to securities that have no theoretically calcuable present or future value.

VIX is trickier. But then no one is really suggesting it as a portfolio building block. If we start having multi-hundred post threads arguing about VIXs place in a portfolio, we will consider adding it to the list.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by luckyducky99 »

I don't mind the reasonable discussions of crypto I've seen here, but I've also seen aggressive promotion, which I agree is inappropriate.

I would more prefer a policy prohibiting aggressive promotion of any extremely risky speculation, including crypto, and allow some of the reasonable discussion to continue.

But it's a tough call, and I appreciate that it's being addressed somehow rather than letting the hype fester.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by ivk5 »

A level-headed and well-reasoned move.

We are fortunate to have wise moderators thoughtfully balancing suitable guardrails with restraint against over-intervention. Certainly not an easy task and glad to see it taken seriously.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by Alex Frakt »

luckyducky99 wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 3:01 amI would more prefer a policy prohibiting aggressive promotion of any extremely risky speculation, including crypto, and allow some of the reasonable discussion to continue.
It would be nice to allow limited discussion on these topics. But we have to formulate policies that the moderators can work with. It would not be fair to ask them to make judgement calls on, for example, exactly where enthusiasm turns into promotion.

As to other types of speculation, I think this policy covers the worst of them. For the rest we will continue to rely on our members to educate and, if necessary, warn in their responses.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by FireSekr »

Alex Frakt wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 1:46 am The forum has adopted a new Forum Policy which can be found at Unacceptable Topics - Greater Fool Investing Strategies

I'll quote it here. Note that the exact wording may change as we receive further feedback, but the basic message will not.
Greater Fool Investing Strategies

Eventually, one runs out of greater fools. - Burton Malkiel

Discussions of investment strategies based on securities or physical assets that have no underlying value or negative expected long term returns are prohibited. Examples include: cryptocurrencies; lottery tickets; tulip bulbs; Ponzi, pyramid, and multi-level marketing schemes; affinity frauds; and market manipulation schemes.
Using that criteria would also ban discussion of currencies. They have no inherent value other than the goods that can be purchased with them (same as crypto) and currencies such as the USD and others have negative long term returns after factoring inflation.

I am glad that the forum is moderating all this speculative conversation about crypto, but the criteria proposed isn’t well thought out.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by ivk5 »

FireSekr wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 3:20 am I am glad that the forum is moderating all this speculative conversation about crypto, but the criteria proposed isn’t well thought out.
I’d be interested to know what alternate criterion/a you would have proposed.

IMO not too important to overthink this. It’s explicitly not designed as a test to be applied based on moderator’s judgment, it’s serving more as a rationale to gut check whether crypto is being unfairly singled out or whether this is an overly conservative reaction to a revolutionary innovation.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by AlohaJoe »

FireSekr wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 3:20 am
Using that criteria would also ban discussion of currencies.
So? Why shouldn't currencies as an investment strategy be banned on Bogleheads? This forum doesn't need to provide a home for every single investment strategy in the world

I'm almost always I'm favour of stronger moderation on the internet forums I frequent. For every 1 forum "ruined" by excess moderation, I've seen 500 ruined by too little moderation.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by Alex Frakt »

FireSekr wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 3:20 am Using that criteria would also ban discussion of currencies. They have no inherent value other than the goods that can be purchased with them (same as crypto) and currencies such as the USD and others have negative long term returns after factoring inflation.

I am glad that the forum is moderating all this speculative conversation about crypto, but the criteria proposed isn’t well thought out.
Of course currencies have inherent value. They have the full taxing authority of the issuing government behind them and, in the US at least, everyone is required to accept them as payment for any incurred debts.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by Paradise »

celia wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 2:32 am
Greater Fool Investing Strategies

Discussions of investment strategies based on securities or physical assets that have no underlying value or negative expected long term returns are prohibited. Examples include: cryptocurrencies; lottery tickets; tulip bulbs; Ponzi, pyramid, and multi-level marketing schemes; affinity frauds; and market manipulation schemes.
Alex, If you're going to use this criteria, why don't you also include California housing, Precious Metal funds, and the VIX index?
Housing: tangible physical asset with an actual value. Necessary for basic human survival.
Precious metal: tangible physical asset with an actual value. Used in equipment and things that people enjoy wearing.
I don’t think that I’ve ever seen a post about buying VIX futures...

Bitcoin’s value is directly related to convincing others to join in. These topics and posts are tiresome and at the very worst marketing for the posters to increase their investment value.

My biggest concern is that people who have no idea what Bitcoin is are going to be left holding a now $39,000 bag. It’s just so dangerous and I agree that we should be helping people on this forum acquire sustainable long term wealth... not chase after highly risky, highly speculative gambles. Imagine you come to Bogleheads, a forum filled with financially literate people, and see a bunch of posts about Bitcoin. What message is that sending?
Last edited by Paradise on Wed May 19, 2021 5:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by WorkToLive »

Thank you, Bogleheads moderators!
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by LadyGeek »

Does anyone not understand the policy? I'm concerned that those without an investing background may not understand "negative expected long term return". Or, perhaps why "tulip bulbs" are listed.

As noted by Alex:
Alex Frakt wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 1:46 am Note that the exact wording may change as we receive further feedback, but the basic message will not.
If the terminology is unclear, please suggest better wording.

To be clear, we're not crowd-sourcing our policy. It is only to ensure that the terminology of this one change is clearly understood.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by Stinky »

Bravo!

I think that the BH leadership team has come to a well-thought-out policy that the Moderators can work with.

I like it.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by RJC »

Thank you Mods. This is a step in the right direction.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by Paradise »

Question: are any posts containing references to crypto in violation of the rule? It says discussions of investment strategies. Does this also include news or passing comments/references within another discussion. Should it be treated as a banned word?
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by dukeblue219 »

Wow, color me surprised. Question, though - does this mean only discussion of crypto as an investing strategy is banned (e.g. "Should I allocate market weight to Bitcoin?") or does it extend to all discussion of crypto, period?

Additional comment - if a user posts their investment allocations and asks for feedback, are they prohibited from mentioning that they have a large bitcoin account? If they do, are BH prohibited from suggesting to "rebalance" away from crypto?
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by LadyGeek »

Answer: The moderators are going to use their discretion. We'll work things out as we go along.

Before this gets out of hand - We certainly understand that some members own cryptocurrency in their portfolio. Discussions within the context of managing your portfolio make sense to continue the discussion.

Dedicated threads like "Crytpcurrency in free fall", "Cryptocurrency is soaring" and similar discussions are definitely off-limits.

Remember that the point of this whole thing is that we've strayed from Jack Bogle's investing advice. We're getting back on-track by removing those topics which caused us to lose focus.

If someone wants to discuss cryptocurrency to rebalance a portfolio in that direction (for example...), the discussion should be permitted.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by tonyclifton »

Thank you for the notice and explanation. The moderators here do a fantastic job.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by alpine_boglehead »

Big thanks to you mods for your work.

It's the right thing to do. "Adult" "investors" "discussing" cryptocurrencies have other forums where they can do that.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by NerdicSkier »

I support this policy but could we wait until tomorrow to implement it? I was hoping for some bitcoin schadenfreude today. Actually, I hope for that everyday tbh.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by Rex66 »

Speculative crypto should be discouraged

The wording seems to broad

Lots of riskier investments are considered here

I don’t own any crypto by the way
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by JonnyDVM »

Even as a participant in those threads I don’t mind. I’m sure they took a lot of policing from the mods. We can always go back to arguing about how much international.

My only question is- has Homer J started his victory lap yet, and how far does he intend to run before circling back?
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by watchnerd »

While I hold crypto at global market weight relative to stocks and bonds (as noted in my signature), I'm an odd duck who just sees it as part of an experiment in extending the Sharpe portfolio, and am letting the allocation play itself out as the market dictates, I'm supportive of this policy.

While I would be interested in discussions role securitized non-stock/non-bond assets (e.g. ETF-backed gold) play in a global market cap weighted portfolio, I can see why this is difficult to police.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by MishkaWorries »

LadyGeek wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 6:21 am If someone wants to discuss cryptocurrency to rebalance a portfolio in that direction (for example...), the discussion should be permitted.
This is where I get confused. How can the mods differentiate between crypto as an investment strategy vs how much crypto to hold in a portfolio?

I don't have a dog in this fight since I don't own crypto and I don't know, or care, enough about it to participate in those threads.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by JonnyDVM »

watchnerd wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 6:53 am While I hold crypto at global market weight relative to stocks and bonds (as noted in my signature), I'm an odd duck who just sees it as part of an experiment in extending the Sharpe portfolio, and am letting the allocation play itself out as the market dictates, I'm supportive of this policy.

While I would be interested in discussions role securitized non-stock/non-bond assets (e.g. ETF-backed gold) play in a global market cap weighted portfolio, I can see why this is difficult to police.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by Random Musings »

Good decision by moderators. I can see someone discussing why the have x% of something, even crypto, as part of a portfolio, with rebalancing (even though I would not touch it), but I think there were too many Reddit type posts hyping the stuff.

And quit calling it a currency, daily volatilities just say speculation to me, not a currency. Some of the products out there will survive, but in the end, I think it will be a niche product.

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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by SimpleMan68 »

This is a prudent move and one that is in line with the stated purpose of this site, namely, "investing advice inspired by Jack Bogle". When once asked about "investing" in Bitcoin, Mr. Bogle responded, "avoid it like the plague". Enough said.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by happyisland »

This kind of thoughtful moderation is one of the main reasons I love this site. Cheers to the mods for keeping things on track. :sharebeer
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by LadyGeek »

MishkaWorries wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 6:56 am
LadyGeek wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 6:21 am If someone wants to discuss cryptocurrency to rebalance a portfolio in that direction (for example...), the discussion should be permitted.
This is where I get confused. How can the mods differentiate between crypto as an investment strategy vs how much crypto to hold in a portfolio?

I don't have a dog in this fight since I don't own crypto and I don't know, or care, enough about it to participate in those threads.
I don't have any answer except to say that it's a judgment call. This is the difficulty of trying to do what's right. We want to align with Jack Bogle's investing philosophy, but not suppress discussions which will help the investor.*

The only thing I can say at this point is "We'll know it when we see it". We use the same type of discretion when we moderate other sections of the policy, such as economic policy or political discussion. In those cases, the rationale is to maintain a "civil" discussion.

The change implemented here is to stay focused on "Investing Advice Inspired by Jack Bogle".

* Jack Bogle says it's OK to use no more than 5% of your portfolio for "fun money". It's the most you can afford to lose and not mess up your retirement. (I'm just explaining policy here, but wanted to throw this in.)
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by exoilman »

chw wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 2:36 am I also support this action, given the basic investing principles of this board, and the highly speculative nature of crypto investing. To continue the discussions on this board regarding crypto (which seem to be spreading like weeds), could seem to legitimize these investments on this forum.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by ensign_lee »

I disagree with this strongly. While I agree that there were probably too many individual threads about it, banning the discussion of crypto wholesale seems like too strong of a reaction.

Perhaps just limiting it to one thread would be the best course of action?

That being said, bogleheads is a private website that can do whatever it wishes, so...
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by Cyclesafe »

I tried for a while to better parse the wording, but my attempts couldn't pass the KISS test. The mods will know a violation when they see it.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by watchnerd »

MishkaWorries wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 6:56 am
LadyGeek wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 6:21 am If someone wants to discuss cryptocurrency to rebalance a portfolio in that direction (for example...), the discussion should be permitted.
This is where I get confused. How can the mods differentiate between crypto as an investment strategy vs how much crypto to hold in a portfolio?

I don't have a dog in this fight since I don't own crypto and I don't know, or care, enough about it to participate in those threads.
I don't have an answer, but one possibility would be to set one boundary condition on the "packaging".

Trusts like GBTC and ETHE can be bought in regular investment accounts. There are similar products available in other markets, and Canada has actual crypto ETFs.

Those are still highly volatile assets, to say the least, but they probably have fewer implementation risks regarding keys.

They're also restricted to the very largest and liquid crypto assets, where the danger of a rug pull is less.

You also can't trade them 24x7x365, which limits the level of dopamine driven gambling behavior.
Last edited by watchnerd on Wed May 19, 2021 7:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by LadyGeek »

ensign_lee wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 7:07 am I disagree with this strongly. While I agree that there were probably too many individual threads about it, banning the discussion of crypto wholesale seems like too strong of a reaction.

Perhaps just limiting it to one thread would be the best course of action?

That being said, bogleheads is a private website that can do whatever it wishes, so...
One thread didn't work. It's also too broad a topic to keep to one thread and be understandable.
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by MishkaWorries »

LadyGeek wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 7:05 am
MishkaWorries wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 6:56 am
LadyGeek wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 6:21 am If someone wants to discuss cryptocurrency to rebalance a portfolio in that direction (for example...), the discussion should be permitted.
This is where I get confused. How can the mods differentiate between crypto as an investment strategy vs how much crypto to hold in a portfolio?

I don't have a dog in this fight since I don't own crypto and I don't know, or care, enough about it to participate in those threads.
I don't have any answer except to say that it's a judgment call. This is the difficulty of trying to do what's right. We want to align with Jack Bogle's investing philosophy, but not suppress discussions which will help the investor.*

The only thing I can say at this point is "We'll know it when we see it". We use the same type of discretion when we moderate other sections of the policy, such as economic policy or political discussion. In those cases, the rationale is to maintain a "civil" discussion.

The change implemented here is to stay focused on "Investing Advice Inspired by Jack Bogle".

* Jack Bogle says it's OK to use no more than 5% of your portfolio for "fun money". It's the most you can afford to lose and not mess up your retirement. (I'm just explaining policy here, but wanted to throw this in.)
I, and I hope all, appreciate the work the moderators do to keep this forum a valuable and welcoming place

Thank you all.
We plan. G-d laughs.
SteadyOne
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by SteadyOne »

Great move. There are plenty of other forums elsewhere to discuss cryptos.
“Every de­duc­tion is al­lowed as a mat­ter of leg­isla­tive grace.” US Federal Court
dukeblue219
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by dukeblue219 »

Presumably the broader purpose of the thread is relevant here, just as it would has been for other off-topic topics. A thread about managing one's portfolio that happens include crypto is a different animal than a thread primarily about benefits of crypto. There are better forums for those posts.

Good luck to you all dealing with this for a few days... I know it won't be fun. Will need to come up with a new limerick for the occasion ;)
LukeHeinz57
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Location: Ohio

Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by LukeHeinz57 »

Bravo. I love this site precisely for decisions like this. It keeps the forum from becoming like the cesspool of the internet that most finance boards devolve in to eventually.
"Contentment", the only thing you ever truly need more of!
Normchad
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by Normchad »

Thank you, thank you, thank you.
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grogu
Posts: 258
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by grogu »

I’m not a cheerleader, but this seems unnecessarily paternalistic and inconsistently judgmental (essentially characterizing it as a “scheme”) about one particular asset...

But as for the policy itself: Is there any more latitude for discussion of GBTC and forthcoming crypto ETFs? The token risk that concerns you is far less of a concern with these.
SethJane42
Posts: 267
Joined: Sat May 09, 2020 5:38 pm

Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by SethJane42 »

Such discussion has helped me stay away from crypto, as I've learned a great deal about it from people here. Free flow of ideas and opinion about investments is always better.
qwertyjazz
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by qwertyjazz »

Any possibility of a wiki page as to the logic? I have learned a lot by reading people’s response to crypto.
viewtopic.php?p=6002077#p6002077
Nisiprius’ recent response solidified a lot about not only how I can think about crypto but also about the next alt investment which will come up at some point in the future.
G.E. Box "All models are wrong, but some are useful."
Ramjet
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by Ramjet »

Forbidding discussion on topics people are interested in learning about or understanding is rarely the right answer

It is an extreme thing to do
Ramjet
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by Ramjet »

SethJane42 wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 7:21 am Such discussion has helped me stay away from crypto, as I've learned a great deal about it from people here. Free flow of ideas and opinion about investments is always better.
Exactly! It works both ways. Discussion does not mean people will flock to do it, quite the opposite sometimes actually
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watchnerd
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by watchnerd »

JonnyDVM wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 6:58 am My only regret is not being able to respond to an accusation leveled while I was sleeping that “my kind” is responsible for crashing the crypto market. 😂
The behavior of the instigator / "advocate" in question may have been one of the actors that weighed into the mod decision.
Global stocks, IG/HY bonds, gold & digital assets at market weights 75% / 19% / 6% || LMP: TIPS ladder
rick51
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Re: New Forum Policy Prohibiting Discussions of Cryptocurrency, Market Manipulation Schemes, etc as Investing Strategies

Post by rick51 »

Whenever I see tulip bulbs and the speculative mania associated with it mentioned on the forum I can’t help but think of the fascinating interview that Rick Ferri had on the Bogleheads podcast with Jamie Catherwood. Check out episode #31 at the 10:28 mark in the interview.
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