Poll: Have you set the politics message board to ignore?

[Read the Footnotes]

Years ago I set the politics section to "ignore". It has made CoB&F much more useful and enjoyable for me. Have you set Politics to "ignore"?

 

In the Politics section, I appreciate the contributions of Schwab711 and a few others who have actually posted real contributions, such as links to primary materials, or well reasoned analysis. The problem is that some members post their opinion with nothing to back up their assertions, or even worse, they spend their time insulting other board members. I see those posts as adding nothing of value.

 

Please vote in the poll and, if you have set or intend to set the politics sections to ignore, please tell us why in your comments, or tell us why you haven't.

 

If you don't know how to set a section to ignore, here's how you can do it.

• First, you must be a member, and you must be logged in.
  
• Choose "profile" from the navigation menu just beneath the CoB&F logo.
  
• From the drop down menu, select "account settings".
  
• On the account settings page, you will see navigation side bar. Choose "Ignore Boards Options"
  
• Click on the check box for any boards you want to ignore.
  
• Be sure to click the "change profile" button at the bottom right of the page in order to save your preferences.
  

[nodnub]

I set that sub-forum to ignore a long time ago.  There are some good discussions there but they are needles in the haystack.

 

From the outside it looks like a competition to see who can demonstrate the most cognitive biases and logical fallacies in a single post    ;D

[Gamecock-YT]

No, I just choose not to click on the politics forum.

[Foreign Tuffett]

No, I just choose not to click on the politics forum.

 

Definitely this

[mjm]

where is the button?  to set it to ignore I mean

[John Hjorth]

where is the button?

 

+1! - I'm desperate to vote! - I hope you can edit the poll, Read the Footnotes [i suppose you've set it to be open for a very short time span].

[Read the Footnotes]

where is the button?

 

+1! - I'm desperate to vote! - I hope you can edit the poll, Read the Footnotes [i suppose you've set it to be open for a very short time span].

 

The poll should still be open. I did not set an expiration date. I see others have been able to vote very recently.

 

I noticed at some point in the past that the poll feature doesn't seem to work with all mobile devices. I would try using a different device or different browser.

 

If others have had the same problem as John, please chime in with what device, browser OS you're using and maybe we can pinpoint the problem and pass it along.

 

where is the button?  to set it to ignore I mean

 

MJM, if you've followed the instructions in my original post and don't see a box beside Politics, then I am guessing you are having a problem with compatibility. As I said above, I remember previously noting that some of the lesser used functions have some compatibility issues, so it could be you are having a similar issue to what I noticed in the past. I would recommend trying to use a different browser or a different device. It's worth taking a moment to find that check box, you'll save time in the long run.

[John Hjorth]

Thanks for clarifying, Read the Footnotes,

 

I'm on a Win PC using Chrome. I've tried to grab one of the iPads in the house, too, still no-go.

[oddballstocks]

The problem if you don't ignore it is the politics posts gum up the headings of the most recent posts.

 

I'll make an admission, I visit the site every few days, skim the most recent posts and from there decide whether I want to click through.  If it's an interesting title, or a name I know I'll read, otherwise I bounce.

 

When politics is enabled it was hard to know that anything else was being talked about.

[cwericb]

Not a big fan of ignore buttons in general. If you don’t want to read something why click on it?

 

Have read some really dumb posts on other boards because the poster didn’t read a previous post since he had that poster on “Ignore”.

[Read the Footnotes]

Thanks for clarifying, Read the Footnotes,

 

I'm on a Win PC using Chrome. I've tried to grab one of the iPads in the house, too, still no-go.

 

I just confirmed the poll does not work with my iPad. That must be where I have seen issues before.

[CorpRaider]

I just did.  Thanks!  It was crowding out the new posts list.

[Cardboard]

I find amazing that some people want to avoid looking or hearing about politics and then consider themselves investors.

 

It is not that I like politics, especially the debate but, it is impossible to invest if you don't know what is likely to happen to regulations, taxes, laws and now we even have people on the left with some chances to take power attacking the capitalist system itself.

 

Even if you buy index funds, you need to have an idea as to what these people are looking to implement. It is fine to put a blind on and hope for the best but, that is all you are doing hoping and not investing which is a process of determining when the balance of risk vs reward is on your side.

[oddballstocks]

I find amazing that some people want to avoid looking or hearing about politics and then consider themselves investors.

 

It is not that I like politics, especially the debate but, it is impossible to invest if you don't know what is likely to happen to regulations, taxes, laws and now we even have people on the left with some chances to take power attacking the capitalist system itself.

 

Even if you buy index funds, you need to have an idea as to what these people are looking to implement. It is fine to put a blind on and hope for the best but, that is all you are doing hoping and not investing which is a process of determining when the balance of risk vs reward is on your side.

 

While I agree with this, I think it's dangerous to mistake aunts and uncles arguing about politics and headlines is the same as being informed about what's going on.  I equate the politics forum here to the aunts and uncles.  My relatives can get quite heated about things, some factual, most emotional, and maybe it's good as a thermometer on an issue.  Or maybe it just shows how much TV they watch.

[writser]

Bingo. I'm interested in politics. I'm just absolutely not interested in CoBF members discussing politics.

[DooDiligence]

Yep.

 

This is where the adults have conversations.

 

Twitter is for childish spats & I get sucked in over there a lot.

[SharperDingaan]

Politics is unavoidable in the investment decision process, but we don't need to see it every time we log in.

For most people; just keeping it on ignore, and 'sampling' once every 2 weeks, is more than enough.

 

SD

[Read the Footnotes]

Bingo. I'm interested in politics. I'm just absolutely not interested in CoBF members discussing politics.

 

Wrister, could you elaborate on the specific reasons you are not interested in the discussion on CoB&F? Is it the quality of discussion? Is it specific behaviors or practices that are an issue?

 

Is there something that would make the section useful to you? Do you find the contributions of some contributions useful?

 

By the way, thank you for the excellent contributions you have made on CoB&F. You have posted tons of good materials and comments over the years.

[Gregmal]

Don't like it? Dont click on it. Real Simple.

 

Dont want to have to scroll through posts??? God help you when it actually comes to scrolling through something laborious like an SEC filing....much more tedious than just dragging the mouse down and ever so slightly moving your eyes...

[Liberty]

Twitter is for childish spats & I get sucked in over there a lot.

 

You're not following the right people and/or muting the right keywords, then. Twitter is whatever you make of it, very maleable.

[SharperDingaan]

Twitter is for childish spats & I get sucked in over there a lot.

 

You're not following the right people and/or muting the right keywords, then. Twitter is whatever you make of it, very maleable.

 

A few tidbits, courtesy of some friends who were very good at this - and in the pre 'social media' world.

They were both women, and they both died peacefully in their beds, surrounded by grandchildren -  at a very old age.

 

The intent of high volume communication, is to make you auto-filter ... make you create an echo-chamber, consistent with your own view. All I need then do to change your view -- is change the frequency of messages containing your filtered words. You will think you have more support than you actually have, and your opposition is bigger than it actually is ... 'cause I tampered with your feed  ;)

 

The intent of noise, colours, motion, etc. is to overwhelm. Just as your eyes do not 'show' your brain everything they see (they show 'bits'; your brain fills in the rest), your cognitive processing is selective. Hence, all I need do to change your view, is to make those things I want you to process - addictive. If I then control the frequency of this input, I can essentially 'control' you. :)

 

The intent of the manipulation is to either 1) make you do something ('do nothing' is the enemy), or 2) make you accept change (the 'current' is not sustainable). The think nothing of it, and don't think to question. Obviously, the tool has many potential applications - some good, some not so much.

 

There are of course a number of very effective 'counter-measures', but they will remain anonymous.

 

SD

 

 

 

 

[RichardGibbons]

Wrister, could you elaborate on the specific reasons you are not interested in the discussion on CoB&F? Is it the quality of discussion? Is it specific behaviors or practices that are an issue?

 

I'll answer this. Most of the politics discussions on CoB&F are grounded in ideology rather than reason and science, and therefore not very interesting. Take global warming. It's been settled for science for decades, but many on CoB&F pretend that it's a disputed issue.

 

So, I treat the politics section in the same way that I'd treat anti-vax or flat-earther forums. If one's time has any value whatsoever, there's not many reasons to spend time talking to anti-vaxers or flat-earthers.

 

On other forums I do talk about politics, but there I'm mostly trying to push left-wingers to the right. That's more interesting because the left (excluding communists) mostly believes that their positions should be grounded in evidence, reason, and science which means that those positions can be challenged on that basis.

[Read the Footnotes]

 

The intent of the manipulation is to either 1) make you do something ('do nothing' is the enemy), or 2) make you accept change (the 'current' is not sustainable). The think nothing of it, and don't think to question. Obviously, the tool has many potential applications - some good, some not so much.

 

There are of course a number of very effective 'counter-measures', but they will remain anonymous.

 

SD

 

Thank you for your thoughtful comments. You clearly have your own unique voice in all your posts. I have heard it said that a unique voice is a sign that someone is not acting as an ideologue and is likely to engage sincerely in debate.

 

I would like to add to one point you make here. Although in advertising and commerce the goal is frequently to a consumer to take an action as you said, when it comes to political disinformation, a very common goal IS to discourage someone from doing something. Voter suppression is frequently a goal and that makes my point, but there are plenty of other examples.

 

Disinformation primarily is aimed at creating distrust or apathy. A passive, demoralized, disinterested populace is frequently the ideal outcome because they will be better opponent and less likely to offer resistance as an adversary.

 

Whether it's Russian disinformation, or Trump talking the message often is that "everybody's a crook, so why bother". That is the common theme. The fact that Russian disinformation and Trump supporters have this in common is probably just coincidence. Criminals frequently justify their actions by telling themselves and others that "everybody does it". When in fact that's not the case. Criminals are in fact rather rare. In the case of Russian disinformation, it is much more the case of decades of practices and refining of their techniques and distrust and demoralization has worked for them for decades.

[TwoCitiesCapital]

Not a big fan of ignore buttons in general. If you don’t want to read something why click on it?

 

Have read some really dumb posts on other boards because the poster didn’t read a previous post since he had that poster on “Ignore”.

 

This has been my take. No, I haven't "ignored" it, but I have ignored it and not clicked into the bulk of the topics.

 

Why do I need to remove them from view if I can simply choose not to be baited into clicking on it?

[dwy000]

Wrister, could you elaborate on the specific reasons you are not interested in the discussion on CoB&F? Is it the quality of discussion? Is it specific behaviors or practices that are an issue?

 

I'll answer this. Most of the politics discussions on CoB&F are grounded in ideology rather than reason and science, and therefore not very interesting. Take global warming. It's been settled for science for decades, but many on CoB&F pretend that it's a disputed issue.

 

So, I treat the politics section in the same way that I'd treat anti-vax or flat-earther forums. If one's time has any value whatsoever, there's not many reasons to spend time talking to anti-vaxers or flat-earthers.

 

On other forums I do talk about politics, but there I'm mostly trying to push left-wingers to the right. That's more interesting because the left (excluding communists) mostly believes that their positions should be grounded in evidence, reason, and science which means that those positions can be challenged on that basis.

 

There are very few "undecideds" on any political discussion.  Anyone joining a discussion on the Politics board probably has already taken a side.  It is futile trying to get people to change their views based upon logic, facts or argument.  It just makes them defensive and more strident in their views.  There's a reason cults recruit people thru friendship, support and suggestion.