Subject: Re: eliminating tension on this board
" a communal mix of goodwill & tolerance will more than enable the free speech adoption to enrich participants learning (& prosperity) rather than poison the pool we're swimming in. I salute Manlobbi for betting this site would bring out the best from each participant in the group and providing the tools to control our individual experience."

Amen. What he said.

Anecdote alert:

Around I think 1996 - it may have been TMF 1.0, now that I think about it - I was starting to hang out on my first BB, an investment bulletin board. The topic was use of excess capital by a corporation.

I said something like,
"There's only about five things a corporation can prudently do with extra capital:
1) pay down debt
2) repurchase equity from existing partners i.e. share repurchases
3) capex to expand capacity or efficiency, i.e. make more widgets faster, and distribute them more quickly (or applied R&D to this end)
4) expand the business model to make gizmos as well as widgets, either by buying or building a gizmo factory
5) send it home to shareholders"

My point is that within a day or so, some drive-by poster said something very close to, "What an idiot! There's a whole lot of other things to do with it! What a MORON! Thank G-d for the frowny face!"

(Note the absence of any helpful examples of what those things might be)

Three things resulted:
1) it was my first personal experience that the internet enables maligant/angry/frustrated/childish bullies to say things they wouldn't have the courage to say FTF. I remember it still as an object lesson.
2) many years later, either WEB, CAM or Mungo (don't remember which, but a wise person whose expertise I respect) said in a public forum, almost word-for word: "Y'know, there's only about five things a prudent corporation can do with excess capital..."
3) I am very happy with the ratio of (emotionally mature adults) to (everyone else) at Shrewdm

Thanks, Manlobbi

--sutton