Passions arose, and people thought that their opinions would be unwelcome - at least by some.
It is a tragedy when bloggers withhold useful information, due to fear of a subset of their audience's reaction.
Readers have confirmation bias. If we read something that we agree with, a post is 'obviously' correct, and the author is a 'nice person'. If we read something that we disagree with, the post is 'obviously wrong', and the author is a jerk. This has a place in social blogs, but should have little relevance to gold making blogs.
I have sufficient hubris to be confident in my own gold making skills, but know that there are always other options, things that I can do different. Sometimes I don't get it as right as I could. While it strokes my ego to have people agree with me, I sometimes get valuable information when people disagree with me.
The gold blogosphere has seen the worst of personalities attacking personalities. This serves no useful purpose, and certainly does not give me new ideas.
We have also seen the 'best' (in my opinion) of personality wars. Sometimes two bloggers will - by prior arangement - and with prior permission - needle each other. This adds colour and makes for a more interesting read.
So what is the difference?
As a reader:
- Listen to the arguments, not the personalities. If all you are reading is about personalities, you can file it for use as a filter of bias, but otherwise, the comment or post is of little use.
- Look for the value of posts and comments; especially where they disagree. You have a confirmation bias that inhibits you from learning new things.
- Engage the argument in preference to the personality.
- Engage personalities in a method that assists the message.
- Accept that readers that disagree may feel attacked. If you think that they are defensive, take the extra step to highlight you are engaging the argument.
PS. Shameless plug for my GDPK BWD Fri 15 July Alliance Caelestrasz 8:30 pm server 10man
Posts
I'm assuming it's the post about glyphs that you're referring to.
ReplyDeleteI just read the post itself, not the comments.
My problem is the absolutely idiotic nature of the post in question. Why devalue something because you want to own it instead of doing the same amount of work for up to 20x the profits? The post was a troll post, we all know it was a troll post, and it caused pre-determined drama.
If I'm off-base, and this wasn't a troll post that we're all referring to, I feel very bad for the intellectual capabilities of the poster of the 'strategy.'
Anon,
ReplyDeleteThank you for a perfect illustration of his point.
"My problem is the absolutely idiotic nature of the post in question."
Just because you disagree with something does NOT mean the point is idiodic or even wrong. There are multiple methods to control markets. There are multiple methods of making gold. I honestly wouldn't use the method posted, but if someone used it, it most likely would keep others from staying in that market for long - and maybe in the long run, they could make up the lost profit by re-inflating the market. Again, not something I'm up for... but no reason to call the article nor post an idiot.
People, we rae all here to try and make gold in a GAME. It's not real... don't get all upset because someone disagrees with your method or you don't agree with what someone else posted. Again, it's a GAME. If this was real gold, then I'd understand the emotion and hostilities a bit more.
On another note, it would be nice if the 'Anon' posts at least put a name to them... on this blog it doesn't even require you to validate a name/URL... but still people feel that they can't post even a name?
The way I figure it is this... as I tell my 9yr old (soon-to-be)-step-son as he gets upset by 'noobs' and 'deleters' on Roblox, if a game gets you that upset, it's time to walk away from the game. Games are meant to be enjoyable.
Like Matthew I agree the first post illustrates the problem. Points get made that come across very strongly and often are just plain insulting. Constructive feedback is not provided often enough. Some blogs just attract the negative posters and I find in some cases a blogger trying to defend himself ends up with more problems.
ReplyDeleteToo many people also post without finish reading the posts or some of the comments which can be from the blogger themselves. They often even state.....this article is useless...I read the first paragraph and stopped reading. Why comment at all. You are making a judgement with your values on limited information. Give people the benefit and let them explain their post even if you strongly disagree. Read the first feedback here and you see.....even he makes the comment,
I just read the post itself, not the comments
My point is that using anti competitive practices to "temporarily" ruin a market doesn't benefit you as much as being an actual player in the market. Re-inflating a market usually causes someone else to re-join the market and follow your lead. Consumers are less likely to buy something for 275g when they've seen it for 6g.
ReplyDeleteThe entire post we're discussing was an intentionally bad strategy that doesn't benefit the person utilizing it, and costs everyone else in the market the opportunity to make money. That's my primary point.