BADBOB and Parking Lot are prime examples of what the original concept is for COBs.
Parking Lot isn't exactly what I'd call a model for structuring the rest of the site. It's a venting place only. To keep that kind of "noise" out of the stock threads.
But it's already apparent that there will need to be restrictions on what can be considered a "personal" board. If people are going to be able to make threads where, by virtue of a disclaimer in the header, they can delete any post they want, then it's apparent that it's unwise to allow discussions of stocks or people in such threads.
Granted, only a stupendously foolish person would take anything market-related seriously on a board where a post gets deleted just because it runs counter to the "party line", and it's not my job to protect fools from themselves, but it's also my job to not just hand people the ability to so easily run scams like can happen in that environment.
I'll be working on how to deal with this potential abuse of the "personal board" concept, as it's already met with abuse in two separate instances.
But under no circumstances will threads about stocks be given "personal board" latitude.
However, the BADBOB thread sets the example that a COB can limit your posts and can suspend you from posting there if you do not post to a stock thread on topic with a 6 hour period.
True. It's a comparatively benign and unobtrusive way to put a different set of rules on a thread.
But it's not really a test-bed for the "personal board" thing. Note that I started that board before I was thinking about "personal boards" and even longer before I found out that the site already had something like that in place, though unwritten.
Actually, I put those rules in place to kind of "test" those rules themselves in a limited way. Not because I considered it a personal board or thought that a "personal board" had any kind of special status. More because, as the admin, I could do it if I wanted to. As the admin, I decided I could say "Okay, talk bad about me here, but if you do, you have to act like a person who belongs on a stock site too."
Posts don't get deleted for breaking that rule, though.
Imagine, if you will, a thread that's started up to talk about you. But the only people welcome are those who hate you. And posts by people who don't hate you can be deleted, since it's a "personal" thread.. Is that fair? Should it be allowed? My answer to both is a resounding "No!"
Another example: Imagine a thread that's started up to talk about a company that's privately held. But provides internet content. And a public company may have a stake in it. And it's alleged that some shady characters are tied in with it. The thread for it is a "personal" thread , so posts in it that bring to light some of these negatives are getting deleted as soon as they're posted. Is that right? Again, no.
And I'm not going to let it happen.
BTW, both scenarios are based on real situations here recently. In the former case, I should be deleting it so as not to set a bad precedent, but it's aimed at me (I still tend to allow stuff toward me I don't allow toward others), and really isn't getting much activity and its existence is proving a different point. Interestingly, it was created despite there being a similar thread on the site which *does* allow multiple points of view and which is being run very fairly. For some reason, it was thought necessary to create a venue where one-sidedness would be forced onto the thread.
My view of what makes a board a "personal" board is quite different from what those two boards were/are about.
Your personal board is what I'd normally consider a personal board. Just you posting your own musings. When such a thing is used for discussion of stocks, the market, or people, then it ceases to be a personal board (in this context) because it can be used to create an environment of only a biased viewpoint of relevant topics being presented.
And if it continues to happen (not talking about your board), we will either remove "personal board" status from such boards, or do away with the personal board concept altogether.
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