One Reason Why Blogs are Growing in Influence
Josh Brown of The Reformed Broker was discussing some of the more nasty comments sections on the internet (I won’t name names) and it got me thinking about why I run this site and how I run it. I’ve always had a strict one strike policy on comments here at Pragcap. I hate seeing people denigrating each other or the authors (especially yours truly – actually, I deserve it a lot of the time so have at it!). But what really bothers me is how this takes away from the general goal of the website which is to help people better understand the investment world, finance and money. When you allow petty conversations to rule the website you detract from an environment that is intended to foster learning. It’s a lot like letting kids talk in class. It just can’t happen.
And that got me thinking about why blogs are often so much more attractive than mainstream media sites. The MSM sites are in it for the profits. That’s really all there is to it. And they drive profit by driving traffic to the site. So controversy is often a big part of the game to drive traffic. The more controversial something is the more traffic it will garner, the more conversation it will attract, etc. If you waste your time writing articles about the monetary system and the comments are mostly just a few nerds trying to hash out the details then you don’t get the page views (being the chief nerd, I speak from experience here). I know what drives traffic to a website and I made a decision a long time ago that this website wasn’t going to be nothing but a traffic whore based on articles about politics, gold, Apple, porn and conspiracy theories about the national debt and Federal Reserve. No, I was going to try to teach people something important about money, finance and the investment world. In other words, my goal wasn’t to drive the bottom line of the website (which, trust me, isn’t anything that I will retire off of). My goal was also to inform. Yes, there are intangible benefits from running the site, but I think this is one key area where blogs really trounce the MSM. There’s an element of the little guy being there for the rest of the little guys. I might not know many you, but I do care. And the things I write about are things I think are influencing all of your lives in some fashion. Not just things I want to jam down your throat so I can drive traffic.
Granted, there’s all sorts of potential negatives about blogs. The writing is often worse (I am a terribly writer) and we often make mistakes that professional journalists just don’t make (checking sources is one point here). But I think you get a certain sense of authenticity and caring at blogs that you don’t get at MSM sites. And I think the financial blogosophere is particularly unique in the internet because some of the people writing are masters of their domain. There are lot of professionals in the field of finance and economics who spend big chunks of their time blogging. That’s incredible. And the best part is if you don’t like something you just exit it. What a valuable educational resource the internet has become.
Anyhow, I am rambling and I am obviously biased in my opinion here, but I think this is one of the key reasons why people are gravitating increasingly towards blogs with time. It’s not just about the bottom line for most bloggers. It’s about something more. That’s the way capitalism should be.
Cullen Roche
Mr. Roche is the Founder of Orcam Financial Group, LLC. Orcam is a financial services firm offering research, private advisory, institutional consulting and educational services.
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27 Comments
I appreciate this site because of the one strike policy and it is refreshing to see.
regards
Steve
Good stuff, CR…it’s why we keep checking in at pragcap…despite the lack of porn
Cullen – this is the best education and discussion in the world of finance currently. Thanks for your efforts. It doesn’t go unnoticed.
No need to exaggerate, but thanks guys.
It is the way Pragmatic Capitalism should be.
Check out the comment section on Zero hedge. The only value added are the articles themselves.
Here you find interresting articles with interresting comments. I have no idea how you pull that one off to keep the trolls at bay, but it works so far. keep up the good work Cullen.
Although I appreciate the info provided here, I also call this blog from time to time “Dogmatic Capitalism”.
The greatest compliment to this site may be that you persist in following it, and by your own admission (reflected I think in some of your comments) have modified your views based on what you have learned here.
You perceive it dogmatic because you patently REFUSE to engage in discussions. I’m not sure why Cullen lets you persist in posting here, but maybe it’s because you’re relatively harmless in your obstinacy.
Let’s hear it for econoblogs, including those with unique perspectives from the periphery
PPP Lusofonia
Specialization is the key idea in the explosion of finacial blogs.
You’ve done a great job building a community. You’re also not an ego maniac which is the other driving factor for much of the quasi-MSM (since Howard Stern and more recently Fox), and often for the commenters as well (who generally fall under the categories of the “crazies” or the “I can’t be a giant so better to be a giant killer”).
The other advantage of the blogosphere with professionals and active practitioners, is they express a view, whereas the old-school MSM just strive for fair and balanced reporting. But, (macro) investing isn’t like that … you have to pick sides, there’s nothing fair about it.
Plus, how many investing blogs mention Da Vinci!
ZH is moral zero when it comes to useless comment sections. On the other hand, satire is often mistaken for trolling…
“I am a terribly writer.” I see what you did there….
That wuz a totl mistake. Servz me write.
Congratulations Cullen! We have had our differences, but I think everyone has incorporated some of the views of the other, i.e. everyone has learned something.
Trying to learn and understand how the “machine” works has always been my goal. And that’s why I drop by here.
Yes, I think we’ve all evolved our views to some degree here. Ultimately, I think MR has developed into something that most of us agree with (at least I hope). It’s been a nice learning process for all involved.
I was sure you did it deliberately.
Thank you for your service to the common people at large . I can’t remember when I first discovered this site ( probably sometime before or during the last financial crash), which means it must have been a while, but I have read it daily ever since.
Agree with you that a some blogs are very educational like yours even when the readers does not always agree with the writers point of view. Though blogs may not be as well written as MSM, most blogs were written by people who have expertise in that particular field unlike MSM where the reporters of contributors just a have peripheral knowledge of the topic they are talking about. That gives an illusion that they know the subject,while true, does not mean they understand the subject. And most MSM is fawning about their subjects in financial markets, deifying them without understanding the implications. ( for example: John Paulson’s great trade while well executed as it’s quite complex does not consider the risk.He had a separate fund wholly invested in that single trade and if the crash had been delayed for a while even an year or two investors would have been completely wiped out. Like what happened to Ackman’s Target trade, if the financial crisis had not happened at that time he probably would not have lost so much money.) MSM never talks about that kind of risks as the success makes a great story without ever providing nary a detail about the risks involved.
There are many things that keep me coming back to this site. I was schooled in the Austrian school of economics and while it works on explaining thins like incremental value (your hundredth diamond is less valuable to you than your first), it fails to understand how the machine works, which is what I am interested in.
Also, when I have a broker call me up and say that I need to invest in x,y, or z and I play it on paper and find that it has a 35% loss and I am ahead of most other retirement systems by paying attention, I see little reason to listen to the “professionals” (professional whats?).
Thank you Cullen for helping me understand and taking a lot of worry out of my life. Send more pictures of dead white guys!
PS I still like the porn (very mild) idea, spice is nice!
Regards,
Bruce
Thank you
This has been one of the more important financial blog websites to me – I read it (nearly) daily and even though I have a lot of experience in the field I still find myself reading certain bits over and over again until I “get it”.
Thanks for your “terribly” writing lol.
Well, I still love the stylish cynicism of ZH, but I rarely even read guest posts, much less the comments section.
Speaking of, William Banzai recently poked a little fun at the ZeRo HeDGe CoMMeNT CYCle:
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-07-24/zero-hedge-comment-cycle
Cullen, nice article. Seeing other pros such as you succeed in this space motivated me to jump deeper into it. This is coming from a guy who managed billions in bond funds over the years. If the objective is to help people understand markets better to reach their goals, this is the way to do it. Thanks for all of your help and the great work on the site!
Best,
I’ll chime in too Cullen, great work on the site. I much appreciate the mindful dialogue and good quality information to consider in an age where “quality” is not often used in the same sentence as “information” and the noise caused by infobabble tripe is far too often deafening.
Good job !!
Can’t confirm whether this is the best blog site on the internetz but can personally affirm that it trumps most including Zero Hedge (which many readers may disagree with). What I like most about your approach is that it is data-driven/supported and therefore tries to cut to the core of what is objectively true. The world needs more non-sheeple that make decisions or draw conclusions based on tangible evidence rather than on speculative assumptions or purely anecdotal/non-verifiable data. I don’t necessarily have anything against ad hominem attacks but props to this site for keeping a clean house.
This site has certainly helped me . Well Done.