Re: markgraf / criticism of upChuck/ontario, bashers:

1) Useless posts are ones that are either negative or positive but without any meat to them. The vacuous posts are more often bashers, but not necessarily so. Useless posts will be criticized, put down and/or ignored.

Most of us are perfectly happy with critical posts, including ones with a negative conclusion - see some of my recent posts, for example, on expecting a NR very soon. The point is to put some "meat" in it - reasons, backup information - something of genuine interest. And be respectful of the other members of the board - have something constructive to say. Would you invite someone back to your house if they just slapped everyone in the room and then left?

I dislike "$8 tomorrow rah rah rah! EOM" posts as much as "below $2 this week!" (upChuck, that one). Both are a waste of time. A post can be negative or positive, but if it's particularly negative and vacuous a person can expect a hearty shove in the SH direction. Real thought, real info, we appreciate.

2) Educate yourself about agoracom. You haven't been here 1 month yet. Avoid shooting from the hip (which, as it turns out, is one of the things you are decrying. The pot calling the kettle ....). Some of your posts have been good, some a little skinny on the bone. Go for quality.

3) A person gets negative points by putting in posts that break the rules of Agoracom. Check the rules out. A cancelled post results in a subtraction of points, and that can even make your score negative. Message removal is done rarely and only for good reason.

4) Recognize the reality that there are paid bashers. Just the same as people in the government and in Microsoft have been busted for trying to tilt the opinion of boards, you can be sure that some stock board posters are being paid to push an agenda.

Luckily, paid posters are not overly hard to see through. Their posts don't make sense, aren't backed up by fact, often contain unverifiable claims ("IR told my friend's cousin's dog that it will rain elephants tomorrow"), and most of all, the paid posters show a pattern on the other boards they write on. But we do have to keep a keen eye out.

5) Whining posts don't win respect for anyone on Agoracom. Defending ontario=chukkie is ridiculous - their stuff is drivel. Your score is a multiple of how many posts you make and how people rate you. If you want people to take you seriously, put in genuine, useful information and thought. It multiplies the score of all your posts. Simple as that.

6) You made some useful contributions to this board, and we welcome that. We welcome thoughtful, considerate members and we will drive away detrimental ones. Thanks.