strength in numbers, page-174

Goodness me T10 - two losses in a row by the Wallabies have made your grey matter turn to mush!

Perhaps you should discover or rediscover the virtue of attention (a rare phenomenon these days) - attention to what posters are ACTUALLY saying in their posts rather than being distracted by superficialities like number of thumbs.

I certainly agree that thumbs should be regarded with a pinch of salt because they largely measure the 'popularity' rather than the 'efficacy' of posts. But sometimes, of course, popularity and efficacy coincide - such as in the equaliser's excellent posts.

In those cases at least, it behooves critics (such as yourself) to address the ARGUMENTS rather than irrelevancies such as the number of thumbs.

But you have not done that. You have merely trundled out a few of the old cliquey and obfuscating HC shibboleths and cliches (such as the uselessness of thumbs, the alleged desire of holders to only want 'going up stories to flourish', the desire of holders to 'hide' reality etc).

In doing that Trader, you have made the ugly error of generalisation! There will always be some who misread thumbs, who want only positive stories to flourish and who want to ignore unfriendly or bad news. They exist in all stocks and all walks of life. (There are probably even some people about still in denial about the obvious superiority over Australia of the English Rugby team!)

If you bothered to actually read and comprehend the majority of posts on the XPE threads, you would realise that the majority of posters here are, in fact, not starry-eyed as you so vigorously and dismissively imply. They accept that there is still de-risking to do (despite the enormous potential). They also understand and accept that SP's do not travel in straight lines.

They can also see straight through those (the "hollow men") who change their tone and interpretations with the wind to suit their personal buying or selling shares. They can also see through those who do this in packs, engage in mutual hero-worship and back-slapping and use esoteric language to reify their dark arts and to throw hunters off the scent.

You would do well to provide specifics in your commentary - rather than just obfuscating generalisations? Or is the latter all you have to offer? E.g. what is the 'white noise' you are referring to? Who is making it? Why will it lead to losing? What is the "reality" that "makes the wise words that comes before the actions". What are the 'wise words' and what "actions" do they "come before"???

Posturing is easy. Making credible, evidence-based arguments such as those posted by many here over the last couple of days is far more difficult.

Your dismissive, insulting, unsupported and impatient retort to these well-supported arguments (referring to low IQ's, heads in the sand etc) will only earn you the contempt (from most here) that your post deserves.