For the last few years I've been adding a discussion board here, another board there, and suddenly I was up to over a dozen a day.
Here's a pro/con summary of the boards I frequent:
E-R.org:
- Lots of resources, advice, and experiences. Always something happening.
- "Not the way it used to be", and that's not a good thing. Bloated software, slow-loading ads, too many DNS/server errors. Too big to read every thread.
REHP
- Great articles & research. Discussion board recently went H0cus-free.
- Discussion board is mostly crickets chirping (and two trolls grunting).
Raddr's board
- Great research and in-depth analysis. Fast software. Outstanding asset-allocation slice&dice and expat investing/travel discussions.
- Much smaller audience, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
ER Status Forum
- What the #$%^ is going on with E-R.org?!? Crisp software. Great community.
- Hmmm, can't think any cons.
Hawaii Threads
- Things I never knew about local culture & events. Strong expat community. A great place for non-residents to plan their "real Hawaii" vacations. Oddly enough uses E-R.org's vBulletin software but runs much faster.
- Mighty insular crowd (but not rude), much talk story.
Classmates.com
- High school classmates & reunion chatter.
- The most disgustingly ad-clogged website I have ever seen.
Navy.TogetherWeServed.com
- Best shipmate locater ever. Good for researching obscure Navy history/culture questions.
- Like hanging around Aloha Stadium during high-school graduation week. Fast-moving, way too many discussions to keep track of, no sense of overall discussion-board community. Most chatter is offline among shipmates.
Sailor Bob
- Surface warriors talking Navy current events.
- Can't really post personal info there; too many of these SWOs have worked with me or my spouse and would instantly recognize us. Maybe I'll post more there after she's retired.
Rigged For Dive
- Submariners.
- Discussions can bring back memories that give me nightmares.
I only rarely visit Ed Slott's IRA Help Forum
- Fantastic resource for all IRA questions, no matter how obscure or abstruse.
- No longer have many IRA questions.
I've cut back by leaving M*'s numerous boards (low signal/noise ratio, low-quality financial info & tools, bloated software, trolls), FundAlarm (Roy Weitz appears to have stopped writing his monthly commentaries and we no longer own mutual funds), GruntsMilitary.com (very angry crowd), and Military.com (too many ads).
Where do you post, and what does it have to offer the rest of us?
Here's a pro/con summary of the boards I frequent:
E-R.org:
- Lots of resources, advice, and experiences. Always something happening.
- "Not the way it used to be", and that's not a good thing. Bloated software, slow-loading ads, too many DNS/server errors. Too big to read every thread.
REHP
- Great articles & research. Discussion board recently went H0cus-free.
- Discussion board is mostly crickets chirping (and two trolls grunting).
Raddr's board
- Great research and in-depth analysis. Fast software. Outstanding asset-allocation slice&dice and expat investing/travel discussions.
- Much smaller audience, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
ER Status Forum
- What the #$%^ is going on with E-R.org?!? Crisp software. Great community.
- Hmmm, can't think any cons.
Hawaii Threads
- Things I never knew about local culture & events. Strong expat community. A great place for non-residents to plan their "real Hawaii" vacations. Oddly enough uses E-R.org's vBulletin software but runs much faster.
- Mighty insular crowd (but not rude), much talk story.
Classmates.com
- High school classmates & reunion chatter.
- The most disgustingly ad-clogged website I have ever seen.
Navy.TogetherWeServed.com
- Best shipmate locater ever. Good for researching obscure Navy history/culture questions.
- Like hanging around Aloha Stadium during high-school graduation week. Fast-moving, way too many discussions to keep track of, no sense of overall discussion-board community. Most chatter is offline among shipmates.
Sailor Bob
- Surface warriors talking Navy current events.
- Can't really post personal info there; too many of these SWOs have worked with me or my spouse and would instantly recognize us. Maybe I'll post more there after she's retired.
Rigged For Dive
- Submariners.
- Discussions can bring back memories that give me nightmares.
I only rarely visit Ed Slott's IRA Help Forum
- Fantastic resource for all IRA questions, no matter how obscure or abstruse.
- No longer have many IRA questions.
I've cut back by leaving M*'s numerous boards (low signal/noise ratio, low-quality financial info & tools, bloated software, trolls), FundAlarm (Roy Weitz appears to have stopped writing his monthly commentaries and we no longer own mutual funds), GruntsMilitary.com (very angry crowd), and Military.com (too many ads).
Where do you post, and what does it have to offer the rest of us?