Re: does John Behle still host this forum?

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Posted by John Behle - forum host on January 20, 2006 at 22:25:22:

In Reply to: does John Behle still host this forum? posted by D.H on January 17, 2006 at 19:58:03:

What the site is for is for information. Since I am quite busy and have another forum, I have encouraged people to post over at www.creonline.com in the Cash Flow Forum that I host there.

There have been few posts here lately and I don't answer every post. Many have been posts like "do you know such and such company".

I guess I could just answer "no", but it sounds flippant.

My materials are not available and may not be again. I don't host this forum for gain and am not promoting it. There is a great deal of information, so though I have wanted to shut it down, I haven't. 99% of the posts lately are annoying posts by spammers that just cost me time and aggravation to delete them.

Yes, late November was my last post and December I was out of town much of the time and busy the rest.

Most recent posts are obnoxious ads that I need to delete. I've been an inch away from closing the forum to everyone because of those who do their “drive by spamming”. It annoys me to the point where I probably will shut the forum down.

Other posts relate to “Who is”, TriMark Capital, Global Equity lending, etc. If I don't know a company or individual there isn't much to say.

Other questions have been answered very well by David Butler, Michael Morrongiello or others. I don't feel a need to say "yah, what he said". David and Michael are my co-hosts over on the other forum and again, I would encourage people to post in one place - over there. There is rarely anything to add to the magnificent answers that David and Michael give.

Some questions have been posted here and at other forums and I have answered over there or someone else has given them an answer. Many people post a question and also email and sometimes I answer more personally through the email. Many other questions are related to strategies or philosophies that I do not advocate, yet I choose not to spend hours trying to re-educate everyone heading those directions. When questions are related to brokering notes, being a bird dog, etc. I leave those to others to answer. I have always had an investor strategy, not a broker strategy. People used to be excited about that. Now most don’t even know it exists or understand it. So, what might appear to be a simple question would have to end up as a long re-education and explanation of strategy. The problem with that is every day the average education level in the note market decreases. The foundation isn’t there. I used to be able to build on that foundation and now there isn’t even a starting point.

What is this site for? Well, exactly what I have said. It is for education, not sales of courses. There are thousands of posts in the archives that more than adequately cover almost any question anyone has ever though of. Some questions have been answered over and over and over. I have spent hundreds and hundreds, possibly thousands of hours. What appears a simple question might result in a 5 or 10 page answer. That isn’t something that is fun to do over and over again.

So, with a busy schedule, health challenges, a computer crash, 7 kids and a new grand daughter, I can be quite pressed for time. When a basic simple question that has been answered dozens of times is asked again, I currently lack the time or patience to either answer it again or find a tactful way to direct them to the answer in the archives or the materials. What would take me hours to answer would have taken a student seconds to find in the many thousands of my posts and articles at this and other websites and forums.

For 8 years I've answered thousands of questions at this forum and a half dozen others that I have either hosted or frequented. I guess I've just hit a point of burn out. It feels very frustrating to continue to put out redundant answers over and over and over. Many people basically demand that it is repeated. I’ve had people offended and go off in a huff when I have tried to explain that extensive answers are in the archives. I even had one real nasty chump at another forum that made a three of four day waste of time because I pointed to some articles I had written. Because the articles said they were excerpts from some of my books he accused me of being a scam artist out to strip the last bit of meat off the bones of some poor victim. The idiot wouldn’t even mellow out when I pointed out the books the articles referenced were not even for sale.

Others act like they have had some great offense that I didn’t answer their question specifically for them - at that moment - immediately - extensively. Usually they also want me to call them or answer privately by email. My seminars were also fun that way. People would ask questions about what we just covered that they didn’t listen to in the room. Or they would follow me around at a break frustrated that I wouldn’t answer right now to them what I had just stated we would be covering when the break or lunch was over. Rarely would I even get a lunch break at a seminar. I even had one woman try to follow me into the men’s room one day. I had to stop and point to the sign.

I have no idea what questions might have gone un-answered here that I ought to look at. I will do so in the next few days. Usually most questions were answered before I could get to them anyway. But few people frequent the forum anymore. I used to receive a copy of every post, but a few months ago the hosting company moved to different servers and I stopped receiving emails or notification of new posts. So, there are posts I might have answered but have not seen. We have the problem solved or I wouldn't be here answering these posts right now.

I've been hesitant to just shut the forum down or disable posting, but that is what I am going to do. Once shut down, it would likely not ever re-open and I haven't wanted to close what was once a great resource. The archives still are. The past conversations are far more of a resource than any current conversations here or at any other forum I know of.

I hadn't closed it until now partially because three other note forums have closed or been closed to the public in the last couple years because of spamming, un-civil behavior and other abuses of the forum rules. I also had to close a self development forum over the spamming and abuses. Another forum I host related to the method of heart surgery that saved my life had to be revamped and moved to a new location to get away from spammer abuse.

In the past, I would never weigh my inconvenience and the needs of legitimate appreciative students against the few that make things difficult. But.... I'm just not in that kind of space anymore. I have given and given and given to students and this industry for decades with very little in return. That's fine, that's not why I did it and I don't need to sell courses to be happy. The profits from my courses for the last few years went to help a family that needed it. When they came to value the opportunity so little that they let the quality slip and even sent Star Trek videos out to a customer, that was one of several final straws. Another was a customer that griped about a vacuum cleaner passing by in the hallway of the hotel where the seminar was being taped. For years people have raved about the quality, value and incredible information for an amazing price. Now people gripe about a minute or two that is hard to hear. Yet, sometimes the very same people are off spending thousands and tens of thousands on "shiny" courses that aren't even in the same league.

Lately the numbers of people copying courses and sending them back or worse - copying them and selling them has hit an all time high. I've just had my fill of that also. When my choices come down to enjoying my family and other things I've worked for all my life or dealing with difficult people - it's simple. I've made my contribution. It’s here in the archives, at CREonline in the archives and other forums. It’s in the articles and the courses.

At some point, I will redo the materials in an easy to deal with format. I don't think I will be able to walk away totally without putting it all into streaming video, PDF files, etc. But, there is no deadline or urgency. I used to thrive on educating people. I enjoyed it and felt good about it.

The example that comes to mind is a banker that attended one of my five day intensive seminars. He came up to me the first day and apologized because he said a severe cold and jetlag were making him drowsy and he didn't want me to think I was boring him. The last day he was pacing through the room. He again apologized. He said he could not sit down. He was so overwhelmed, excited and amazed at what he had learned that he literally could not sit. He said his university degrees and all his years in banking did not even come close.

That I enjoy. What other people seem to enjoy is how many dollars per head they sell when they pitch an REI group. I've seen them even gloat when they get someone to sign over their welfare check to buy a worthless course. That's never been what I have been in the business for, but that is what the business is about.

I'm reluctant to charge thousands for a course that is worth many tens of thousands. Others gladly pay thousands for a bunch of hype and a smattering of knowledge equivalent to a few books they could have checked out at the library. To me, it just isn’t the same industry as it was five, ten, twenty or thirty years ago. If I could teach a five day seminar or two I would probably get fired up about it again, but that just isn’t possible right now.

In the meantime, there are some wonderful courses and educators out there like Michael Morrongiello, David Butler, Terry Vaughan and others.

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