Here's a suggestion. Just start some threads with actual advanced topics. Most of the members will be clueless but some elite few may very well possess the requisite intellectual ability to engage in a productive discussion. You may be pleasantly surprised. Or you may choose to discount the usefulness of ET. Some of the members really do know quite a bit about the analysis of marketable securities. (OP is saying that most of the content on these forums is, generally speaking, unproductive for all of the members.)
I think he's just about shot his chance at any productive conversation with anyone on this forum. It's really hard to come back from a 9 page long topic dedicated to how much of a chode you are.
This is what I'm starting to think as well. Posturing and claims of intellectual prowess must be backed up with considered opinion. The burden of proof is on he who makes the claim. You have to be able to talk trading before you can get away with broad aspersions, ET or otherwise.
"Lentus", as a Roman nickname, would be a close equivalent to "Slug" (i.e., lazy) - but that would be pretty mild by Roman standards; they weren't very complimentary with those things as a general practice. Ahala, Flaccus, Arvina, Verres, Brutus... I'm surprised there wasn't a 'Mentula' in the bunch, especially as often as it was used in all those dignified discussions in the Senate. (I got interested in Roman history some years ago; did the reenactment thing, all that. Nothing to see here, carry on...)
Even so, I agree in general that ET is a true social network. I enjoy waxing poetic about trading opportunities and the theoretical values of options - but at the end of the day this is basically a bar for all of us. After a long day of watching the markets you mosey in and have some banter with some guys about whatever it is everyone is talking about. I like topics with people I can have a beer with. I prefer not to get into personal insults like IQs. Its up there with politics, religion, and women - it's probably best not to talk about any of 'em ;D. Markets are stressful enough - no need to turn it into a religion. I just want you to know I appreciate this. I have a copy of Wheelock's Latin on my bookshelf but I never really pursued it in more than a passing way. I ended up in Spanish rather than Latin in High School - mostly for practical reasons.
That is naive on so many levels. No, intelligent people can be helpful and humble when they feel nurtured and theif work is reciprocated. Intelligent people can also become incredibly cynical and give up on humanity when they have come across enough bullshit and crap. Your insinuations that intelligent but arrogant or demanding people cannot learn is also crap. I consider myself demanding and short tempered. Intelligent. But with a short fuse. Call me arrogant. But I learn all the fucking time. And I can admit mistakes. When I am proven wrong I am the first to get on his knees to apologize. What you are completely denying here is the fact that exposure to total imbeciles and idiots can be so incredibly frustrating and taxing. It wears down. It depresses. Those people moan all day long about things that are completely beyond their control. Yet they do nothing about the things they have influence over. No way in hell I hang out with such people. I currently take the piss out of idiots because it's side entertainment in an otherwise often very unentertaining profession.
Yes given they are intelligent. @Overnight is probably 20-30+ years ahead of me. A nice chap. Not intelligent. But fun to drink beers with. But hell, not one post I have ever come across by him contained anything I deemed of value or worth learning. But he is a nice good guy. Good boy, Overnight
It's more complex than that. Zuckerberg, Gates, Jobs all knew how to "close" and all of them are very intelligent. Perhaps you just came across some intelligent people who believed they get what they want with minimal effort and hence laziness.