Posted on 08/05/2015 10:52:44 AM PDT by Swordmaker
The topic of the Apple stock "melt down" or "Apple's Stock Correction" was fully covered and each of them had the Apple interest group pinged to it if I was notified of it or if I discovered it. How many news articles do we need on the 10-15% reduction in value of Apple pasted all over FreeRepublic in a week to satisfy your and the other anti-Apple Hate Brigade member's need to sufficiently denigrate Apple, bolobaby?
In my opinion posting more would NOT add anything more except to irritate people on the the list with too many PINGs. There was no more news value in piling on more and more articles from other sources saying the same thing with FALSE information. . . nor opinions from more analysts analyzing what they really didn't know anything about.
Managing a ping list is more than just posting everything available, but using judgement about what NEEDS to be posted more than once. I saw those multiple repetitions of the same data. . . and judged it was unnecessary to keep posting more. I've been ATTACKED by you anti-Apple Hater Brigade members for using FR bandwidth with too many articles on different articles on subjects about Apple and you want me to post LOTS of articles—hundreds you say—on a single topic? Absurd.
In the past, an Admin Moderator has even deleted the post I made detailing the exact details of an Apple Financial Conference Call in which Apple reported the best business quarter of all time for any company ever, because an Apple hater claimed the article was "advertising" for the purpose of pushing the purchase of Apple stock and he claimed it was an "Apple press release," even though it came from a reporter at a qualified news source. . . and the same AM proceeded to delete any mention of Apple financials at all. . . from any source!
What purpose is served to continue piling on more of the same FUD being posted with proven LIES being posted with the intent of DEPRESSING the price of Apple's stock for the benefit of whoever is behind this plan? There is something going on and it is coordinated. . . and I think it is deceiving the small investors and, in my opinion, CHEATING them. This destroyed over $100 Billion of value, much of which existed in RETIREMENT FUNDS, INSURANCE ANNUITIES, and other financial instruments!
I choose not to participate in that bandwagon of corruption beyond posting it as few times to show what's happening, how it's being done, AND REBUTTING the FALSE CLAIMS in my commentary!
YOU apparently prefer to keep trumpeting the false claims. I don't, and won't. As far as I am concerned, the AAPL stock manipulation got lots of coverage on FreeRepublic. . . gleefully posted by Mad_as_he$$ and dennisw as well as what I posted. I pinged the Apple interest group to all of those threads and others to boot. YOU just did not see them. . . and I posted links within those threads to other articles from Yahoo! Finance demonstrating the discrepancies in the reporting. I covered it quite well and linked to articles both before and after the Apple Financial Conference Call. . . showing how the claimed Street predictions changed from before to after Apple announced their actual numbers to create this FALSE crisis in Apple stock's value especially based on it's future guidance.
Now cut out the idiotic accusations. It is not necessary for ME to post every FreeRepublic article on Apple. . . that is NOT what I do in managing the Apple Ping list.
Incidentally you responded to nothing substantive. . . just continued with your attack on me. . .
Again: complete failure to provide links. I provided actual links/evidence. How am I supposed to take your responses seriously when you say, “I did it and others did, too,” but when we actually look up links, they aren’t there except for the few I mentioned.
You aren’t posting links because you have none to post. My response was 100% accurate and you have no additional links with which to counter.
Finally, I don’t have to respond to your corporate propaganda because the press has been doing it for me, whether you choose to acknowledge the existence of hundreds of negative articles or not.
If you want a rebuttal, go read some of the articles linked on finance.yahoo.com dating back to earnings that you are hoping your ping-list never finds out about.
Oh, and incidentally, you may also notice that I have taken NO position on Apple earnings or the stock price post earnings. I never posted to debate that. (In fact, a P/E of 13ish shows room for improvement in the price.) The only observation I made was on the blatant corporate cheerleading on your part and complete unwillingness to acknowledge the substantial amount of negative articles.
Post all you want about FUD or whatever, but when the topic was never about that in the first place, you only shine the light more brightly on your social marketing-esque behavior.
If we had somebody here that was an expert on the automobile industry, in particular with regard to say, Ford, would we not benefit here with that person's insight on the automobile industry and Ford in particular? Or would there be a similar subset of individuals like yourself, who will go through enormous effort to undermine and attack that individual?
There is a similar ping list that puts a focus on Microsoft and their products. I find that a valuable service as well. Even though I prefer Apple to Microsoft, I do not go to the Microsoft threads to attack or disparage those people. In fact, I find the information valuable as I like to keep up with the Microsoft world as well.
While I am inclined towards Apple products, it does not bother me one bit that others might prefer Microsoft. I see no need to "convert" them to Apple because if they are happy with their Microsoft products, then bully for them. I am happy to let them decide for themselves which computing platform they prefer.
Now getting back to Apple and the current brouhaha over the stock price, it's so much ado over nothing. Why is it so important to you that the rest of us see it as Apple "failing" as opposed to a market correction based upon false expectations? In the end, why does this matter to you so much?
Speaking for myself, I see the stock price decrease as a blessing in disguise. As I put "x" amount aside each month to purchase Apple stock (among other stocks), the fact that the Apple stock price is lower allows me to purchase shares at a faster clip. And I am betting on Apple for the long term with my own money so if Apple does continue to perform well in the years ahead, owning the extra amount of stock will serve me well (dollar cost averaging). If indeed I am wrong and Apple stocks continue to slide and the company performance falters, then I will start selling Apple stock and cut my losses. I've done it in the past with other companies such as HP, Wal-Mart, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. In some cases, I ended up regretting selling my shares because the stocks eventually recovered and I lost out on an opportunity. Other times, I made out like a bandit. That's the way it goes in the stock market. You make your best educated guesses and see what happens. But I don't take it personal and I don't get all worked up if somebody else out there disagrees with my premises.
Here is the point of contention:
“So we have an Apple enthusiast among us who takes the time to put together a ping list so that others who are interested in Apple and its products can be kept informed.”
No. He is not interested in keeping you informed. He is interested in PROMOTING Apple, period. There is a difference between posting articles of interest and ensuring the conversation only trends to the positive. The exception to this, of course, is when he will post pointers or fix schedules regarding vulnerabilities that have been discovered. (Or articles on why you shouldn’t be worried.) It’s corporate message management 101 and he’s the professor. I suppose if you are interested in being schooled by someone who has Apple’s best interest always at mind instead of your best interests, then his type of social marketing is your cup of tea. Me... I’m not falling for it.
A guy like dayglored, on the other hand, displays a level of critical thinking and objectivity that most conservatives can appreciate.
Imagine if Swordmaker’s posts were about Starbucks Coffee - a company that also hates conservative principles. Now go back and look at the manner of posts. Would you feel the CONSTANT corporate cheerleading for Starbucks was appropriate for Freerepublic?
I’d just like to see... you know... some minor semblance of objectivity from our fellow conservatives on a conservative forum. Or corporate cheerleading. Take your pick.
All of us on Free Republic use computers so the ping list is valuable (as is the one for Microsoft). The operators of Free Republic encourage ping lists so that Freepers can be alerted to threads on topics that interest them. I also don't think they would object to a Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts ping list. I think we already have them for McDonalds, Wal-Mart and other companies.
It is never good back and forth with Swordmaker. As soon as he sees you are going to maintain a contrarian position to Apple, he starts whipping out the dismissive screams of “FUD!” and “Apple haters brigade!”
If you call those responses good back and forth... well...
Once he realizes he can’t convert you, he immediately turns to the dismissive tactics in order to marginalize your position *about a corporation*. Many have seen it.
Here’s my final point (because I actually DON’T have a ton of time to spend on this topic):
After Apple earnings, I saw lots of objective, non-corporate cheerleading about the company. I thought, “Well, since FR is sort of infected with all things Apple, I imagine I will see soooo many of these articles peppered between the articles I really care about.” But - lo! They did not come. With THAT much press, none of these articles are being linked? So I looked, only to discover that in the vein of MSNBC, it there was no interest in objective analysis. The two articles that were posted were laughably biased!
That was my point. From a cash, P/E, and margin perspective, AAPL still looks good. BUT the market can often react irrationally *and* there are some serious doubts about this year’s flagship product.
The irony of companies like Starbucks, Whole Foods and yes, Apple, is that they are icons of capitalism, even though the founders and CEOs of these companies tend to be mushy in the head when it comes to politics.
I always like to use the success of these companies to sort of playfully poke at my liberal colleagues. These companies are successful because they are brutal competitors in their market space. In other words, through their efficiencies with keeping labor and other costs down, they are able to assume dominant positions in their industries. They had to kick a lot of weaker competitors to the curb to get to their market share positions, often driving these competitors into bankruptcy. This kind of "mean-spirited" capitalist behavior is usually attributed to conservatives and Republicans and it is an "inconvenient truth" that many liberals do not want to accept with regard to their own icons.
Now I often wonder why the founders and leaders of these companies are considered to be liberals when in fact they are really more like conservatives. Well, I think at heart, they really are conservatives. Yet the mainstream media has done such an effective job in making "conservative" a dirty word that they would never admit it.
Unlike other conservatives, I don't think we need to be "writing off" these people. I think they can be converted. Now when we attack them and call them names and threaten to boycott their products, we are not going to win them over that way.
I think we need to stop playing victim and go on offense with the conventional media and we need to start changing the narrative that the media has been feeding our young people for generations now. It is good to be a capitalist and it's time we became proud of that again.
Donald Trump is making some inroads for us and he is showing us how the battle can be fought. Capitalism is not only not a dirty word but is the path to make our country great again. And capitalism and conservatism go hand in hand.
Successful companies like Apple, Starbucks, Amazon, Facebook, Whole Foods, etc., etc., should be on OUR side of the political fence. But we are not going to win them over by constantly attacking them and reinforcing the stereotypes that the mainstream media have fed them about us.
It's time we starting taking the offensive in the "propaganda" wars.
LIAR. I post both negative and positive articles on Apple . . . and post links to reasons why or why not users should be worried and also put in my EDUCATED and EXPERIENTIAL opinion. I post to be informative to the members of the Apple Ping list. I cannot guaranty any thread "tends toward the positive because you Anti-Apple Hate Brigade members come in and start throwing spit wads and attacking people and me. . . I will respond with the truth as I know it to be and as I see it. I do not attack them first. . . they attack with insults and ad hominems and they also post things they know not to be true.
For example, I have told YOU and others that I am not connected with Apple in any way, but you and they keep up your constant drumbeat that I am a shill and a "paid employee" of Apple, despite my repeated requests that you cease and desist. You and they have an agenda to denigrate me and the Apple threads, regardless of their content. CUT IT OUT!
You and the other Apple Haters think that Apple is all about promoting non-Conservative values. . . and some of what the company management does do that. But so does almost every other tech company. However, Apple's primary goals are about making the best products for OUR benefit to use, which you choose to ignore completely, and many of you choose to support FOREIGN companies and their profits over an American company and its profits. For that reason you attack Apple. Fine. But you extend that hate and attacks to the users of Apple products and me. Cut that out too.
It is never good back and forth with Swordmaker. As soon as he sees you are going to maintain a contrarian position to Apple, he starts whipping out the dismissive screams of “FUD!” and “Apple haters brigade!”
If you call those responses good back and forth... well...
Once he realizes he can’t convert you, he immediately turns to the dismissive tactics in order to marginalize your position *about a corporation*. Many have seen it.
Here’s my final point (because I actually DON’T have a ton of time to spend on this topic):
After Apple earnings, I saw lots of objective, non-corporate cheerleading about the company. I thought, “Well, since FR is sort of infected with all things Apple, I imagine I will see soooo many of these articles peppered between the articles I really care about.” But - lo! They did not come. With THAT much press, none of these articles are being linked? So I looked, only to discover that in the vein of MSNBC, it there was no interest in objective analysis. The two articles that were posted were laughably biased!
So, hypocrite: here you are, complaining that I did not blast loads of articles on FreeRepublic on Apple financials. . . You want your cake and to eat it too. . . and you say you don't have a lot of time. . . but you've wasted a lot of your precious time here and in the past attacking me repeatedly. I am not going to waste my time repeating my arguments or my postings to PLEASE YOU! You are the ONLY ONE complaining. Have at it. I am just not interested in pleasing another Anti-Apple Hate Brigade member.
You say "once he realizes he can't convert you. . . " There is no converting people who repeatedly post the same FUD, over and over and over again, after having had the truth presented to them with LINKS to the original sources from legitimate news sources and qualified expert sources. . . yet choose to ignore the facts. They WANT to spread the LIES. They live for the FUD and the LIES. So I will call them Anti-Apple Hate Brigade members after years and years of running into the exact same people time and time again with the exact same FUD postings repeated over and over again despite the fact they KNOW they are not true. I will call them liars to their faces because they are.
Look how many times I explained this current issue to you and you ignored what I wrote so YOU could continue your rant against me. YOU like attacking me, bolobaby. Why should I bother to link anything to please you????
You will just continue and find some fault with whatever I say in your own warped mind. You don't like Apple. Fine. I'm done.
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