Your comments, please
From the day we launched this blog in March, we’ve received plenty of feedback on our policy of not publishing readers’ comments.
Most of you, it’s fair to say, wished we would change the policy. Well, I’ve got some news for you.
But first, some background.
There are good reasons why you don’t see a lot of investment companies venturing into this “social media” space. Due to the heavily regulated nature of our business, blogs can be a minefield for us.
Our blog is regulated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). FINRA requires that all of our communications with the public—with you, in other words—be fair and balanced.
We believe we’re obliged to apply the fair-and-balanced standard to readers’ comments as well. You may disagree, but that’s the position we take. It’s conservative, and, we think, appropriate. Also, while there’s no industry regulation around being polite and staying on topic, they are part of our company standards, and we ask that you observe them here.
Some readers have asked our bloggers for financial or investment advice. This is where the SEC comes in. Under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, we can use this forum to discuss options and provide food for thought, but it can’t be used to give specific advice.
So now the big news you’ve been waiting for: From today forward, we will publish your comments on this blog.
Because of the regulatory concerns I’ve mentioned, however, we won’t publish all comments, and we won’t publish them right away. We’ll take some time to read and consider each comment, and we maintain the right to delete certain information, such as readers’ names and e-mail addresses. Likewise, we will not publish testimonials, specific advice about investing, or comments we consider abusive, unfair, or off-topic.
I hope you’ll read our commenting guidelines for a better sense of what’s permitted and what isn’t.
Initially, Vanguard’s decision to start a blog raised a few eyebrows. But staying on the sidelines and missing an opportunity to connect with you in this medium simply wasn’t an option. Already we’ve started to develop an engaged and loyal readership—and for that, we thank you. By publishing your comments, we hope to make the Vanguard Blog a richer and more rewarding experience for all of us.
One final note: If you need to talk to Vanguard about your accounts or any other client-service matter, please contact us directly.
Personally, I’d gladly forgo the opportunity to comment or participate in any other media options in order to minimize overhead costs.
Great work on the blog, and thanks for letting us chime in!
Personally, I don’t want to see user comments. I’d rather the blogger accept the comments and blog about them if appropriate but I’ve not the time or inclination to filter through the comments myself. There is no value added to that but there is value added to having the blogger filter and comment, where appropriate, about a reader’s thoughts.
I don’t think you should publish only some comments. How is that “fair and balanced?” I’d rather see an all or none policy.
Your expession of concern about the regulatory issues makes me wonder what the goal (the point) of the blog is. Because it has been edited it does run the risk of appearing to offer sanctioned “advice”. Is it to trade experiences? To elicit both favorable and unfavorable comments about articles? The fun of blogs that come after an article (I participate every now and then on the msnbc web-page’s Newsvine blogs) are the usually-fractious exchanges between bloggers, while the disappointment of blogs are the inability to get access to the articles’ authors (only once has an editor/writer ever responded; he used my comment in a later article). But if you heavily edit then it pushes the Vanguard P.O.V. (which, by the way, I believe is sometimes misleading and/or in error). So I dunno … you’ve put yourself in the unenviable position of having to convince me that the blog isn’t just another instance of bowdlerizing, just another corporate screed full of corporate-speak, and as having lived through that professionally for 30 odd-years I can do without it (example: when the Lord and Lady of the realm (aka owners) writ large an ultimatum that henceforth the label “employee” would no longer be acceptable; rather, such creatures were to be known as “associates”, but all of us really knew that the more-accurate label would be “wage-slave” or “minion” or “feudal serf”).
Cant see any comments yet
I agree with 9:00 AM regarding additional operating costs of managing a Vanguard blog.
Vanguard’s core competencies are indexing and ultra-low operating costs.
If this venture is not aligned with those two core competencies, it only reduces the value of Vanguard as an enterprise and the value it can offer its shareholders.
On the other hand, there is a need for Vanguard to do a better job of listening to its shareholders and offering a broader range of value-added index funds to its line-up, as opposed to a “Spaghetti on the Wall” strategy of offering low-value ETFs/Funds to a small, specialized market.
An example of this disconnect is the presence of the “Consumer Discretionary ETF” and the absence of a “International Small Value” ETF / Index Fund.
I’m still debating whether is necessary to post comments. I guess we could liken it to editorials in a newspaper. Personally, I’m more interested in what a professional has to say rather than an opinionated reader; but the voices of readers are important also. I see both sides. My concern, however, is the extra manpower needed to scour through comments to see which are appropriate - costs, costs…I’m still thinking about it.
Will you also respond to reader comments?
Hi Ellen:
I was unaware that Vanguard had a blog until I read about it on the bogleheads.org forum today.
Respectful ommunication is nearly always a good thing. A moderated Vanguard blog is sure to be a success.
Best wishes.
Thank you for making this policy change. As someone who manages external communications for a billion dollar software company we’ve also embraced social media and are learning how to use it as a tool to more effectively speak with (and not merely to) our customers and partners.
This site will evolve over time, and no doubt for the better. Here’s hoping this site, the postings and comments become as generous and helpful as the Boglehead Diehard site was for me, where I learned about simple, smart investing using mostly, but not exclusively, Vanguard funds.
Good luck, and bon voyage!
Thank you for allowing comments. Your policy seems reasonable. Will you please include full text in your RSS feed?
When you reach the critical mass of the Boglehead site I’ll consider spending time reading readers’ comments. It’s a great idea. Too bad you have to reinvent the wheel. what are you going to do that is better and different from the Boglehead site? Without vetting the comments, how can readers put them into any meaningful context-who is crazy, who knows what they are talking about? Life is too short to read of forum filled with ill educated malcontents getting revenge for some perceived slight suffered under Vanguard.
That said, good luck and I will check back it.
It’s not kosher…………….sanitized………censored…….vanilla…….
Let it rip and hear from your investors and print it.
I’ve got you on my iGoogle page. I’m interested in up-to-the-minute blogs on what’s happening now. I’m not interested in seeing the inane comments posted on some other sites. I’m sure you will filter such comments out.
Ditto July 7, 2009 @ 9:00 am
Good for Vanguard. The sign of a truly great company is one that ‘listens’ to its customers. Thanks for stepping into the 21st century first with the blog and now by posting our comments.
Good luck. Like another commenter above, I just learned about the blog today while perusing my RSS feed from the main Vanguard News list. I’ll add the blog to my reader as well.
I applaud the opening of comments because is it really a blog if there is no dialogue? However, managing moderated blog comments is likely to be a heavy burden and will constantly invite suspicion about what isn’t being allowed through. I suggest looking into the models many are using now where all users are asked to flag inappropriate comments (vulgar/profane/off topic/etc) for review. Once flagged they are taken out of public view until the blog team can review them for appropriateness. This way, readers’ comments post immediately so the dialog is dynamic and encourages exchange and you still being able to moderate and control inappropriate commentary.
As Jimbo Wales says about Wikipedia, don’t make it hard to make mistakes, make it extremely easy to fix them.
This blog in general is a good idea.
However, most blogs are irrelevant to wise investment decision-making. It is usually a marketing gimmick to make younger, internet saavy customers believe they are having their say. Blogs are designed for oversimplified communication that cannot address the heart of investment decision-making which must address deep issues like the validity of Efficient Markets Theory and Behavioral Finance. Vanguard has a great reputation because it has successfully created products (indexes) which make practical and available the Nobel prize winning investment theories of Markowitz, Sharpe, Fama, etc. I hope your blog draws in younger investors to the real Vanguard of substance.
What kinds of comments did you anticipate receiving–are there specifics kinds of questions/comments that will help Vanguard better serve investor needs?
I think the idea of keeping comments completely anonymous is a great one. It will limit the self-glorification types who comment only for the thrill of seeing their names. I have no problem with Vanguard editing and limiting comments that will be posted on their site. I think that’s a good idea. I’d be interested in knowing how many comments were submitted, and why they didn’t get posted, but that’s just me. Good luck.
Just wanted you to know I was reading and enjoying
Don’t let scouring reader comments deter you from the work Vanguard’s famous for. For me, it’s waaaaay down the list of what V’s employees should be doing. That said, I did read all the comments herein posted!
I gave up reading blogs.
I think the greatest benefit of the comments is simply to hear what other readers think of the blog post topics. Many minds can be more powerful than one–when used properly. Hearing different opinions lends perspective and helps you form informed opinions. And filtering the garbage out is not “censorship,” it’s merely providing a very helpful service so that the rest of us don’t have to waste time weeding through useless information.
Great post!
After reading the 26 comments, I can see no reason to return to this blog.
I would like to see Vanguard update its blogs on a daily basis for it have meaning.
Have read a number of blogs by V that don’t provide any useful information. At least we should be able to voice an opinion about the clarity and information content about a blog. The other blogs have substantiated my investment philosophy and actions. This make me feel better, but whether this is right or not is unknown. Only time will tell.
Cool site, love the info.