Key Post Why speculation about Irish house prices is banned

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Another reason is the extent of moderation required. Askaboutmoney has a reputation for sensible, well mannered and informative posts. When people start speculating on house prices, they go mad. The mods simply don't have time for this.

But the main reason is that the speculation is pretty pointless. I asked on many occasions for a balanced summary of the issues involved. That would be worth far more than the 8,000 posts on the subject. No one produced the summary, so in the end I produced it.

If anyone wants to update the summary in a balanced way, it would be much appreciated. Email it to me first so that the mods can decide if it's a fair summary. Burgess7@eircom.net

Brendan
 

I would suggest that speculation about house prices is no more or less pointless than the constant speculation about demutualisation. Surely the discussion last year must have given some potential purchasers pause for thought and perhaps saved them 10s of thousands of euro?

I am sure that the subject was difficult to moderate in the past as it was so contentious, perhaps now that the state of the market is clearer that would not be the case?
 
Hi,

I suppose you can blame me for opening this can of worms - I did politely ask was it still banned and Brendan apptly replied yes - which is fair enough. Yes I do agree that people can turn nasty with regard to speculation on house prices. From my own point of view as a vendor in the current market and in fairness I haven't checked out the other forums but I feel a bit in the dark at the moment and in limbo as I'm sure alot of other vendors do, I feel it would be nice to be able to discuss some issues with other vendors and see how they are getting on. However I take on board what moderators have to put up with and it is their call really.

I find AAM very informative and enjoy using this forum.

Angela
 
Brendan said:
Another reason is the extent of moderation required. Askaboutmoney has a reputation for sensible, well mannered and informative posts. When people start speculating on house prices, they go mad. The mods simply don't have time for this.
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But surely the point of a discussion forum is that people with the same and opposing views can come to get and discuss things.


But doesn't that defeat the point of a discussion forum?
If you just posted a balanced summary of the issues involved on everything wouldn't this be just a blog with articles and pieces rather than a discussion forum?
 
Forums exist and work by the allowance of their owner/moderators. There isn't free speech. Usually topics which require excessive moderation or resources (relative to whats available) are banned or locked. Mods and admins are not immune to human foibles either, with topics they get tired off, or touch a nerve. So it is with almost all forums.
 
Angela said:


Angela, if the ban on speculation was not in place, you would ask a question - "Do people think that house prices will fall further?". You will get 8,000 replies arguing both sides, but adding nothing. Many of these will be offensive and will need to be moderated. In reality, no one knows what will happen to house prices. Someone can summarise the current state of affairs, just as I did. That would be a useful post to help you form an opinion.

The ban is on speculation about the future of house prices. The ban does not extend to the impact of falling prices. If you wish to ask a question such as "I am concerned that house prices will fall further, and I am thinking of trading down. Should I sell my own home first?". That would be fine.

Our problem is that you will get speculation in that thread which means we have to edit the posts and ban the repeat offenders.

Brendan
 
Hi Brendan,

Yes I do know what you are saying and I think I have to agree with your decision, some posters don't know when or where to stop and can become personal.
 
I have updated and summarised the reasons for the ban in the first post in this thread.

I will repeat the request - if anyone wants to update the summary in a balanced way - it would be a very useful addition to AAM.

Also, if anyone can post links to other forums where there are theads on house prices, I will include them in the first post on this thread.

Brendan
 
Brendan said:
Further speculation about the future direction of house prices is banned on Askaboutmoney.

....

For those who want to continue the discussion, there are loads of other sites including:

[broken link removed]
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I'm the administrator of Politics.ie, and we usually send people to this site if they want to have this sort of discussion (so theres some circular logic going on here!). Politics.ie is a POLITICS discussion site, not a money/financial discussion site!

It seems very odd that you dont allow this major financial topic to be discussed; pick up a newspaper any day of the week and you'll see lots of discussion/reports on house prices and the housing market. Seems to be a good site apart from that.
 
Camry asked:


Do you ban discussion of prospective interest rates? They are money market prices.

Do you ban discussion of bond yields? They are bond prices.
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We ban speculation about house prices.
We ban discussion of individual shares.

Both of these topics result in huge long meandering repetitive discussions full of abuse and nonsense. We have invited people to submit a posting on the future of house prices. Since the invitation was first issued over a year ago, no one has provided it.

For whatever reason, the discussions on interest rates and bond yields don't attract the same amount of abusive posts.

Brendan
 
europhile said:
Doe AAM get any funding from lending agencies or estate agents?
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Yes. How else do you think we are funded? Have you not read the About Us section?

Myhome.ie pays us €10,000 per month on condition that we allow only positive discussion on house prices.

The Federation of Irish Home Lenders offered to pay us €15,000 per month to give them the right to edit any post on Askaboutmoney, but we thought that might compromise us.

Brendan
 

But the reason discussion of house prices gets so heated is because it is the biggest financial issue for most people. The amount of money that people have invested in property is huge in comparison to other assets.

Potential buyers don't want to hear that they have been left behind if prices continue to rise.
Recent buyers probably don't want to hear that they have made a poor financial decision if price start to fall.

The fact that the discussion gets so heated is a symptom of its importance.

Other financial issues obviously effects people, but nothing else has the potential to make or lose someone a years salary in the space of a couple of years.
Discussion of financial issues without a discussion of houses price is like a discussion on arranging a weeding without having a partner.

Pointless!
 
Thomas22 said:
...
Discussion of financial issues without a discussion of houses price is like a discussion on arranging a weeding without having a partner....
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Weeding is a sore point in my household too. (sorry couldn't resist).
 
Discussion of financial issues without a discussion of houses price is like a discussion on arranging a weeding without having a partner.
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I don't agree with this analogy at all.

I just go out and do all my own gardening. There is no need to arrange a weeding. There is certainly no need to discuss arranging it. You seem obsessed with having pointless discussions on issues.

Brendan
 

OK maybe the analogy wasn't the best but I think the point still stands.
Discussing financial issues without being able to discuss the largest financial issue affecting most people seems a little pointless to me.


I have been trying to sell my apartment for a number of months now and I think a little more openness on the issue can only make the hardship easier.
 
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