In fact I won't publish a potentially controversial blog article I have written unless I feel that there is a percentage of you, greater than say 10 pct, who feel it was a win-win all around. I know I'm not always going to hit the mark!

But it has only been in the past week that I feel the community has forced me to consider the nature of your contributions here as well as my own.

There have been times in my life where I just had to say to myself, "I'm not publishing this".

And for that reason " the fact that I believe it does not add value " I had to eliminate four comments in the past couple days. I cannot recall the last time I deleted even one.

The first deleted comment this week simply said: "buy abc". No analysis. No argument; zap.

From one other individual, three other comments were received in the past couple hours. This person is either for Jews or against them. I really don't know " or care to know.

Being a patient person, I sent a letter enquiring as the intention after the second comment and another after the third. No reply; zap.

Freedom of speech here is not an issue. This is my blog. The rules are simple: anything goes as long as there is an attempt to inform, educate and facilitate. No selling.

I think we have a good group of commenters, and the discussions are expanding and getting more involved all the time. I get mail every day thanking me for this.

I even had mail this week from a critic who called me arrogant. I thought about it for a minute and agreed that the writer had a point, so I let it stand. But I also queried him, and Bernie wrote me a long letter, which made even more of a point. It was a personal letter, which I always keep in confidence, but I'll say that his original comment was not about me as much as it was about his own circumstances, as I suspected. I think having Bernie around will add to his learning and my trying to be less arrogant. That's the kind of win-win I'm looking for.

But comments that serve as personal attacks on the viewpoints, race, religion, culture or sex of another are just not welcome here. They are not allowed by law in most lands either, but this happens to be cyberspace, a new place where the rules are made up as we go.

So, I started by saying that sometimes I get mail I have to file under G for Garbage and then there is TA.

Trader Awareness (TA) is one of the most important attributes of successful portfolio management. It is a trait that does not come naturally, but is acquired through experience, reading and sharing.

It's one of the reasons I blog " to give to and take from the community.

Here's a little TA from today's mailbag.

Bill, I see that the guru of investment shares your views on the money management business. I just read the following statement from Warren Buffett (he was answering a question from an MBA student from the Rotman School at U of T whose class went to meet with Buffett in Omaha in January of this year):

"Think of this class as representing all of the corporations in America with annual profits of $700 billion. The money management industry represents 20 per cent of these profits. Over the years, more and more layers have been added to the investment industry in the form of experts, consultants, experts to pick the experts, and funds of funds. --- Sooner or later, investors will realize that their slice (of the pie) is being taken from them".

Rotman Magazine Spring 2006, "Value Investing 101: My Warren Buffett Experience" by Quinn McLean - page 81

Bill, Was reading your piece on Brookfield. In Thursday's (May 18) Financial Post on page 7, there is an article titled "Brookfield isn't looking back" by Barry Critchley. There is a lawsuit going on involving a US investor, Stark Trading, against Falconbridge and Brookfield. "In effect the suit alleges that more than US$1 billion was expropriated from Falconbridge's minority shareholders for the benefit of Noranda and its controlling shareholder, Brookfield. The suit filed in a US District court last November alleges the expropriation occurred because Noranda acquired Falconbridge last year "at a price significantly below their market value". The closing paragraph of the article says: "The suit hasn't preceded that far because the two parties are at odds over the issue of jurisdiction." The day of reckoning may not be that far off.

TA is more fun than G.