The Wall Street Journal: Get Rich Slowly Readers Are Awesome!
Published on - June 3rd, 2009 (by J.D. Roth) For years, I’ve said that Get Rich Slowly has the best readers and commenters on the web. I often think that I get more from your contributions than you get from mine. I’m not the only one who has noticed this. I was just speaking with long-time reader Dylan today, and he told me why he likes GRS. “It’s not just the blog,” he said. “It’s the readers.”
So, it should be no surprise that I’m honored that Get Rich Slowly was featured in The Wall Street Journal yesterday, and that it was singled out for the quality of reader discussion. Beckey Bright writes:
The strength of [Get Rich Slowly] is that, along with plenty of advice from financial experts, he opens the site up to input from readers so they can learn from each other…Much of the value of the blog comes from readers’ comments.
As I’ve said many times before: I’m just an average guy trying to teach himself about money. I do my best to share what I learn, but this site is richer because you contribute your knowledge, as well. Thank you.
Also at The Wall Street Journal, Karen Blumenthal writes that “the dowdy savings account is making a comeback.” She notes that more and more people are being drawn to high-yield savings accounts, even though their rates are lower than they were just a year ago. Personal finance blogs have been singing the praises of these accounts for years; it’s fun to see the mainstream media finally catch up.
At Man vs. Debt, Baker asks, “For what are you willing to consistently pay more?” He’s willing to pay more for customer service — and so am I. Baker cites further examples from his Twitter followers, including several who are willing to pay more for quality. (I’m willing to pay for quality, also.)
Elsewhere, Green Panda Treehouse looks at the age-old question: How much house can you afford? Different financial calculators give different answers. So do different brokers and realtors. How do you know whom to believe? One thing’s for certain: the smaller your housing payment, the safer your financial situation will be.
Finally, though it’s not personal-finance related, I like this forum post about how to give a great talk. I’ve bookmarked it for future reference.
GRS is committed to helping our readers save and achieve your financial goals.Savings interest rates may be low, but that’s all the more reason to shop for the best rate.Find the highest savings interest rate from Ally Bank, Capital One 360, Everbank, and more.
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Congratulations JD. One of favourite parts of GRS is reading the comments sections. I often read al the comments to posts that interest me and find them hugely useful for building on the information you have provided in the post.
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I often find the comments to be offensive, noneducational, and downright senseless. For the most part that comes from one guy, The Weakonomist. You should ban him.
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Yeah, we readers are awesome!
Honestly though, I learn at least as much from readers on Get Rich Slowly as I do from you, JD. And that’s not to take anything away from you. You’re steering the ship and you certainly have a knack for getting us to participate. I hope your publicity brings even more readers your way.
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A good blog encourages a good readership. I often read back posts at GRS to hear lots of viewpoints on issues of interest.
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On the quality of your site and the readers, didn’t I tell you the same thing yesterday J.D.?
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Way to go everyone! Congratulations to all on this site for your financial wisdom and forsight. J.D. has blessed us with a great forum and deserves to be recognised for all his hard work. PS… The garden is going great and had the first strawberries at supper tonight (YEAH!)
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This post should garner more congrats. Good job! Still think you’re fab and hope you’re enjoying your Mini. It’s a big kudos to be featured in NYT.
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I have always strongly suspected my comments where worth reading.
@PDX’ers I picked my first real batch of strawberries tonight!!!
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Fantastic job J.D on the WSJ attention! I think you and Jim both encourage readers to share their thoughts. It’s a great community.
Projects like the forums and the Personal Finance hour show are great resources. Congratulations again!
Thank you also for the mention.
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Congrats JD. I have to say that, like many of your other readers, I too read through the comments section … even if there are over 100 comments. The internets breeds a short attention span
but I take the time out to read what everyone else here has to say because it’s usually good stuff.
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Congrats! That’s awesome.
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I’m new to this blog, and am not surprised by the WSJ’s commentary of the commentors of this blog. The posts are a great jumping off point… then the commentors can shine.
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Congratualations J.D.!
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I agree, I have been reading for over 2 years (only recently started commenting) but the readers contributions here are always excellent.
Congrats on the WSJ mention, that much feel great!
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Nice mention for a great guy. I don’t follow the comments too closely here, but wonder if you have some sort of policy in place. Do you moderate, mediate, etc.? What is it about GRS that you think encourages a good community? I know this is a lot to fire away at you, but it’s partly for my own interest and partly for a book I’m writing. And if you’ve talked about this in depth already, you could just give me a link. And again, congrats!
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Congrats! Keep up the good work.
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Congrats JD! GRS is truly a ‘must-read’ blog for all of us. I hope everyone in America reads this and stop the ‘live beyond your means’ madness which is partially responsible for the recession we’re currently in.
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Funny, but I never realized that I DO take time to read all of the comments on GRS, and I don’t do that on most other blogs.
I think the WSJ write-up is a compliment to you, J.D., even though you are gracious enough to thank your readers. You’ve fostered and grown this community and you moderate fairly and only to quiet the occasional bully. You also give us the topics upon which to comment.
Congratulations!
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I also check in to GRS during the day to keep up with the comments. I love that for the most part, GRS readers are intelligent and open-minded in a way that encourages healthy curiosity and debate. Many commenters here seem to handle disagreements in a diplomatic way, which makes for a great read.
While I love the reader comments, I think they only exist because of the format you provide us with, JD. It’s a financial blog that makes us dig deeper than mere interest rates and budgets–and there is a wealth of reader contribution as a result.
Thanks, JD!
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That’s true. Many blogs I generally avoid the comments threads on (at least one blog I regularly read doesn’t have comments at all, specifically because he polled the readers and we said no!), but I come over here to read the comments pretty frequently. This is probably one of only two or three blogs I look forward to the commentary because it’ll be interesting (and there is definitely less noise here than on, say, The Consumerist). Kudos to you for having a singular talent to keep your blog sane and useful.
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Good job, JD. Thanks to you and to everyone who comments for writing literate, thoughtful posts. They really stand out against the background of reactionary diatribes I find at most sites.
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Congratulations on the mention! The comments threads are a huge part of all moneyblogs, for me. I like to see other people’s experiences and criticisms of whatever the thrust of the post was – and add my two cents of course!
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Katrina (#7) likes the comments so much, she skips the articles! She thinks you were featured in the New York Times… It was the Wall Street Journal, silly goose!
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That’s wonderful. Congratulations, J.D.
I’m just an average guy trying to teach himself about money. I do my best to share what I learn, but this site is richer because you contribute your knowledge, as well.
Those are great words. And my guess is the fact that they are sincere is one of the secrets to your success. There’s great power in this new communications medium for those with the insight needed to understand how to tap into the benefits of community learning experiences.
Rob
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I know you’re a closet philosopher, J.D.! You practice the virtues of simplicity, humility, moderation and self-knowledge and you deliver answers in the form of questions so that others may answer them for themselves…
Because of this, you have created a community of readers who are enabled to find solutions that work for them — not just one-size-fits-all bits of information.
Keep up the good work…
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Woa, those mortgage calculators are not conservative at all! Well, maybe they are if you want your only asset to be your house! I’m looking for a house around 1/2 the price even the “conservative” estimates gave. Jeesh.
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Congratulations, JD!
My $0.02 (after taxes, of course, but before the upcoming tidal wave of inflation that is waiting to rain down on all of us)
Len
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Congrats, Everyone, on your hard work and recognition! Way to go, Captain J.D.!
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Congrats, thats great news!
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