Re: SGE1 / Re: Vocal Criticism - LL
in response to
by
posted on
Mar 30, 2011 11:04AM
First, you say "And we should remind posters here of that whenever the opportunity arises so they'll pay attention to this non-PTSC related topic."
IMO, this is NOT a "non-PTSC related topic". He has openly solicited support for a bid for a BoD seat. He, like Pete and myself, put himself "out there". He may be a future candidate. That makes it relevant to the discussion of PTSC, especially if there is even the remote possibility of his future direct participation with PTSC.
You accuse me of not recognizing the validity of his "mostly spot on" criticisms. I suggest you read my messages again. I acknowledge the validity of many of his concerns (e.g., compensation), more below.
BTW, has he ever acknowledged that HIS decision to essentially approve the agreements, in hindsight, was a really bad decision?
His efforts to bring attention to concerns at past shareholder meetings/conference calls is appreciated, probably by virtually all shareholders.
But here on Agora, 100% of his criticisms were clearly known and recognized by EVERYONE. They are a complete rehash; nothing new at all. THAT, sir, was not the issue. The issue was as expressed in my prior posts. But you seem to sail right past, blindly.
But now you have hit on my biggest concern with the Agora PTSC board.
The first two sentences in the above paragraph sum it up pretty good. Well, they plus your own words of sarcasim: "...Let's not focus on whether they're [criticisms are] actually valid.....".
Seriously, how much "focus" do we need? EVERYONE is aware. EVERYONE has come to their own conclusions regarding the validity of every criticism imagineable. It has been talked to death, to the detriment of this board.
Some may argue that what is said here has no long term impact. Meanwhile, just the other day, we had a visitor who we know invests in pennies who came out and said that after reading this board, he wouldn't touch this stock. What does THAT tell you? Impact? Turning away potential investors? Oh, they supposedly do their real DD - to find that there is still a future for the MMP (the ONLY thing that matters). Spend a couple of hours reading here, finding out about bad things that happened YEARS AGO. Run away. Yep, that'll help us in the near and long term.
Validity of criticisms.
There is criticism of the agreements entered with TPL. They were not such a good deal. DUH!
He complains about compensation. EVERYONE has a problem with this.
He complains about the dividends. I myself criticized the issuance of dividends at the time. IMO at the time, I would have preferred that money go towards stock buy-backs, then shifted to elimination of the warrants which hung like a big, ugly cloud over this investment. It has been opined that the dividends were a component of a deal towards the elimination of the warrants. With that in mind, I now have mixed feelings. But I do know that a few very wealthy potential investors, who I suggested look at PTSC, all came back with their response being major concern over the outstanding warrants. I shared this at the time.
He complains about the acquisitions. You may recall that I was very opposed to that proposition, and said at the time "PTSC already has a ton of risk on its plate, why introduce even more risk?". Holocom came at a low price and was a relatively mature enterprise. To me, that acquisition was acceptable in that it was at low cost and addressed the prevailing demands by shareholders to diversify and create alternate revenue streams. Minimal risk. Beyond Holocom, I had problems with that avenue and voiced concerns.
Based on the above, does it sound like I don't understand and agree with any criticisms? And of course there are more. I've come to my own conclusions on the future significance of each criticism. EVERYONE HERE has as well. They've done their own little assessment of how something that happened five years ago may impact the future of this investment, if at all.
Looking over your shoulder at the past IMO is not a good investment strategy. It is a consideration, but the focus MUST BE on the future, because that's where the money is to be made. You cannot possibly make a dime investing in the past. And despite arguments by you and others regarding the importance of the past, it is totally obvious that all who direct focus on the past are still here for but one solitary reason - the prospects of the future. But somehow THAT is rarely, if ever, an object of discussion. It really makes me wonder about the value of this board, ignoring the future, focusing on criticisms of the past.
On top of all of the above, I haven't seen where anyone has offerred their business plan for PTSC. You suggest that the company has not shared their intent along these lines, or that it is somehow "confused". I suggest that the company shared their intent quite clearly in the virtual AMS, and that this makes it clear to me that it isn't them without a plan or experiencing confusion, it is YOU. And, BTW, their stated intent is in near exact alignment with what shareholders have been calling for. I do agree that the PTSC Web site needs update, as it does contribute to confusion. Has it occurred to you that perhaps the update is being delayed for a reason? Is that reason good enough? We obviously don't know.
And criticism suggesting that the BoD continues to be rolled over by Leckrone (based purely on the past) ignores reality. How many months have they been in negotiations with Leckrone? As I've pointed out previously, this strongly suggests they are "fighting the good fight" and anything but being rolled over. They have already gotten agreement to certain concessions in the right direction. If there were any tendency to allow themselves to be "rolled over", a settlement would have been reached many months ago, and we'd have a whole new set of circumstances to complain about.
Validity of criticisms. In light of the above, it would appear obvious that some "formerly valid" criticisms no longer apply.
But those who continue to focus on them - for no apparent reason, are doing harm to PTSC shareholders, IMO. And if that is true, then I hope those same individuals are someday held accountable.
Now that I've gotten all that out, back to lurk mode, perhaps permanently.
SGE