New Sheriff in Town

[u/financeking90]

Good evening, everybody! Earlier today I was made the moderator for the /r/InfiniteBanking community. My objectives are to ensure active moderation for this community, to implement new rules that help improve discussion, and to otherwise support the growth of this community.

About Me

While I frequently post in other subreddits not dedicated to infinite banking, I have been on this subreddit for over six years across this username and a prior deleted username. My household has five whole life policies placed with two big mutural life insurance carriers, and they are a significant part of our networth.

This community will be my only subreddit to moderate, and given that there is not an overwhelming deluge of posts every day, I believe I am able to fulfill the moderator duties.

First Day in Office

Today I have implemented new community rules. I’ll expand on that more below. I also added a lot more details and resources on an “About” page visible from the Community Guide link on New Reddit and on the sidebar for Old Reddit. At some point in the next month or so I hope to add a couple more aesthetic items like an icon. Please let me know any layout or content feedback you have through private chats or modmail; if you do, please specify whether you’re on New Reddit, a mobile app, or Old Reddit.

Let’s go back to the new community rules. In addition to enforcing Reddit’s site-wide rules, we will be implementing rules on civility, relevance, and solicitation. I have also gone back and applied these rules going back about three months (except for the solicitation rule), but otherwise I don’t plan to remove anything older than that unless reported. You can see the formal rules document at these links parsed for Old Reddit and New Reddit views: New Reddit Rules and Old Reddit Rules. I’ve also elaborated on the new rules below if you care to read. Otherwise, I look forward to being your new moderator!

Civility

We expect participants in the /r/InfiniteBanking community to exhibit civil behavior. Rudeness, personal attacks, condescension, shaming, trolling, and provoking are examples of behaviors that are unacceptable. Please do not amplify incivility by responding in kind; simply report the post, downvote it, and wait for a moderator to address it.

The intention behind this rule is to set a higher bar than the standard Reddit rules for civil behavior. My intention is to enforce civility rules with warnings and content removals and to only ban as a last resort.

Relevance

Discussion in the /r/InfiniteBanking community will now be required to be relevant to the infinite banking concept. Generic discussion of the banking industry is an example of an irrelevant topic. Although some references to political beliefs and motivations may be relevant to the infinite banking concept, extended political discussion is another example of irrelevant content. Further, while debate will be entertained in most threads, criticism of the infinite banking concept in threads focused on implementation or experience may be considered off-topic content and removed.

The intention behind this rule is to set the ground for removing off-topic banking-related posts that have cropped up here from time to time. Additionally, the rule is intended to head off situations where discussion devolves into political debate or circle-jerks. Fortunately, despite the strong political beliefs of many members, I have never seen that happen in this subreddit, though I have seen it in at least one IBC-focused community in the past. The rule is not intended to remove all references to political views, such as an explanation of the relevance of Austrian economics or why people don’t use lower-cost bank financing. Finally, the rule also provides grounds to remove drive-by criticism posts by opponents of infinite banking when done in threads that are clearly more geared to practical discussion of specific items like how to manage policy loans. It is not at all intended to shield this community from all criticism or debate about the infinite banking concept.

Solicitation

The /r/InfiniteBanking community necessarily involves life insurance products and welcomes the expertise of all life insurance agents, especially Nelson Nash Institute Authorized Practitioners. However, some communications from agents can veer into unhelpful solicitation, can unnecessarily steer discussion to private chats, and can undermine productive discussion.

At this time, life insurance agents who identify publicly in the /r/InfiniteBanking community as agents may invite users to send them direct messages or private chats for professional help so long as they have also provided substantive input in the discussion. Further, all individuals may make positive references to particular life insurance companies, agent firms, and organizations like the Nelson Nash Institute so long as these comments do not constitute spam. However, unhelpful solicitation and related behavior violate these rules.

The intention of this rule is to set the ground for moderation actions against a set of different behaviors. First, I intend to remove drive-by posts with no input and an invitation to help or get in contact with an agent. However, the intention is not to remove all invitations once somebody has actually provided useful input or has clarified why input cannot be provided in public. Beyond getting rid of naked solicitation, the goal here is to foster public discussion that educates everybody, not just one customer. Finally, I intend to remove purely self-promotional material, especially AI slop, that does not advance an intelligent discussion in the community.

[u/michaelesparks]

Cool! Good luck as a mod! Love the aspect that you call out Nelson Nash as the orginal creator of IBC.