Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
In the past month, changes have been made to help the community get back to more civil stock discussion. These changes were communicated on the Question and Answer Board but in the event anyone missed these updates, we are reiterating them here.
First and foremost, stock specific boards are to discuss stocks whether positively, neutrally or negatively. Our goal is civil discussion pertaining to the stock or company.
On July 1st, this was added/changed in the rules:
Here are the updated guidelines:
Community Guidelines
Moderators' Guidelines.
These will go into effect starting 7/15/2023. Please note that the rest of the handbook is in the process of being updated.
Dear Users,
In the coming weeks, InvestorsHub will be updating its URL to work better with ADVFN to provide an enhanced experience with more attention to tools and community. You will notice some differences in the header/menu, but all features will continue to exist seamlessly. We think you'll enjoy the new look and features, and we'll be here as always for any feedback.
IH Admin
It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of our past President, co-worker and friend, Bob Zumbrunnen.
http://www.penwellgabelolathe.com/Obituary/150885/Robert-Zumbrunnen/Olathe-Kansas
May he rest in peace.
Regarding multi-ticker Newswire releases:
Yesterday (and at other times in the past) there has been some controversy raised by some users regarding news releases appearing in various boards' news feeds when the content was not issued by the company.
News feed items come from a number of different sources; regulatory feeds, third party wire services such as Dow Jones, MarketWired, PR Newswire, etc, and also iHub's own news wire service. Issuers of the releases also come from a variety of sources; regulatory agencies, the company itself, rating services, research and advisory services, law firms, etc.
Sometimes the releases cover multiple tickers and accordingly appear on multiple boards. This is permitted by all services, not only iHub Newswire. Here are some examples:
Dow Jones:
https://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=75114542
https://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=75114598
PRNewswire:
https://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=75114208
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/seaworld-investor-alert-faruqi--faruqi-llp-encourages-investors-who-suffered-losses-exceeding-100000-investing-in-seaworld-entertainment-inc-to-contact-the-firm-300479811.html
Business Wire:
https://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=75122890
https://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=75122728
iHub NewsWire
https://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=75122237
https://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=75120400
iHub does not endorse or make value judgments as to the content of newswire articles, irrespective of the source wire service or issuer. The newswire feed is subject to a different Terms of Service from user-content posted to the message boards. There are occasional instances where the content of a news release violates iHub's Terms of Service, and the press release (or links to it) are not permitted in posts, although it may appear in the newsfeed. Examples of disallowed content would include but are not limited to releases with content about iHub users or links to websites that may be disallowed by iHub.
If you are unhappy with a particular article please address your concerns with the issuer of the article, not iHub Admins, since we do not have any involvement in the newsfeed section.
iHub Admin
IMPORTANT POLICY CHANGE - Please Read
Over the years there have been images posted in board posts and iBoxes that depicted scantily clad or otherwise racy images. Years ago we banned them from signatures and stock boards so that those who didn't wish to view them wouldn't see them. Images depicting minors (or what appear to be under-aged persons) that are exploitive, suggestive or abusive (at iHub’s discretion), as well as semi-nude and nude images have been and will remain banned.
Search engines and advertising networks (e. g., Google) have become more sophisticated and aggressive in recent years, categorizing both recent and ancient iHub content as "adult" in nature. This includes content found throughout the site, from posts, to iBoxes to profiles to signatures. These networks penalize sites that have content that they claim does not meet their advertising standards, even though the same or similar content - and far worse - can be found on their own properties. It’s good to be the king.
It’s also confounding that content that was posted years ago is only now considered to be unacceptable; content that they often cannot or will not specifically identify but which we are required to eliminate in order to meet a nebulous standard. There are dozens of boards here that appear to fall into the "adult content" category and our most obvious option is to simply take all of those boards down.
However, it has always been a goal at iHub to preserve history as much as possible. We don't delete posts en masse or wipe out large numbers of posts to remove an account. We don’t allow users to self-remove posts in order to re-write or censor history. We would like to maintain that goal while at the same time appeasing our internet partners’ wishes.
Toward that end, we are giving moderators of general topic boards with “racy” imagery 48 hours to remove all offending images in their iBox, and to remove posts containing such content that were made in the last 48 hours. If moderators choose not to clean up their boards, then they can expect that it will be taken down which means the entire board and history of posts will be removed from public view forever.
We are also asking that if anyone is perusing old messages and comes across these kinds of posts, please report it via the Report TOS Violation link at the bottom of the post. That way we can hopefully remove some content that has the potential to be flagged as inappropriate.
Going forward, there will be a zero tolerance for this kind of image (photo or drawing) content on any board here. (There’s no shortage of image repositories on the Internet.) Users, please don't post them or you'll likely find yourself suspended. Moderators, please make sure that such content is immediately removed from your board and alert Admins to the offender.
We understand no one likes change and there's going to be griping about this one as well. However, this policy change is not up for debate. Further clarification may be provided as we are able to, but that’s a moving target for us as well. We have to set a baseline, so we will start with the following, though it is not and should not be considered to be an exhaustive list:
Trade Link on iHub
Many of you have asked to have your broker added to the new trade link.
In order to do so, then we need to know which broker(s) would be most utilized.
Please complete the survey in the link below to let us know.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/brokersurvey.aspx
At the end of the survey, there is a box that you can check to disable the Trade button if this is a feature that you are not currently using.
Investors Hub Trading Application
Dear iHubbers, we are pleased to announce a brand new site feature which allows you to securely connect your iHub account to an E*trade account (if you have one) and perform trades directly through iHub. I expect most of you have noticed the new "T" button on the bottom right of the page which is the access point to the "Stock Order Page" once you have connected your accounts.
We understand that not all iHub users have an E*trade account but we needed to start this project somewhere. It would be helpful to us if we could have all the feedback possible in making this new service work for all ihub users. So if you are interested in trading through iHub but have a different broker to E*trade, please let us know who it is and we will start to work on bringing them.
If you would like to use the service but do not have an E*trade account you can apply on the following page - http://uk.advfn.com/ct.php?ct=NTE4OTA=
Allow us to answer a few questions which have already been raised:
What is an API?
API stands for Application Program Interface, and it is an online industry practice that enables two or more software applications to connect to each other in a secure environment - In this case allowing Investors Hub Users access to the E*trade platform via the Ihub Website. For more information on E*trades own API program please follow this link - https://us.etrade.com/e/t/invest/apihome
Why can I not close the "T" button completely?
For the first 30 days we wanted to make sure every existing user and all new users to iHub became aware of this new feature so we decided to have a minimize function instead of a close function on the "T" button. We felt the floating button on the bottom right hand side of the page when minimized does not interfere with the top navigation nor does it impede the reading experience of iHub pages. We would welcome comments from users on different placements on how to access the "Stock Order Page", for example, would you prefer for a simple "trade" text link in the navigation etc etc….
Is the application secure?
Trading through the iHub/E*trade API is as secure as trading through your normal E*Trade account, in-fact there is an extra security step within the logging in process - a verification key is obtained from your E*trade account which you then submit to access E*trade through iHub.
The process is explained on the following page: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/ETradeVerify.aspx?tradetype=equity&symbol=
Lastly and as always we will listen to your views and adapt this new and exciting service to fit them accordingly - please keep the feed-back coming.
A couple of updates:
Under Mailbox, you will now see a tab for "My Removed Posts". This should make requesting a review of deletions more intuitive for those unaware of the feature and make it a bit simpler for all.
Since the inception of the new Mod program, there has been some bickering over sticky notes. Admin now has insight to who and when changed stickies. This will enable us to see where the problem lies and those that are abusive will be removed as a Mod.
Thank you, Dave, for these updates!!
Have a great weekend!
New Moderator System on Stock Specific Boards
Going forward, all Moderator positions will be approved by Admin.
All Moderator positions will have the same abilities and no User can add/remove any other User from a Mod postion.
There are 6 Moderator spots. If there is a position open, there will be a link to "Add Me as Mod". When a User clicks on this, their request will be sent to Admin for review.
Admin will approve Moderator positions based on the person's history of abiding by the rules themselves and/or their activity level in enforcing the rules in previous Moderator positions.
When/Why Messages Are Deleted
FAQ
Moderator's Role
Handbook
As Admin has always done, no consideration will be given to investment sentiment or shareholder status when adding/removing moderators.
As with all changes of this magnitude, we fully expect there to be some technical glitches and some adjustments as we work through this change. Please be patient.
Constructive feedback and suggestions are welcome as always.
How do I look?
We are very excited to announce the newest addition to our team, iH Admin [Edward]. Many of you will feel an immediate connection to him - he's already put the iHub standard "fish" picture in his profile! Welcome, Ed!
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/profilea.aspx?user=276791
Reminder: Please do not post entire articles and comments from
http://2d-code.co.uk/
The author/copyright owner has previously requested that his articles not be copied and posted in full. Please post just the link to the article if you want to share it.
My Stocks Pitches - Update
We wanted to update everybody on My Stocks Pitches. We're getting close to releasing more tools that leverage the community's opinions and comments from the My Stocks Pitches section.
As you'll see quite soon, My Stocks and the various tools that use it will be a fundamentally new and interesting way to quickly do due diligence on stocks.
When you make a Pitch, it's imperative that you use that space to share with everybody your absolute most valuable DD, comment, idea, or reason for your view on the stock.
The comment needs be about the stock itself in some way --fundamentals, upcoming events, earnings, technical analysis. If not, it may be removed. If you can't muster up a quality comment to add, then please don't add a Pitch to the stock in your My Stocks. Pitches that are not directly about the stock greatly detract from the value of this project (ie "LOL" "OK" "Going to the moon" "This is a scam" "Bob told me to buy." "Just sell." "Just buy" -- see Terms of Use)
We've started cleaning up Pitches throughout the site, so you may see some of your Pitches missing. We encourage you to update your Pitch with commentary that meets the guidelines mentioned above and that are also included on the Edit Pitch page. This benefits the community as whole, as the quality of the content here improves greatly!
You can add a pitch or update a pitch on your My Stocks.
All that said, the vast majority of Pitches that have been added to date have been excellent! It's because of this we've come up with new ways we want to display and use this information site-wide for the benefit of all. So, keep your eye out for new My Stocks tools.....
The iHub team just concluded our annual meeting to discuss the strategies we will focus on throughout the upcoming year.
A key principle of this site is that the message boards here are to discuss companies, trading strategies, investment techniques and provide a platform for anyone to share their knowledge and opinions with others. We believe wholeheartedly in this goal and expend a great deal of time, effort and resources to forward this objective daily. We are fortunate to have many experienced, knowledgeable members who are willing to give of their time and energy to assist people new to the market.
Over the last couple of years, we have implemented new initiatives to assist Users in educating themselves on this area of the investment universe. With the increased staff to handle product sales, support and development, new tools and tutorials were introduced in the past year to help users of the website understand the dynamics and meaning of what they were viewing. The intent behind these efforts is to help individuals become more successful in the stock market.
One example is the Education wiki. The development of this resource is the result of hundreds of hours spent by employees and amazing volunteers from the site who donate their time and assistance in compiling and populating information into the wiki. It is ever evolving, expanding and becoming increasingly comprehensive. If you have something to add, please let us know as input from everyone in our community is one of the backbones of our site.
At our recent meeting, we discussed all of the strategies going forward to increase these efforts to provide people the tools and knowledge they need to make informed, reasoned decisions when investing/trading in connection with their use of message boards.
In the near future, you will see some amazing trading tools that are either new ways of analyzing data at a glance or simply undiscovered gems that already exist as part of ADVFN's tools.
Site Admins will continue to try to help educate users on the rules of this site and why they are important (to maximize signal and minimize noise) toward helping people stay focused on their strategies.
We want to recognize and thank those people who give so freely of their time to assist those who are new to investing by guiding them to resources that can further their education.
Finally (whew!), we are very excited about this company-wide focus and hope that it leads to more savvy, educated people who make lots of money in the market!
Stock Market 101
We are very excited to introduce the newest member of the iHub team, IH Admin [Linda]. She's already proven to have more technical skills than Shelly, type faster than Dan, have less typos than Dave, more patience in reading than Matt and loves bacon almost as much as Meatloaf. In other words, she's a great addition to the team. Please go easy on her until she gets acclimated here!
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/profile.asp?User=185596
The other exciting news is that with this addition Matt gets to go back (mostly full time) to doing what he loves and what only Matt can do - coming up with new features and site enhancements that we didn't know we needed until he developed them! He's got 100's of "groovy" ideas that he's ready to implement and now will have more time to focus on this passion.
Thus far this has already been a phenomenal year with the site stats continuing to break records almost daily. We will have our 50 millionth post this year and celebrate our 10th anniversary in April.
Thank you all for the support you've given whether in providing valuable content in your posts, volunteering your time and energy to create and moderate boards or to offering suggestions for upgraded features. This site couldn't be what it is without all of you.
On the sixth day of Christmas,
Ihubbers sent to me
Six IRs lying,
Five boards to spam!
Four pinching bollies,
Three FTDs,
Two gagged TAs,
And a link for L2 that was free.
Re: Premium Message Board Subscription Pricing
On January 1, 2010, we'll be increasing the price of two of our Premium Message Board subscriptions.
Monthly and quarterly prices will remain the same.
Semi-annuals will increase from $49.95 to $54.95.
Annuals will increase from $89.95 to $99.95.
Any auto-renewing subscription set up before January 1, 2010 will keep the old prices until the subscription is cancelled. If you're already an auto-renewing subscriber, you're set and don't need to do anything. You can check your subscription level here.
Subscribe today to lock in the current rates!
IH Admin
Everyone,
We're very excited to make the following announcement. This has been something Bob has worked toward for many months and we're thrilled for him that it has finally come to fruition.
This morning our parent company, ADVFN PLC based in the UK announced the completion of the sale in our sister websites SiliconInvestor.com and Talkzilla.com to Bob Zumbrunnen, iHub's departing President and CEO. The release can be found at http://www.advfn.com/advfn_ir/ir_announcement.html?article_id=38326270.
Of course, this event comes with mixed emotions for the iHub staff. Bob has been an integral part of iHub since its most early days, and his fingerprints (and some boot prints) will be here forever. We have also come to recognize that his role more recently didn't let him enjoy the things he likes to do the most, and he'll now be afforded the opportunity to "roll" the way he likes. We all wish Bob the very best of success in both giving SI the time and attention that it needs and also in making TZ into a success as a non-investment oriented site. We will continue to work with Bob as ADVFN has retained a minority ownership stake in the new enterprise.
Please join us in wishing Bob all the best!
Meanwhile, once the technical transition is completed our development staff will have more resources to focus exclusively on iHub. We have a long list of both user-suggested and in-house plans on the development slate and expect to be able to increase the rate of implementation as a result of our more narrowed focus. We'll share more on that down the road, as we always do.
Sincerely,
The iHub staff
Several users have asked us to respond to that alleged filing.
We do not know who or what "Investors Web Site" is.
Investors Hub has not received ANY legal notifications or requests for user data. We will not release any such data without a valid subpoena issued by a court of competent jurisdiction. Assuming we ever do receive receive such a subpoena, we will not produce any type of user data without first attempting to notify the affected parties and allowing them an opportunity to seek a quash. Further, Investors Hub may choose to object to any such subpoena itself, assuming one ever materializes.
The above position is a matter of longstanding policy here, and our extensive experience in these matters is that threats of this nature generally lack any credible legal basis and are often intended to distract and/or intimidate. It is extremely rare in our experience for such threats to ever actually become reality, and even in those occasional instances when a threatened subpoena does materialize, they rarely are sufficient to overcome the significant legal hurdles necessary to acquire user data.
Since there is no specific mention of Investors Hub in that filing we will not comment on it further at this time and afford each reader the opportunity to judge the credibility of the filing and those whom it is made on behalf of for themselves. To be clear, there has been no apology requested of nor made by Investors Hub, nor is one contemplated since there is no possible basis for one.
Next, we have offered great latitude in allowing company communication that violated our rules of conduct to be posted on this board simply because it was what the company was choosing to communicate to shareholders.
However, it's now just getting down right silly and it appears that emails purportedly from the company are simply being used to thwart the TOU of this site. It also looks as if these supposed communications from IR are meant to stifle and intimidate Users here. This is against the spirit of this community and will no longer be tolerated.
Public documents (filings, wire published press releases, etc.), even if they contain discussion of "bashers", "naysayers" or frivolous lawsuits can remain. However, communications from the company that are not publicly accessible should not be posted and should be removed if they violate the TOU.
Any questions, please send a PM to IH Admin.
ALL:
Below is a link that is being used for April Fool's pranks and has many people concerned that their account has been compromised. It has not.
This is a dynamic link which means that the person clicking on it will see their information. It's based on the login of the account and nothing in this URL. No one can see any one else's account with this link.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/my_account.asp
We are pleased to announce the launch of our new iHub Wiki.
The main page of the wiki is found at http://ihwiki.stocksite.com/index.php?title=Main_Page and explains in brief terms what the wiki is. Currently, the meat of the wiki is our new and improved User and Moderator handbook, which can be accessed directly via http://ihwiki.stocksite.com/index.php?title=Handbook or from the main wiki page.
The seed for this document was our current Moderator's Handbook, which will be retired. We have extended the content and added a series of FAQ pages which are referenced throughout the document. We will be adding links to the Handbook, the general wiki, and specific wiki pages from certain areas of the iHub site over time.
We'll eventually do away with the "old" FAQ since we expect all of that content to be covered in the Handbook. Until that time, though you will see some of those are reserved but not as yet complete. The new FAQ table of contents can be accessed directly via http://ihwiki.stocksite.com/index.php?title=Frequently_Asked_Questions.
One advantage of the wiki format is that it automatically generates a table of contents, and it will be quite easy to use the section URLs to refer Users to specific pages and sections that address whatever policy issue or feature they need explained.
All private messages sent between 6:13am and 9:51am were delivered but without the body of the text, only the subject. Unfortunately, there is no way to retrieve these messages.
The system is now fixed and there should be no further issues.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
Today we are launching a new Member feature and making a shift in the way that we deal with deleted posts.
Before describing the changes, we want to reiterate our ultimate goal. iHub’s rules pertaining to member conduct and availability of member features is to increase signal and dilute noise while maintaining forums that welcome and encourage all points of view. Bona fide dialog concerning investments is deserving of open discussion and debate of both similar and opposing views. Investors reading and engaging in such discussion should appreciate the benefit derived from those expressing views and opinions contrary to their own. As investors ourselves, we value the differences when it comes to contrary investment opinions be they bullish, bearish or neutral. Inclusion over exclusion will always be favored on our stock-specific boards for those Users who are civil and comply with our rules of conduct.
Okay, enough of the ribbons and wrapper, let’s get to the good stuff inside.
Our past practice has been that members should PM a site Admin to request the review of removal of their post(s), assuming they were aware their post(s) had been deleted. All Members will now find a new tab on their Tools page, called “My Removed Posts” which will list all of their messages, made in the past week, that are currently hidden from public view. From this page, the author will have the opportunity to see their post and the reason given for it's removal.
After re-considering the content of their post and ensuring that it is in compliance with the Terms of Use, the author will have the option to request a review of the post’s removal if they still believe it was removed in error.
Requests for review are submitted into a queue in the order received. One view of the queue is site-wide and is available to Mod Squad and Admins. (MS, you can access it through the new "Mod Squad" link in your navigation menu.)
The review request and comments are also available to Moderators, Mod Squad, and Admins on each board through the Manage link. This view will show only board-specific Review Requests.
If anyone restores the message it is removed from all queues including the individual's “My Removed Posts".
Although many people can review and act upon these requests, only an Admin can "close" a review request that has not resulted in the post being restored. If an Admin made the deletion, or reviewed it without restoring (thus closing it), it will continue show up in the author’s "My Removed Posts". However; there will not be a link to request a review.
The combination of the board Moderators, Mod Squad and Admins all actively monitoring these queues should result in the timely review of removed posts that are contested by the author. It should be noted that Moderators cannot reverse actions taken by Mod Squad or Admins, and Mod Squad cannot reverse actions taken by Admins.
Why are we doing this?
Review of removed posts is a daunting task, to say the least, and all the more so because we endeavor to review them in as timely a manner as possible. This massive use of our resources occurs day in and day out, despite the fact that over the past year over 93% of removed posts remained so after review.
This new system is an effort to streamline communication between Members and Admins along with getting deletions reviewed more quickly. By enabling Members to take more ownership in the review of their own removed posts and simultaneously providing more consistent and structured visibility to removed posts to a broader group of reviewers, we believe there will be improved and timely focus on that 7% of removed posts that have historically been restored. We expect this percentage will diminish through better visibility and improved tools like this for Members, Moderators and our Mod Squad.
Through various means we will continue to monitor removals, restores, and overall activity in aggregate and can and will use that information to ensure the proper use of the features made available to all Members.
Some final points:
• It is important for Moderators and Mod Squad to use the most accurate “reason” when removing a post. If there is more than one TOU violation involved, use the most obvious one.
• Members should avoid filing frivolous requests for review. If your post was removed because it contained a TOU violation, your recourse is to cease including content in your posts that violate the rules of the site. Do not file a Request for Review.
• Moderators should not remove posts that do not violate the iHub Terms of Use.
• Use of the “Author Request” reason for removing posts should be kept to an absolute minimum, and should never be used to mask another legitimate reason for removal.
• As is the case with all site usage, any Member who abuses this system will be subject to administrative action including but not limited to loss of access to various features and privileges.
Like all new features and changes in our operating policies and procedures, we expect a few bumps in the road will occur that will require some changes. It is going to take some time for all members and Moderators to become familiar with these new features. Please be patient and let this new approach work to our collective benefit. Let’s also keep the lion’s share of our attention where it belongs: on making well-informed, prudent, and profitable investment decisions!
The iHub Team