Why do people post to Stock related message boards?
The psychology of chat rooms.
Most folks come to a stock message board AFTER they have bought a stock. They come looking for approval and a confirmation of the "rightness" of their decision to buy. Thus, their first post is often "Isn't XYZ a great company?"
If the stock is moving up they usually find many supporters and a kind of mutual admiration society existing on the board. If it isn't they are often blasted by the folks that were making similar posts just a few weeks or months back. This group represents the most vocal bunch on a thread. The "investors" that are in a losing position.
Mostly they are split into two camps:
The Hopeful, who blame the negative "bashers" for the downfall of the stock price. "It would go up if you'd stop scaring off new investors!" is their mantra.
The Bitter, lashing out at everyone because they have a losing position. Many times their complaints are justified but because they have allowed emotion to cloud their presentation (as well as their judgement) all they usually end up doing is arguing with everyone.
The bulk of the posts on many boards consist of the exchanges between these two groups. Each has a vast arsenal of accusations to fling at each other or just at anyone in particular. This is especially true in the OTCBB arena where factual information of a company can be sketchy if available at all. These exchanges often disintegrate into shouting matches affectionately referred to on the Internet as "flame wars". Imagine the foulest mouthed kids going at each other on an elementary school playground. It is neither pretty nor fun to watch.
Both the hopeful and the bitter often vilify the remaining group, partially because of its decidedly small numbers, partially because they remind the "investors" of what they didn't do.. These are the folks that have taken the time to actually do some research and form an opinion based on the facts. Armed with their evidence they often try to convince the hopeful that the situation is hopeless or that the bitter have a reason to be hopeful. Alas, there is not much evidence of a high success rate. Often they are on the receiving end of abuse from both the hopeful and the bitter. Seems that sometimes people become uncomfortable with the knowledge that they have only themselves to blame.
The mutual admiration societies can be just as hard on these researchers if their research is predicting impending declines. Even after the predictions come true the researcher may have Cyberstalkers following him everywhere he goes warning: "This guy will destroy your stock! Everywhere he goes the stock gets killed! He must be an insider or MM or P&D! He is out to steal your money!" or something like that.
Then there is a very special group. They are not really interested in anything beyond the flaming. All they want is to keep the fires burning. Spewing nothing but hatred in their posts they will switch sides at a whim if it looks like one side is winning. Strangely these individuals often roam the net in packs, like wolves, till they find a suitable victim. Once found they will hound the victim wherever they go, giving no peace until the victim removes themselves from the public eye.
My point for all of this is a warning to all that would seek to gather stock information from a stock related message board. Don't believe everything you read on the Internet. Your best bet to avoid losing money and becoming one of the bitter is to become a researcher. Know why you should or should not buy a stock before you put your money down.
Good luck to all.
David Weed
aka the Bird of Prey
www.warp-drive.com
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