The Question and Answer Board

[NorthWesterner]

Matt --

I had been aware, of course, that OTC and BB stocks predominated here, but looking at the Hot list made me realize just how much. There doesn't appear to be a single NYSE, AMEX, or NASDAQ stock board on the hot list. I didn't explore every one of the hot list boards, but none other than BIGB appeared even to have any connection with "major" stocks, and that board has really turned into a daily posting of Amy Baldwin's daily market wrap-up.

My bias is that you should rename this Gambler's Hub, not Investor's Hug. <bg>

Seriously, though, are you interested in attracting the longer term major stock investor, or are you feeling that the penny stock, daytrading, options trading, etc. investors are where your market lies? I'm feeling a bit out in left field, and as though if I do put up a board dedicated to long term, disciplined investing, it will be a vast wasteland. In a way I suppose it's a chicken-egg sort of thing, but your own biases I think are toward the "action" rather than the "investment" end of the financial spectrum, and that seems to be what is attracted here, at least from the Hot List boards.

The IBM board has had one post in four months. GM, Ford, GE, don't even have boards. (How many of the Dow stocks have boards, I wonder? Not many.) Of course, those stocks don't attract paid promotors, information about them is widely available so "hot news" posts and rumors are of minimal significance, and in general they're not the stocks to attract those whose attention spans are measured in hours or, at most, days.

I'm just curious, though, about whether you truly want to attract the long term investor, or whether they will be tolerated here but not valued. I mean, I'm sure you will say you want them. Of course, you want as many solid posters as you can get. But are you really putting out the product which will be designed to attract them? Assuming there are a number of them who are even interested in stock boards. (But MF seems to have some really good discussions of such stocks. Why not IH?)

Forgive my rambling. It's Friday evening of a long week and my mind is sort of free associating.

Maybe there are other people here like me who are lurking but finding no real place to play. I know it's a bummer to just bitch without offering answers, but I don't have any at this hour on this night.