I'd add that even in the healthiest markets, when things are near proper valuations, stocks should move from oversold to overbought, then back again. In other words, without a bubble, the moves down are a correcting cycle necessary to provide bargains. Shorts are a necessary balance.
The only thing criminal about shorting is naked short selling, which is the act of cheating brokers, not the shorters themselves.
And the bottom line for one who always seeks longs (as I do): turn all your charts upside down, especially near the end of October. Then look at where the best odds exist. Just as the last six months of 99 you could buy most any POS and see it rise, without great skill, that's what the post bubble decline offers to shorts: odds are most will go down.
Rather than judging what's fair, determine where the stocks are going and trade in that direction.
(and btw, it took me a long time to break my own resistance to shorting and I still do it rarely. But simple reason suggests that if the rules permit it, and the odds favor it, why resist the easier path to profit?)
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
AI
