Replies to post #397 on Bloggerwave Inc.(fka BLGW)

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You might find it useful to check out a couple of things here on IHub, as well as on other sites, that discuss investing basics.

At the bottom of every page on IHub you should see a link to "Stock Market 101" that includes a lot of what is some overly basic advice in links like this one: http://learn.advfn.com/index.php?title=Warnings_for_New_Investors

Check out the link to the Investopedia tutorial on investing scams from that page.

IHub also has some great resources that should help you learn to figure out what a scam looks like well before you get too deeply involved in one... but, like everything else, you do need to learn to exercise your own judgment in determining who to listen to while learning. There are a number of lists, here, that focus on following serial scammers... and learning what a scam looks like from the start is a useful life lesson for any investor... while the lessons you learn from watching penny stocks are just as useful for you in other markets as they are here.

Probably the biggest mistake novice investors make is in assuming that there is ANYONE in the market who is honestly working to try to make the stock market a "safe" place for investors. The fact is that both the regulators, like the SEC, and the industry bodies, like FINRA, have a mandated focus on working to make the market APPEAR safe, to generate the benefits in the assumed safety, that work for those who intend to profit by parting schools of snooks from their cash.

The sooner you figure out that 99% of what you read, and that 99% of everyone in the market are not to be trusted... the closer you will be to having a proper grounding...

Don't trust anyone to do your homework for you. Expect it will take two or three years of effort before you've mastered the basics well enough that you can expect something better than random chance of success... while noting, as you have already, that "investing" by relying on others to "tell you what is hot" is likely to not work out.

You can't "invest" if you don't first know the companies whose stocks you own, the people who run them, everything there is to know about their businesses... the markets they address... their customers... as well as if they were your own business. If you aren't doing "due diligence" that well... you aren't investing in those stocks... you are playing roulette, and that means ensuring that the house wins, not you.

If you don't learn how to differentiate a "winner" from a "pig in a poke" by yourself... a good company with a chance to succeed from a total turd that will never float... why would you ever expect you SHOULD trust any others in the market, who are willing to sell you a pennies worth of stock in those turds for $1, while making themselves a handsome profit in the deal ?

The stock market is a CONTEST... and the game is played by a lot of serious people who know what they are doing. You need to know what they know, and know what they are doing, too... before you should expect to win a single hand.

[downsideup]

You also might find it useful to check out the links at the bottom of any page that will take you to "Terms of Service" and "Site Map & FAQ's"...

IHub isn't perfect... but, it is quite a bit better than a lot of other investment focused sites, and it works as well as it does mostly because the rules they have do "tend" to work to keep conversations on stock specific boards more or less on topic.

If you've made an effort doing solid DD re BLGW, its clients and customers, its board and management, or its markets and competitors... we'd LOVE to have you share that with us here.

If you just want to chat about your opinion re BLGW or things related to it... this is the place.

If you want to flog other stocks... you should go to the boards for those stocks to discuss them, or else find yourself one or more non-stock specific boards where you feel comfortable chatting with the regulars, where that sort of discussion is usually welcome.