If you want a forum with other pro traders you're going to need a Bloomberg terminal. That forum is full of traders on desks, ET is mostly independent traders, hence retail. Yeah, there are a few big boys that post on ET, and few good nuggets here and there from some good indies, but its mostly a pissing match between struggling traders and other traders that have brief moments of success and want to 'teach'. You get what you pay for.......free ET.
That's very interesting about the Bloomberg forum being good. Is there any way to access it other than through a full Bloomberg subscription? For example, is it available in any University libraries?
Good points. I think a lot of the responsibility is our own - ask more and better questions etc. on the forums and try to contribute something too. I intend to do that in coming months .......
Periodically I see people saying that a pay site will improve quality, citing BMT as an example. This is wrong on 2 counts. Firstly, BMT is a free site. You only pay (once) if you want to join the Elite Circle, access to which is limited to paying members. Secondly, charging a fee is no guarantee that quality will improve. Bums could pay 50 bucks and misbehave freely. Does anyone seriously think that only nice guys have money? The key is moderation, as even the free section of BMT is noted for civility. Go off topic or misbehave and you get told pretty fast. Charge a fee and do not moderate and you may well get worse than ET, because people could think since they have paid they are entitled to post as they wish.
Some universities have bbg - you just have to either go to their website (they're usually proud to say they have a bbg) or call their library and ask. there is no other way to access bbg other than w/ a scrip.
Different sites have grown up their own sort of discussions. That's good because of the variety. One can always use the ignore button on the stuff you don't like in a site.
This is the only pertinent Stack Exchange one I've found: http://quant.stackexchange.com/ It's more quantitative finance or financial engineering, but maybe that's because other types of "trading" questions lead to opinion answers and typical internet BS.
I agree. I've been here more than 10 years and I notice a lot more a$$hats here now, or at least a higher percentage of them. There are some seriously good traders that are still members, but only a few bother to post because of all the acrimony and BS that goes unchecked. I responded to a post this morning to a guy asking a question about ES volume, then some guy posts that my response is infrequent because it's against CME rules. I tell him there's a lot that goes on in trading that's "against the rules" and then he wants my name. WTF? That will teach me to be helpful around here. Many others have learned before me.
We're going beyond "more proactive moderation" on the next version of ET. I was hoping to have this done by January 1st but it's going to be about one more week. Essentially, you'll be able to create your own private conversations that will enable you to invite only those members that you want to participate. That way, there's nobody screwing up your conversations unless of course, one of the members you invited turns out to be a troll.
Will one be able to invite everyone by start with, and later disinvite individuals who prove to be disruptive?