In every workplace, trading or otherwise, there is always unprofessional behavior, but with a human resources department to moderate and monitor the various antics. (Dont forget that many of the traders on a website like this probably have never worked in a professional environment or had to sell themselves or a product to someone else or answer to a higher authority in regards to their behavior except the high school principal.) You also have the bored cranky insecure old men factor who can't seem to help but throw themselves into your business and adding attitude and flames where there should not be any at all. I have been on this website a short time, but already I have two of these types on my case chasing me around the board adding off-topic comments to my threads. One of them appears to be a moderator. I might suggest that a private trading blog would be much more helpful then whats on this website. This website is simply sad. Im not certain why I waste my time here.
That's pathetic. I also notice that when I ask basic questions, I inevitably get a nasty remark thrown at me somewhere for absolutely no valid reason. I come here to learn, and the attitude is "You're an idiot, go away". This particular forum is mentioned in a few trading books, but it's a shame that when you arrive here you get so let down by the attitude. As you suggested, it is highly possible that trading attracts those who have socialization issues and don't like being responsible to anybody. That makes it natural that you're going to find people here who are socially impaired/immature. Amazing they managed to learn how to trade (if they actually do I have met some good people here, especially one trader who helped me out a lot, and there is plenty to learn. I've also met some great traders in person via meetup.com. It's a good feeling, you have this comraderie of these independent entrepreneurs, many of whom are eager to be helpful and share with others. I try to be like that myself, although at this point there is very little I can share that is of value I used to be on another professional forum where you didn't have to show any proof of who you were, but after a while they did insist that everyone uses their real name to stand behind their words. They also strictly enforced respectable behavior. I always emerged there enriched and never feeling bad about asking a question. Sure, we'd get into arguments, but it was always respectable.
every forum that is anonymous allows others to flame each other. And have been doing it since before the internet (UseNet - think 1986.) As long as ET does not have any kind of identification method (which I have suggested many times) - like: 1) "must sign up through PayPal or WorldPay or with a credit card and pay 1 cent. OR 2) must register with a non-free ISP such as comcast or verizon (that is what many respectable sites require). --> then people feel no limit and if stopped, will just endlessly generate new aliases (as cold/c-kid does)... the day some sort of proof of identity is required here, traffic may decline 20% (partly due to the end of 5 aliases and some spammers), but the atmosphere here and its overall value to posters will double.
The forum I was on didn't require proof of identity. It simply required using a full name, first and last. If they figured out you were doing a handle you got chucked. Obviously I think traders don't want to put their real names out because sometimes people throw account statements on here and say things like "I made $1M last year trading". You don't want the world to see that sort of thing. I think a fairly aggressive moderator policy is a good safeguard against the misanthropes that frequent this board. Granted, it takes work to do that of course, but its worth it I think.
Maybe part of the misunderstanding is the definition of a "professional forum" or "professional trader". Also, just because a website puts the word "professional" in it's name or description doesn't make it a professional website. Further, every professional forum I know removes the anonymous tag from it's members. * e.g. @ http://www.iimemberships.com The above is an example of a professional forum for institutional traders. You should notice after clicking around that there are forms that need to be filled out and then submitted for review... Such is common for any professional forum. In fact, I've never seen a true professional forum of any profession that did not have some sort'uv eligibility requirements prior to allowing someone to join the forum. Therefore, the word "professional" is too loosely thrown around in trading in that some guy or gal (home base retail trader) that is profitable is called a "professional trader" while another that helps others is called a "professional trader". The real question now is what makes a home base retail trader a "professional trader"? * Trade for a living * Using similar or same trading tools as institutional traders * Treats their trading like a business * High level of professional ethics, behaviour and work activities * Positive attitude towards the profession Therefore, missing any of the above, can he/she be referred to as a "professional trader". P.S. I have no affiliation with the link I posted above. Simply, I'm no spammer nor shill. Mark
You raise good points. I think that trading for a living and using the same trading tools as institutionals shouldn't be benchmarks. I mean, being able to trade for a living is a measure of sophistication and experience, but some people do it profitably part time, and some are just trainees like myself that want to be here and learn. As for using the same tools, I can go out and buy the same tools a doctor uses to treat patients - but that doesn't make me a doctor And a good doctor can help a patient with less than professional tools in a pinch. I'm sure if I gave one of the Market Wizard traders the FXCM platform software, they'd be profitable even if they grunted at the software itself (sort of like Scotty in Star Trek 4 complaining about 'keyboards' ) I do however like the "trading as a business" concept. People who treat trading as a business mean they are here for serious reasons. The high level of ethics and behavior is definitely what you need in order to foster a community spirit and help uphold a good image for the profession in the world. Positive attitude towards the profession is another essential, I'd say. Bottom line, it is challenging to establish benchmarks of professionalism for trading, furthermore I think the forum needs to be open to people like myself who are learning the basics. What needs to be done is the schizoid clowns that give attitude and abuse to others should be weeded out, because they do give trading a bad name (as in "this is the job you do if you suck at dealing with people")
I really have no idea what you are talking about. This illustrates my point of individuals with obvious behavioral issues that were never made to account for their actions. I can imagine some traders on this website worked for someone at one time or the other, but their behavior somehow got in the way of their employment. They then went on to trade prop or some odd forex account because they simply could not make it in the real world because of attitude, emotions an overall insecurity with themselves. I wonder how an individual with these obvious behavioral issues got to be a moderator. Do they just pick the moderators of this site off of the street or????
"I wonder how an individual with these obvious behavioral issues got to be a moderator. Do they just pick the moderators of this site off of the street " there is a shortage of volunteers.
zdreg - Perhaps you'll remember that you asked me for info on TOS vs TradeStation some time ago. The ET site is better for contacts & pvt msging that for posting in my opinion. I 1st came here to evaluate brokers - its good for that too regards, hlu45