Unfortunately, quantity is not quality. Sorry to say, but quantity is increasing while quality is decreasing here. IMHO, creating moderator jobs and then engage biased moderators was no improvement and creating the chit chat area made it even worse. The name "Elite Trader" promises a lot. Not sure if the promise is kept though. Nothing against rules, but why aren't they valid for all posters? The small link to the terms of use is laughable. Make a large, bold link at the top of the page to your "Ten Commandments" and ban everyone who break the rules after lets say three warnings.
Good question. Example of Great Moderating in Action Magna moderates the Journals forum. In that forum he does a good job of chopping out posts that are clearly off topic, and steering the discussions back on target. It makes sense to do this in the Journals forum because stuff posted that doesn't relate to the person's journal clearly don't belong. Even with the super-ego journal Magna did a good job of keeping the lid on things, until ultimately super-ego went off the deep end in attacking those reading his thread (all content went out the window and it turned into a flame-fest) and after that I think his journal got thrown in Chit-Chat and/or was shut down. Some people think Magna is overly zealous, I think Magna has the right idea with regards to moderating, and in fact I'd put him forth as an example of a "Model Moderator." I would like to see the other moderators be more active in pushing threads in their forums back on topic when they get off on chit-chat type tangents. Off-Topic stuff in threads: Off topic stuff in threads is a mixed bag. On the one hand, some of the best discussions have come out of off-topic stuff piggybacked onto threads that were dying or had little momentum. On the other hand, this is the same means by which decent threads turn into flame fests. How do you keep the good and trash the bad? I wish I knew but that's the dilemma Baron and the other Moderators face every day. Not the easiest job. Attacking the Messenger: This happens quite frequently to those who wish to share their trading methods. IMHO this accomplishes nothing. On the one hand I can see the perspective of the attacker: they wish to ferret out phonies and do a public service. But in reality they are simply feeding their own ego by attempting to make the other person look stupid by inciting an angry response. On the other hand, if the teacher is publishing unprofitable methods or making claims with no proof, it will become obviously apparent in time that this is the case, so the attackers really don't accomplish anything. My view is that attackers should have free reign when dealing with material presented (including profitability claims), but when the attackers get into personal attacks, this crosses the line and those threads (whether they use expletives or not) should be removed. I think the moderators are doing a good job of removing expletives or posts with expletives, but posts that are clearly inflamitory (no substance, all attack) seem to slip under the radar because there is no automatic trigger (expletive).
I applaud for making it so that you cannot register under yahoo or hotmail accounts that in itself shows a whole lot!! but there are a few OVER- AGGRESSIVE moderators who are bringing this place down, I think a couple need to be replaced with people who are KNOWLEDGEABLE about the market and can lead threads by example when they get out of order. I know for a fact that Magna is personally responsible for losing a account that was goin to sponsor this site. Seriously when was the last time ANY moderator (besides daven) said any shread of anything good or presented anything of value about the market?
I enjoyed Babak's Journal: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16711&perpage=6&pagenumber=1 Although I did not respond to the thread (I rarely go into Journals, as those people are there for a very specific reason and I do not want to disturb them,) I learned some new things... nitro
Over-aggressiveness is sometimes a problem. But moderators aren't camp counselors. They're there to enforce the TOS. If you feel you've been unfairly treated, there are options available to you.
Baron, you have got to be the biggest dope for booting Jack off this site. And it was real swift of you to personally tell him off and delete his MACD thread. A nice touch by the self-proclaimed KING of ET himself. I guess when the KING is getting fat off the sponsors' checks he doesn't concern himself over whether his actions are a deterrent to people who actually know how to trade to give to this community. No, all the KING sees is that ET, his kingdom, is "growing", whatever that happens to mean. Pride does goeth before the fall. Good luck with your reign, KING. I'll be going back to where I came from before Jack arrived and using this place for what it's good for: getting a few laughs.