def II

it's a free country.
no censorship !
well, it's a capitalist country guys ! if you did not get that, well, maybe trading is going to be difficult...
I am being sarcastic. but some comments are just to naive, sorry. (the latest ones on this thread are not, I am referring to earlier posts in other threads).
the point is, any of the member is very welcome to start or pay for the infrastructure of a competitive board and let IB use it for free. like I said, it's a free country.
Nothing against IB here. They want to have low costs and offer their customers low comms. OK, but not when others are paying for it (nothing is free remember!).

I remember IB was totally against an API. it was a fierce debate to try to convince them to do so. Now they advertise it front page (they surely did not aknowledge EliteTrader for that.. actually not even one small little link on their web site). I like IB, but I think many members too easily give in on their side without considering our side of the matter.

the shortsighted decision is not on the side you might think.

anyway, why don't all the members outraged about this, just write to IB instead and ask them to support the forum. tell me what's wrong with that ? why is it ALWAYS EliteTrader which is supposed to be cheap or snake oil. it's just not fair or accurate.
Please write to IB. I doubt they change their mind. But after all they made a 180 on the API issue.

relax people.

 

Baron does not want IB users. It is that simple. He said it himself - just email Def. Don't use Elitetrader!!!

IB's competitors can't stand it when they see IB plastered all over this board. And it is obvious as to who is pushing Baron's buttons. (not that it matters)

I say, we all just leave - go to yahoo - ibusers. No big deal for us.


hey Baron, are your advertisers aware that the number of posts/hits on this website will probably fall by over 50% in the next few months??


see ya at the bottom!

 

Yahoo get my vote for the most advertise intrusive chat room, you are litterally force to look at the ad, then click on the link on top of the ad to go to the next message.

 

I agree Yahoo Groups ads are very intrusive. Yahoo is trying to squeeze $$ from everything now, charging extra fees or forcing ad-only page views. They are adding restrictions on geocities accounts, forcing you to pay if want the old free account.

What about ezboard? I like the bulletin board at
http://pub53.ezboard.com/bsurvivorsucks

Fleance

 

Baron,

It is unfortunate..I came to ET because of the IB forums....and happened to see info on other brokers, etc........if ET is going to stop being useful for IB, I will have no reason to come to ET...so I'll never see any ads. So driving off IB, drives off potential ad views.

Good luck with your business,

cas

 

I don't know what the current balance sheet looks like, so it is hard to make detailed suggestions. I guess what I am trying to say is that a free exchange of ideas will attract and keep many, many more users than the censor and spam model even though the latter might bring in more money in the short term. In the long term, you will have chased off alot of quality people that make this site worth coming to, and if they aren't here to attract eyeballs you won't get any advertising dollars at all.

 

Baron - you may not realize it but having def on Elite Trader has likely increased the popularity of your site. That can only be good for your business IMO.

Advertisers should be happy - they're getting a lot of eye balls looking at their ads. Subscriber growth at Elite Trader benefits the advertisers even more.

But having an ad on Elite Trader doesn't give an advertiser the right to limit discussion of a competitor product/service.

Locking out def was definitely not the way to go IMO. It was also rude.

 

A few things from my perspective:

Baron has a right to run his board any way he wants and I shall respect that right. I'll limit any new posts (I really would like to have def back instead of def1 or 2 or 3).

A couple of items:
- When I started to post here 3+ years ago I believe I just tried to set the record straight on some facts I disagreed with. From there word got out that someone knowledgeable about the firm was around here. It is also fun going tit for tat with some people and/or learning about how many of you trade.

- i never got approval or let the firm know that I was an active poster on this forum. Over the past year when e-mails to help or ibmgt said - def says this or def says that, it wasn't too hard to put 2 + 2 together for them since those are my initials and i'm based in HK. Even so, I tried hard not to overstep the line between someone trying to help out with some decent knowledge and someone representing the firm in an official capacity.

- the chairman of the firm understood this and let me be. I would be surprised if he ever looked at this site.

- I did approach the firm for advertising a few months back. IB's policy has always been to do very little advertising. I was not given a no, but was not given a yes. I told Baron I was going to revisit the subject early January. The timing was not right and I did not bring up the subject. Nevertheless, I still intended and still intend to revisit the subject. (One thing I promise if we do advertise - I wouldn't do anything but encourage people to do what they are doing - post the good the bad and the ugly.)

Now I've been cut off. I'm torn between trying to stick around or leave. I like this site, the way it is organized and the many contacts I have made over the years. I am also keenly aware that numerous traders have subscribed to this forum due to the ongoing IB threads. As a result advertisers don't seem to be shying away. Nevertheless, I do think I should have been given a bit more respect given my contributions to the site and at a minimum rec'd an e-mail before finding my user name locked out.

Enough said for now (no pun intended). Thanks for the kind words and hopefully I'll be back soon.