After going through the Direct Access Retail forum of this message board, it appears that it has become a sales and support forum for Interactive Brokers, which was never its intended purpose. Elite Trader is not IB, and IB does not support this site in any way whatsoever. In fact, you will not see a single link to Elite Trader from IB's site, despite the endless links to IB's site from this one. As always, I appreciate everyone's participation, but a line needs to be drawn in the sand as to what is appropriate discussion and what is not. Member to member discussion about IB is fine, but when threads like "IB questions for Def" start popping up, that's crossing the line. If you have a question that would be best answered by IB staff, please direct your inquiries directly to them through whatever means they provide, as we cannot continue providing a free support forum for a multi-national corporation like Interactive Brokers. Thanks for your cooperation.
Thanks Baron, appreciate you drawing a line in the sand. As there are two complete forums Direct Access (Retail) and Software that are overwhelmingly geared towards IB threads, I've always wondered why there also needed to be threads of IB This or IB That started in the main Trading forum. Anyway, my .02
I would just like to encourage IB to support Elite. I suspect many of their better customers frequent this site, and most of the exchanges have been informative IB: how about sponsoring the "Direct Access (Retail)" forum just like FXCM sponsors the futures forum.
Baron, Yes I agree. After all, who can forget the classic IB threads such as: -IB Order cancelled-won't go through -IB appears to be down??? -What is the symbol for BUND on IB? and my personal favorite: -IB Outages Suck Today Big Time With all due respect, I think this issue points out a problem with your website, which is that people start threads on topics which should just be posts in an ongoing thread. There should be one thread named Interactive Brokers and all posts regarding IB should be included in it, not scattered all over the website. This would also make it much easier for Elite Trader members to find a central location for information on a certain topic. I am not sure how you would enforce this, but I would look at the Silicon Investor and Investor's Hub websites for ideas. Regards, Alex
Part of the reason why there are so many IB posts here is because Def is a frequent visitor to this board and provides very competent technical support that is much better than actual IB support. If IB's Technical Support was as good as Def, there probably wouldn't be so many posts here. -- Punter
Punter, Part of the reason why there are so many IB posts here... No one is complaining about the number of IB posts on EliteTrader. Given the large number of IB users it's understandable and to be expected. I think what aldrums and I are suggesting is that they do not need to be scattered all over the place, with someone starting a new thread every time IB has an outage. My suggestion is that we keep the main Trading forum for things specifically related to trading, and keep software discussions (scanners, video drivers, Win2000, Metastock, TradeStation, etc.) on the Software forum, and keep all discussions of non-prop direct access platforms (IB, RealTick, Cyber, TradeCast, etc.) on the Direct Access (Retail) forum. Of course this is not an exact science and there will be some overlap, but right now things are a bit out of hand. This board is called EliteTrader, not the IB Chat Board.
From Baron: "IB does not support this site in any way whatsoever. In fact, you will not see a single link to Elite Trader from IB's site, despite the endless links to IB's site from this one." "we cannot continue providing a free support forum for a multi-national corporation like Interactive Brokers." def - I think Baron is hinting that he would like an Elite Trader link on IB website. That seems fair. I wouldn't be surprised if IB competitors (who support Elite Trader financially in some manner) had complained. Elite Trader is good for IB and visa versa. Baron, I enjoy reading about IB on Elite Trader which for me is part of the appeal of Elite Trader. If there was a prominent IB thread (or list of IB threads) that was easy for folks to locate, that may be a reasonable middle ground.
I do not disagree with Baron as he has a valid point. I should not be a replacement for the help desk. I realize it has come to the point where you all expect me to respond to questions about IB. I've tried my best not to step over the line. If you have suggestions and/or comments that you do not think are relevant to this board, feel free to Private message or e-mail me directly. However, some of the comments and questions have led to serious discussion and improvements for the system. As for advertising, it will not be my decision in the end of the day. However, I've already contacted Baron in this regard. One last comment.... There is nothing stopping other brokerages (and there are a few reps here from prop firms who do a very fair job) from having someone at a management level respond to queries. In the end maybe its Baron's fault. He has created an excellent forum with knowledgeable traders that can't be found anywhere else on the net.
since this thread has already been started.. yeah lets give poor def a break. he's in HK for crying out loud! his support and expertise is much appreciated around here, but i must say it annoys me to see threads apparently pointed toward def (or others) and that person is just supposed to *notice* the thread made out to them, and respond. "i feel your pain" (said with classic slick willie accent) one other thing that annoys me is when people post messages like "how much does it cost over at X, do they offer Y?" come on, people, i guess it's too much trouble to <click> <click> and look it up yourself! (stepping off soap box)