Here is a snippet from this weeks Barron's article: "Surf's Up" ranking of best web sites by category. The categories were bonds, chat/message boards, commentary, company research, economic data, investor education, financial news, global markets, mutual funds, portfolio trackers, screeners, supersites, tech news and technical analysis. __________________________________________ Web Feat Cracking our list of online investing stars isn't easy; here are the sites that did By KATHY YAKAL THERE WAS A TIME, hard though it might be to believe, that we got basic investment information somewhere other than the Internet. Of course, perspicacious news and analysis can still be found in weekly publications such as the one you're reading, yet it, too, is available online. But apart from a dwindling band of Luddites, investors go to the Web to quickly catch up on the markets, stocks or mutual funds. That said, the ubiquity of the 'Net makes apparent the mediocrity of much of what's found there. To counter that, Barron's presents its annual Best of the Web rankings. We scored using the same criteria as last year: the sites' usability, their design, and ease of navigation. And now that not everything available is free, as during the Bubble Era, we took fees into consideration, too. We mulled over each site's universe of market data, and how it was presented. We critiqued editorial content, both original and taken from credible sources, along with each site's tools and interactivity. And we considered the timeliness of each site's content delivery. We should mention, too, that we did not exclude sites from our corporate cousins at Dow Jones, the publisher of Barron's. We're no "homers," however, as some worthy competitors get top scores. Herewith the results: Chat/Message Boards Silicon Investor (www.siliconinvestor.com) once again got top marks. The site posts hot topics on its opening page, and you can drill down into all that's offered. Silicon Investor divides its message threads into several broad categories, ranging from Aerospace and Defense to Market Trends and Strategies to Web/Information Stocks. The boards are well-attended, with a minimum of fluff. Honorable Mention goes to The Motley Fool (www.fool.com). The site has developed quite a community over the years, evidenced by the rate of participation on its message boards -- and the quality of a lot of its postings. Message threads are divided by topic, but there's also an A-Z listing of individual stocks. Elite Trader (www.elitetrader.com) is a great compendium of message boards, divided into typical categories (trading, futures, technical analysis) and not-so-typical master topics, like the psychology of trading.
"Not so typical"? What the heck else is there to trading besides thinking right? I don't know why they didn't rank ET number 1. Because after ET I would rank Barron's number 2. Now some poor Barron's reader will spend all weekend reading ET and say,"I don't get it. 24 hours of searching through posts and they still never told me what stock to buy."
Well, given that Barron's annual "Best of the Web" rankings is geared to investors, it's gratifiying to see that the obvious trader-oriented Elite Trader made the list. Yakal's unfortunate (for us) descriptive choice of "not-so-typical master topics, like the psychology of trading" simply accentuates the investment theme and her status as a non-trading writer. On the positive side, that point alone will encourage many self-described investor-traders to take a look at ET's most illuminating Psychology Forum and begin extracting the same usable benefits for themselves as have smart readers before them... And, it's ET's second mention in Barron's - Miss Yakal discovered ET back in July - great, well-earned publicity by any standard. Congratulations, Baron! ...and to all of you serious ET contributors!
Now some poor Barron's reader will spend all weekend reading ET and say,"I don't get it. 24 hours of searching through posts and they still never told me what stock to buy." ::Laughs:: Too funny. I've spent time in the Fool community. I was with AOL and managing my forum there about the same time they were getting started. I don't think they're bad... for the investor. For traders, they generally have their heads in the sand. The daytraders there had to really raise a ruckus to be allowed to keep their few forums. For whatever the reason, I've never cared much for silicon investor or the raging bull, even. I guess I prefer broader discussions than stock only discussions. Sometimes I do want to know what people are saying about a certain stock. But they get so tedious, so quickly. I'm glad we don't have a stock only forum here. André
Sure get off your ass and go buy one. When you wear it, tell people what you contribute or just put a brown spot on the shirt tail and tell them to look there.
Sure, why not! Besides the ET logo, bet there's more than a few ET'ers who can come up with some super graphics. Savvy, clean ones, that is...
Right, but just imagine what insight that Barron's reader, new to Elite Trader, is gaining into how the markets really work (along with his own psyche in dealing with them) through ET's array of forums and hard-hitting threads. This whole new Elite Trader world Barron's October 20, 2003, Best of the Web has opened for its readers! They just gotta be brave enough to handle it...!