Of the 'known' traders that actually make really good cash on a consistent basis Dustin has really been the only one that has offered any kind of specific trading advice you can actually put to use. The other guys like ericp, lescor, etc. they are very general and really don't help much at all.
The most influential traders for me have had nothing to do with this board. Sure they have handles here, but any influence has been entirely offsite, via IM's, e-mails or face to face contact. This site seems to have largely gone downhill over the past several years with spammers, multiple alias weirdos and people who post hundreds of times per day on the most useless fluff. - mnx
Most influential for me is/was a a group of traders that used to post here frequently, but no longer do.
This website and all the forums are a bad influence to traders. Bad bastards. employees who work for MAJOR investment banks or brokers BANKS are banned are not allowed from posting here or any message boards about certain stocks etc so anyone posting isn't important. YOU IP ADDRESS ON THE POST CAN BE TRACED TO YOUR REAL NAME AND ADDRESS. NO SUCH THING AS ANONYMOUS POST OR PRIVACY ON THE INTERNET. THAT IS WHY THE PROS WHO DON'T NEED TO SELL ANYTHING DON'T POST HERE. THESE GUYS AT WALL STREET WILL TRACK YOU DOWN. THIS BROKER WAS POSTING LIES ON SOME STOCKS AND GOT BUSTED BY THE SEC FROM POSTING FAKE NEWS. LOST HIS JOB AT THE BROKERAGE AND FINED. A PROFESSIONAL TRADER DON'T NEED ANY ADVICE FROM ANYONE. THE PUMPERS ARE PAID PUMPERS OR BASHERS BY HEDGE FUNDS WHO HAVE NO RULES. AND NOW HEDGE FUNDS HAVE NO MORE PRIVACY FROM NOW ON..sec WILL NOW KNOW WHO RUNS THOSE HEDGE OR OWN THOSE HEDGE FUNDS
I have to disagree, whilst ericp may not have posted actual systems some of his posts have been immensely helpful in terms of general approaches, for me anyway.
Two points -- the most influential trader to me was myself. It was a journey of evolution and after 14 years of full time trading I couldn't be happier. I may not have helped many traders here on ET but trading successfully IMO is about being focused and posting on sites like ET is secondary. As far as ericp, I know him from SI (Silicon Investor) and he's the real thing -- automated system etc. Some of you, who aspire to be successful traders, need to work harder on your own and rely less on others helping you.