I have found only 1 more popular than elitetrader ; forexfactory trade2win is another any other boards you frequent ?
For specific technology try Yahoo groups like ATS2 for automated trade strategy or Neural Networks and Knowledge Discovery for advanced predictive analytics and soft computing
Also Quantitive Finance on Yahoo if you want to get into some very specialize approaches. Most active forums are dominated by chartists and indicator traders as most people prefer simple rule based trading to the complexities of soft computing
I have an automotive service business and i have customers that ask me if i know any one that will fix there car cheaper . I have seen it all .
Funny my mechanic is happy to state that he isn't the cheapest and tell me who is. I get to make the decison between quality and cost