There is a short list of traders that I can see myself "turning into" style wise as I age - Oldtrader is one of them. nitro
One thing that makes ET superior to the other trader blog sites is the format, and easier navigation.... being browser based, it poses virtually no overhead on the processors or the realestate on the screen... the other sites have custom designed persistent links that actually remain active whether you're using them or not. after all the idea is to swap notes during trading hours, not specialize in sharing one's opinions all day long...wouldn't get 2 cents in the open market for my thoughts, and wouldn't pay much for anyone elses'
Honestly, it's been a while since I've been putting some thought into my posts. But I realized (re-re-realized) that this site is not worth being serious and helping other people... I'm going to get back to my old surfanity persona after this chat... Just writing stupid posts and enjoying little jokes... I can't believe how it's almost impossible to keep a legitimate thread in topic for 3 hours... Too much losing traders in ET wasting their time trying to spread the hoodoo-ness in here...
Well, that's one way to look at it. Another might be to strive to keep the discourse higher. While one person can disrupt a thread, it only works if other people respond to them. I see several things regarding trader communities. One, if it's a smaller group of people who create their own boards on someone's server, they don't usually have the critical mass or turnover to be very dynamic. A community needs new faces and perspectives to be really vital. Two, old timers to the community or experienced traders don't have that much patience for newbie questions. Or certainly, they don't respond with much tact. In turn, newbies jump in without getting a feel for the board, or looking deeper for their question. Three, people respond to idiots. Most of these things are generalizations of any online community. However since trading is such and inexact science and because you can never know if one you meet online trades profitably... one's "expert status" is constantly doubted. I get the sense that some here feel it is their duty to deflate any and everyone. And that kind of sucks when every post has that kind of edge to it. A probing question should be enough. If the member doesn't respond to holes in their arguments, that should be clear enough to temper how much credit you give their posts. I challenge anyone and everyone who reads this thread to make a conscious effort to raise their level of dialogue on ET. Make an effort to separate the chit chat from the real meaty trading discussions. Be patient time and again with newbies. Make your time here mean something. If you do, you'll see the overall quality raise, and it'll pay off. André
Hey Andre, another great suggestion for the board would be to have a FAQ section, or a knowledge base or something like that.
I asked Baron but it never seems to happen... I know that you can make a sticky post on top of each topic so it should be possible... Or keep the thing unpostable for members and have a moderator adding good posts in it...
I'm thinking about that right now, Corvus. Especially for beginners, an ET FAQ might really help in understanding trading, but also in how to interact on ET, so that we don't get bogged down with newbie questions. André
Andre.....the FAQ would need to be very basic. I get asked what does ROFL mean? Or MA for that matter. I do answer every single question promptly though with great tact. Unless of course I am having a "menopause moment". Also, I meet a lot of older posters like myself. I think they are there, but not as chatty as the kiddies.