In my opinion Elite Trader is the best bulletin board if not the best site on the net for traders. I'd just like to make a couple of suggestions to make the site even better. 1. I think the list of "Discussion Topics with Recent Posts" should be expanded. I check it several times a day for new posts. However if there's nothing added to a particular new post it can be off the end of the list in less than an hour and you'd probably miss it. 2. Why not have a permanent poll set up to nominate and vote for Elite Trader of the Month. Traders could nominate and then vote for other traders who have offered a lot of useful information on the board. Then at the end of the year, we could vote for Elite Trader of the Year out of all the Traders of the Month. Perhaps some of the advertisers could offer a token prize for the winners such as a book, a free month of service, etc. This contest would be a useful tool to encourage everyone to cooperate with each other and help to make Elite Trader an even better site.
While we're discussing improvements, how about the option for each member to cheer/recommend or boo/jeer each post. Then perhaps, one could make sure to check out any highly recommended posts.
I don't think there is anything wrong with popularity contests. I will say when I frequented another message board that frequently recommended posts drew my attention. I don't know what I missed as a result.