<i>"Many if not all of the folks who actually work in the industry have "left the premises" or will leave soon."</i> Why? What is your assumption for that exodus, Steve? * On any given weekend, I have a few thousand people traipse thru my little world on the internet. Some number of those have heard me mention this website, joined up and expected great things. They expected to learn answers to questions posed from newbies. They expected veteran professionals to work together in harmony, not acrimony. They expected joint effort problem-solving amongst members. Instead, what did they see? Newbie questions ridiculed and flamed. Veteran website members (not to be confused with professionals) verbally assaulting one another, their immediate families and next-of-kin. They see problem creation amongst members instead of problem solving. So why would they stay? Most didn't. I hear back from people all the time about how acidic, negative and depressing ET forums are as a whole. Keep in mind the newbies don't have b.s. sift ability, and veterans won't waste time trying to sift. I click in here as a place to hang out with like kind. This is the closest to a 24hr coffeeshop = bar = restaurant gathering of fellow peers I'll ever approach. If I were searching for educational info on learning how to trade or supporting questions I had, would have been looooong gone by now. ** As for the usual "vendor" venom from what can only be a base of ignorance (or worse), that drivel gets tiring, too. I'm know for a fact that some of the "vendors" here are very capable traders, and it's quite possible some can easily trade circles around you. The only sharks who exist in this forum are the venomous, acidic, perpetually negative louts. Those are the ones who sling barbs but never offer any solutions of their own to fix the problems.
As a newbie (for years to come probably), I like to think of this place as a community where posters choose to come and go as a, community. I lurk intensively here learning many things. Psychological ideas, techniques of relevances, and student/teacher style advice are some of them. I few things of character I learn here are that many feel they are in a dueling competition and feel the need to compete by trying to discredit others, some like to bash stupid questions, and some have an overall negativity behind there posts. I read these for entertainment as well as to give myself an idea of all the walks of life here. Allowing me to choose who to be a role model, who I feel sorry for, learning how I want my character as a trader to be. Also, as a newbie, I feel privileged to be a part of an elite group where I can get more info from those who have been around the block and then some. I do think its a shame that some elitists may not feel comfortable here anymore. I think teaching and mentoring(at a low level) would be a great honor
Pathetic aren't we! . . . Why do I read ET?: I came across ET while searching for a new broker. That was around 05-2003, even though I was not interested in posting until 06-2006. During the last 4 yrs, I mostly read for the entertainment value, not the arguments and nonsense, but because no one else I know outside of ET has a clue about trading. And ET is addictive for some reason. An excuse not to work I suppose. There is helpful info that would be difficult to find anywhere else, like lately a few threads were started with the topic of trading for others and such. Personal broker, software, data reviews, psychology, individual triumphs and failures, etc. Where else would you find info like that? A lot of people seem to be frustrated about not being able to quickly find an easy and profitable system, so they can make money right now. I think that they should ease up on finding answers from someone else and get to work. I think there may be a decline in quality of the posts related to actual trading, but I was never too interested in finding trading system tips from books or forums. Seems like if 80-90% of new traders fail in the 1st 3-6 months or so, likely they would have to go find a job and be pretty much done with trading and ET. Posters will treat you well even in the Politics forum, if you treat them well. If they trash you, which rarely happens if you treat them well, ignore their ignorant statement and continue as you were and that will be the end of it. What should really be avoided is making any claim of any significant profitability. That's when it can really hit the fan, because apparently everyone knows it's impossible to make money trading.
Bingo, good post. ET has its place (as do all forms of entertainment), it's just hard for some to keep this in mind. Also for some its hard to realize that this is a place to be taken in moderation and not too seriously. I do love how there are so many posers that actually live out their trader fantasies. There's a psychology dissertation somewhere amongst all their posts. The great thing about the Internet, anyone can be anything at anytime.
Most forums go through a fairly predictable life-cycle and nostalgia plays a part in making the old-hands think it is getting worse some how. ET is still of enormous value to me. I was late to the party so never new ET before about 18 months ago. I've read some of the older threads and many of them degenerated into flame wars too. Why does that happen? There are some very angry and disruptive posters currently though - but the Ignore function works as designed. Be skeptical but avoid negativity and you might learn something. Personally I am extremely grateful to have discovered ET when I did - just when I needed some direction from the more experienced. It took a while to settle on the path I've chosen but once I'd made up my own mind about who was actually trying to help and who was merely on an ego trip it became very easy to filter out the unhelpful crap. I spend 90% of my time on ET in Spydertrader's futures and equities threads and I search daily for new posts by Jack. Make of that what you will; I don't really care.
I signed up to reap 3 times the daily range and never have a losing trade using the Jack Hershey method of living off a successful woman 30 years my junior while selling snake oil to slack jawed yokels
Its entertainment. If you were starting off you could learn a little here as well. And, helping the odd humble questioner is how many pay the price for their entertainment. Of course, laughing at the more arrogant newbies and the arrogant frauds is the other side of that small pleasure. Enjoy folks. ps. I don't know about the others that Steve mentioned but dbPhoenix deservedly got the boot. He didn't leave by himself and he continues to trawl for sycophants on other websites. He has moderated his behaviour over there.
Austin: My assumptions are based on my experience. As regards your comments, well it is kind of sad when someone replies as you have. You seem to decry negativity, then you suggest the "possibility" that some vendors can "trade circles around me" Interesting...You see from my point of view, if a person (anyone for that matter) can trade circles around me, then they are doing a great job. It means among other things, that they are making a nice living, that they can support a family if they wish, educate their children, pay for health care, and that when they choose, they will have a comfortable retirement. So I would congratulate them.. Now, while I didn't have YOU in mind when I offered my comment I will say that I (and many other ET members) had the opportunity to get a look at a system that you offered for sale. This happened a while back when one of your former clients posted a link. Out of curiosity, I listened to the pitch, I read your disclaimer, I sat through the lessons, blah blah blah..and frankly I thought to myself "if I were a newby, just starting out, trying to find something to hang on to, I might have purchased this kind of system"...knowing what I know now? With my background, well lets just say I would not be a good prospect. By the way Kiwi, you are entitled to your opinion, however none of the people I mentioned ever tried to sell a product or service while here on ET. Good luck Steve