# Some changes coming to ASF



## Joe Blow (20 April 2008)

Greetings ASFers! 

They say that the only constant is change. Well for almost four years now ASF hasn't changed all that much, just a few tweaks here and there. However, as ASF has grown up into a big forum the time for significant change has finally arrived. What started out as a hobby has now become a business and as the person in charge it is my responsibility to guide and grow ASF as it heads into the future. 

Okay, so what is changing I hear you ask. Well, a few things.

1. *Website Design*. ASF has had the same look since its inception and now it's time for it to develop a bit of its own personality. Website design is always a matter of personal taste and I know that some people are going to like this design and some people aren't. Of course, I am hoping that more people like it than don't but I ask everyone to please give it a chance. It's always a bit of a shock when something you have been used to using for a long time suddenly changes and this design change will be no exception. I have tried to soften the blow in a couple of ways. Firstly, I have tried to keep the genersal layout reasonably similar to the old design and have tried to improve the site navigation by introducing tabs. Hopefully, the fact that ASF will now be easier to navigate will make the design change a little easier to cope with. Anyway, the new design will hopefully be introduced sometime in the coming week.

2. *Terms of Use*. For a long time now ASF has operated under its Code of Conduct which seemed adequate for most things. However, the time has come to introduce a comprehensive Terms of Use agreement that governs the relationship between the website users and the management of ASF. This Terms of Use agreement clarifies the responsibilities of ASF's users and well as details the scope of the service provided by ASF and the conditions of use for this website. I urge everyone to review this it as soon as possible as the continued use of ASF will consititute your acceptance of it. You can find a permanent link to the TOU in the site footer.

3. *Additional Warnings*. It is important that everyone who views content on ASF understand that none of the information here should be considered to be financial advice and that all posts are general information at best. To ensure we fully comply with ASIC Regulatory Guide 162 we will be introducing additional warnings so that this is fully understood by all those viewing posts on ASF, including those who may find themselves in a thread at ASF concerning an ASX listed security after having been referred here by a search engine or a link on another website. ASF takes its responsibilities as a publisher very seriously and we want to be sure that everyone who visits ASF is aware of the nature of the information to be found in posts here: It is not professional investment advice, it has not been prepared by taking into account any individual circumstances and needs of particular investors and before acting on the basis of what is said in a posting all users should consider consulting a licensed adviser and visiting ASIC’s consumer website at www.fido.gov.au for general guidance about investing. We are currently testing these new warnings, so if you see them please read carefully and acknowledge them before continuing.

Also, just in closing I would like to remind everyone to please support our paying advertisers. I know that sometimes it's easy to ignore the banner advertisements on the site but I hope everyone keeps in mind that this advertising is what keeps ASF online. If you would like to support ASF, the best way to do so is by supporting our paid advertisers and giving them a reason to keep advertising here. As always, I appreciate any support you can offer! 

If anyone has any questions about the changes detailed above, please feel free to ask them in this thread.


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## Agentm (20 April 2008)

looking forward to the new design.. and hope it works well..

my only wish for this site is that the stocks listed have stock prices, daily weeekly monthly yearly volumes, charts etc available on them ..  probably too difficult to link them to other sites or databases i guess, but imho an option to put in all sorts of price charts and stats by the originator of the thread, or later by a mod if the thread became interesting or well used, would be great.. saves putting att those T/A data up every so often..

cheers


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## jman2007 (20 April 2008)

..?? changes to ASF, did you say CHANGES to ASF Joe!?? 

Sounds good though, I'm sure most people will take it in their stride after a few initial mutterings and disapproving frowns.  I for one am quite partial to pink and purple polka-dots, and look forward to seeing them incorporated into the new-look ASF. Let's go pyschodelic. :

jman


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## Garpal Gumnut (20 April 2008)

As long as the forum continues to be kept ramper free I will continue to be an avid supporter.

Argy bargy has always been kept within limits,  and as an occasional transgressor, like all speeding tickets I've collected its made me a safer road user.

Keep up the good work Joe, and of course thanks to the the moderators.

I look forward to the new format.

Please consider keeping the ability to post charts.

gg


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## Joe Blow (20 April 2008)

Thanks to everyone for your support! It is sincerely appreciated! 



Garpal Gumnut said:


> Please consider keeping the ability to post charts.




ASF will have the exact same functionality, we will only be changing the look of the site. The change is purely cosmetic and designed to give ASF a little personality of its own.


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## motorway (20 April 2008)

> Please consider keeping the ability to post charts.




And given the fact We are in a widescreen world now

maybe even larger ( wider ) charts ?

motorway


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## cuttlefish (20 April 2008)

> _If you own or have some other interest in a security, or you have any connection with a securities issuer that you might benefit from, you must disclose that fact._ For example, you may be entitled to receive direct or indirect commissions, fees or other benefits from a financial product or service provider; or you may be associated with a particular securities issuer such as by being an employee or director of a securities issuer. If so, you must disclose that fact in your posting.




Joe could you clarify this comment in the terms of use - does this mean that any stock thread we post on we should disclose if we are a holder of that stock?


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## Joe Blow (20 April 2008)

cuttlefish said:


> Joe could you clarify this comment in the terms of use - does this mean that any stock thread we post on we should disclose if we are a holder of that stock?




Hi Cuttlefish. That is quoted directly from ASIC's Regulatory Guide 162 (refer to section RG 162.42) and is one of the warnings I am obliged to convey to all ASF members who post on the forums. It would appear to indicate that those who hold a stock and post on it do have an obligation to disclose that they have an interest in the stock. I would imagine a simple 'I hold' would be sufficient.

If you need any further clarification on that point I would contact ASIC directly and ask them.


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## Nicks (22 April 2008)

Joe could you add a checkbox to each post on stock threads, that we can just check if we hold a position or not?


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## Joe Blow (22 April 2008)

Nicks said:


> Joe could you add a checkbox to each post on stock threads, that we can just check if we hold a position or not?




Hi Nicks, I will see what I can do. 

P.S. If anyone sees strange things happening to the front page (column widths changing etc) please try and ignore them as things are going on behind the scenes that are affecting them and unfortunately nothing can be done about it until the new design is introduced.

Thank you all for your patience.


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## Uncle Festivus (22 April 2008)

Will the search facility be improved?


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## Joe Blow (22 April 2008)

Uncle Festivus said:


> Will the search facility be improved?




How would you like to see it improved?


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## Trembling Hand (22 April 2008)

Joe Blow said:


> How would you like to see it improved?




Just the ones that make you money should show up.


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## grace (22 April 2008)

Trembling Hand said:


> Just the ones that make you money should show up.




Now you've got your work cut out for you Joe!  Who said running this share forum was easy?


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## Uncle Festivus (22 April 2008)

Joe Blow said:


> How would you like to see it improved?




Have more operators that allow you to link criteria eg 'find all posts by 'joe blow' with  'early retirement' in them ie that would be an AND join.

As it is now, as I assume, you can only do OR between A keyword OR user name.

This results in numerous attempts to find that particular post, each time having to wait the vexatious 30 secs.


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## sam76 (22 April 2008)

Uncle Festivus said:


> This results in numerous attempts to find that particular post, each time having to wait the vexatious 30 secs.





I agree. Very frustrating.


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## Joe Blow (22 April 2008)

Trembling Hand said:


> Just the ones that make you money should show up.




I wish! 



Uncle Festivus said:


> Have more operators that allow you to link criteria eg 'find all posts by 'joe blow' with  'early retirement' in them ie that would be an AND join.
> 
> As it is now, as I assume, you can only do OR between A keyword OR user name.
> 
> This results in numerous attempts to find that particular post, each time having to wait the vexatious 30 secs.




You'd be surprised how powerful the search function of this forum software can be if you spend some time with it. Take a look at this thread for a start. I plan on adding some more hints to it after the new design comes in but there's a few there already. If you enter a valid user name in the 'Search by User Name' box and a keyword or phrase in the 'Search by Key Word' box it *should* perform the search you are looking for (i.e. it will search for instances of that particular keyword or phrase made in posts by that particular user).


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## professor_frink (22 April 2008)

Uncle Festivus said:


> Have more operators that allow you to link criteria eg 'find all posts by 'joe blow' with  'early retirement' in them ie that would be an AND join.
> 
> As it is now, as I assume, you can only do OR between A keyword OR user name.
> 
> This results in numerous attempts to find that particular post, each time having to wait the vexatious 30 secs.




No you can do both if you want. I just ran a search with your username and the phrase "early retirement" and it spat out your post above.

edit: Joe beat me to it


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## cuttlefish (22 April 2008)

Joe Blow said:


> Hi Cuttlefish. That is quoted directly from ASIC's Regulatory Guide 162 (refer to section RG 162.42) and is one of the warnings I am obliged to convey to all ASF members who post on the forums. It would appear to indicate that those who hold a stock and post on it do have an obligation to disclose that they have an interest in the stock. I would imagine a simple 'I hold' would be sufficient.
> 
> If you need any further clarification on that point I would contact ASIC directly and ask them.




Thanks Joe.


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## Uncle Festivus (22 April 2008)

Joe Blow said:


> I wish!
> 
> 
> 
> You'd be surprised how powerful the search function of this forum software can be if you spend some time with it. Take a look at this thread for a start. I plan on adding some more hints to it after the new design comes in but there's a few there already. If you enter a valid user name in the 'Search by User Name' box and a keyword or phrase in the 'Search by Key Word' box it *should* perform the search you are looking for (i.e. it will search for instances of that particular keyword or phrase made in posts by that particular user).






professor_frink said:


> No you can do both if you want. I just ran a search with your username and the phrase "early retirement" and it spat out your post above.
> 
> edit: Joe beat me to it




Yeh, sort of. It found the thread as opposed to post, and in this case there was only 1 page, but for searches that return multiple threads with multiple pages it's still very time consuming.


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## Joe Blow (22 April 2008)

Uncle Festivus said:


> Yeh, sort of. It found the thread as opposed to post, and in this case there was only 1 page, but for searches that return multiple threads with multiple pages it's still very time consuming.




Where it says 'Show Results as' at the bottom make sure you check 'posts' instead of 'threads'. Try the search again and it should only display that post. There are many ways you can refine your search to make it as broad or as specific as you like.


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## Uncle Festivus (22 April 2008)

Joe Blow said:


> Where it says 'Show Results as' at the bottom make sure you check 'posts' instead of 'threads'. Try the search again and it should only display that post. There are many ways you can refine your search to make it as broad or as specific as you like.



Thanks Joe, seems I need to experiment a bit more


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## Joe Blow (22 April 2008)

Uncle Festivus said:


> Thanks Joe, seems I need to experiment a bit more




No problem UF, glad to help. 

One other search trick that I find particularly useful when doing a search for threads on a particular stock is to only search thread titles.

Put either the ASX code or the name of the company in the 'Search by Key Word' box and then change the drop down box just below it to read 'Search Titles Only'. Then click the 'Search Now' button and the only threads that will come up in the search results will be threads with the ASX code or company name *in the thread title*.

Of course instead of searching for threads on a particular stock you could be searching for threads with 'Uranium' or 'SMSF' in the title. By searching titles only you will narrow your search results to just threads that have your keyword of choice in the thread title. Easy peasy! 

I think the biggest mistake people make when using the search function is to just use the drop down box instead of the 'Advanced Search'.


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## Timmy (22 April 2008)

Joe - do you have some sort of timeline for when the changes will be introduced?  Just curious so if not doesn't matter.


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## Joe Blow (22 April 2008)

Timmy said:


> Joe - do you have some sort of timeline for when the changes will be introduced?  Just curious so if not doesn't matter.




As long as there are no further delays I am planning to introduce the new design very late Friday night/early Saturday morning. But that is still tentative. It is requiring a lot of testing to get it right so there may still be delays.


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