ASF 'How do I do it?' thread

[coolcup]

Hi there

Can someone explain to me the difference between the "New Posts" button and the button under "quick links" called "Today's Posts"?

Also, the Today's Posts section has a subheading which is titled "The threads below have not been updated since your last visit or since forums have been marked read" - why would I want to know which threads have not been updated?

I am not looking for any kind of changes to be made. I just want to understand what each is trying to do.

Many thanks

 

[Joe Blow]

Can someone explain to me the difference between the "New Posts" button and the button under "quick links" called "Today's Posts"?

"New Posts" gives you all the new posts since you last logged out or timed out, while "Today's Posts" gives you the last 24 hours worth of posts, irrespective of how many times you have logged in or out.

Also, the Today's Posts section has a subheading which is titled "The threads below have not been updated since your last visit or since forums have been marked read" - why would I want to know which threads have not been updated?

That subheading lets you know what threads have had posts added to them since you last logged out or timed out. All threads above it contain new posts, while all threads below it do not. Basically this lets you know where you stopped reading when you were last active on the forums.

A third option you may wish to explore is "What's New?" in the 'Community" drop down menu. This is an activity stream of all new content added to the forums; posts, new threads, blog entries, blog comments etc.

 

[Country Lad]

Joe, it seems that increasingly, some people here discuss only political stuff, where I am here for the shares investment posts. Often in "New Posts" the list consists only of the political argument threads.

Is there some way I can "ignore" the threads for example "The Abbott Government", "2013 Federal Election: 7 September 2013", "Kevin Rudd for PM" and other such nonsense so that these threads do not show when I check for New Posts?

Cheers
Country Lad

 

[burglar]

... Is there some way I can "ignore" the threads for example "The Abbott Government", "2013 Federal Election: 7 September 2013", "Kevin Rudd for PM" ...

Second that CL!!

Especially since the election is in the past.

 

[Joe Blow]

Joe, it seems that increasingly, some people here discuss only political stuff, where I am here for the shares investment posts. Often in "New Posts" the list consists only of the political argument threads.

Is there some way I can "ignore" the threads for example "The Abbott Government", "2013 Federal Election: 7 September 2013", "Kevin Rudd for PM" and other such nonsense so that these threads do not show when I check for New Posts?

Hi CL, unfortunately this feature is currently not available. In fact, I am not aware of it being part of any commercially available forum software package.

However, this is a suggestion that I have already made to the developers, so hopefully it will make an appearance in a future version of this software. I would like to see people be able to ignore entire forums, as well as individual threads.

I do understand your frustration. I have done my best to encourage more discussion of individual stocks, as well as more general stock market/investment discussion, but to no avail. I am unwilling to impose any restrictions on the General Chat forum, as it is clear that many people enjoy discussing political and other non-market related topics.

The market has been choppy, and unpredictable for some time, so perhaps this is the reason for the current dearth of stock discussion. I would like to thank those who post in stock threads on a regular basis. ASF is a stock market forum after all, and I do appreciate those who take the time to post their thoughts, analysis and research in threads on individual stocks.

 

[Country Lad]

................ I would like to see people be able to ignore entire forums, as well as individual threads.

That would be good and on current numbers there would be very few new posts come up when looking for posts relating to shares and investments.

I am unwilling to impose any restrictions on the General Chat forum, as it is clear that many people enjoy discussing political and other non-market related topics.

I don't know that it is "many people". Taking the "Abbott Government" thread as an example, of the last 100 posts, 57 are from only 3 members and 43 from only 2 members.

Of those 2 members, one has not made a share/investment post in his last 100 and the other only 6 in his last 100. I would assume there would be similar numbers for the other political threads. It seems very much like only a few are generating a lot of conversation amongst themselves.

I don't have a real problem with this as I can easily avoid those threads, BUT:

ASF is a stock market forum after all, and I do appreciate those who take the time to post their thoughts, analysis and research in threads on individual stocks.

anybody visiting here to see if it is a worthwhile forum to join must wonder whether it is really a shares forum or somewhere for people to push their political views. I know of 2 experienced share traders who were aware I was a member here, had a look and decided it would be a waste of time joining. I can see why taking my "New Posts" screen as an example.



Maybe there are many others of the same view because normally there are many guests logged in. Currently 54 members and 181 guests. If your conversion rate is low, this could be one of the answers.

In my case I am not spending as much time here and not posting many of my trades as I am on a private shares forum where the discussions are mainly about shares and not politics. In fact political discussions are banned there and we have no arguments or aggro.

As I said, I can easily avoid the political threads by ignoring them from the "New Posts" page. My point is that having been there done that in starting and maintaining forums, I see a real problem here. This forum does not project a good look to prospective new members when they see mostly personal political barrow pushing by a few and comparatively little in the way of shares discussion.

Cheers
Country Lad

 

[Gringotts Bank]

That would be good and on current numbers there would be very few new posts come up when looking for posts relating to shares and investments.

I have to agree it's an unusual look for ASF. Joe I think something needs to change pretty quickly because without the "other" posts, there would be nothing new which is stock-related to read on many days. I'm trying to think of some ideas.

 

[Gringotts Bank]

I don't think there's anything to gain by deleting the non stock-related threads because then the place will look deserted.

But I have noticed that ASF will be more active when certain posters show up. I have mentioned this before on a few occasions and been lambasted, but if TH goes missing, then very often others will fail to show up. It's like when the cool kid leaves the party - most follow him and leave also. I think TH is a bit of a twit at times, but there's no doubting his popularity and market knowledge... but more importantly, there's no doubting his influence on others such as skc, skyquake, tech and sinner (each of whom make good contributions). So I'd suggest paying certain members to show up and contribute meaningful posts. I reckon this would get things going.

This is the New York nightclub/restaurant scene. if you want to be popular, you pay certain people to show up and be seen eating and partying at your joint.

 

[Joe Blow]

Or... everyone could make a concerted effort to post more in threads on individual stocks and trading/investment threads generally.

This issue keeps coming up again and again, and in my opinion it's easily solved. I am assuming that the vast majority of ASF members are here because they have an active interest in the stock market. I will go further and assume that most people are holding stocks, trading them, or have a watch list of stocks that they are keeping track of.

If these ASF members would post some commentary, analysis, or relevant information in the threads of stocks that they have an interest in, then this issue would not exist. This increase in posting would generate further discussion, which would keep the stock threads ticking along and the General Chat threads would not be so prominent in the search results.

It's an easy fix. People just need to start posting more in stock threads. So, how about it?

 

[Gringotts Bank]

Whenever I post a chart, I rarely get a response. But then again, what can you say to someone else's chart? "Hey, nice chart!"?

HC thrives because it's 95% fundamental analysis, which lends itself to discussion. I don't know anything about FA.

ASF seems to be good for the discussion of technically-based systems approach and market/finance information. That's its strength I reckon.

 

[Joe Blow]

Whenever I post a chart, I rarely get a response. But then again, what can you say to someone else's chart? "Hey, nice chart!"?

If you agree with someone's analysis you could expand upon it, and add your own ideas. If you don't agree, you could critique it.

HC thrives because it's 95% fundamental analysis, which lends itself to discussion. I don't know anything about FA.

I think TA lends itself to discussion as well. Both TA and FA are forms of analysis and both are open to being discussed and critiqued.

The TA people can chat with the other TA people and the FA people can chat with other FA people. At the same time, some of the FA people can learn from the TA people, and vice versa.

ASF seems to be good for the discussion of technically-based systems approach and market/finance information. That's its strength I reckon.

We have a lot of great TA and FA people here at ASF. We just need them to post more in stock threads!

 

[pixel]

Hi Joe,

I admit I'm as guilty as any of the "spurious" posters for adding far too little to stock-specific threads. Part of my "frustration" comes from the lack of responses. Case in point: Yesterday, I added the first comment to EWC in over a year. Within an hour, it got one reply - and then nothing since. Most likely because it had dropped off the first page of "New Posts" and nobody noticed. Mind you, I'm not saying that my analysis is the bee's knees and merits a reaction. My point is, I am more likely to add to a thread when I can see active interest in the topic. It gets boring when I find I'm talking to myself, or am one of less than a handful interested in talk about a share.

Looking at the link behind "New Posts", it calls a search.php, presumably resulting in an SQL command over the entire Forum. It would seem very likely that a parameter already exists that allows you (i.e. the Administrator or "Configurator" of the system) to specify the Forum.

 

[burglar]

... We just need them to post more in stock threads!

I have a great deal of non-motivation with regard to posting in stock threads.
It is partly because my penny-dread choices aren't fairing so well.
Also, I feel as though I am talking to myself in some threads.
A feeling shared by Tyler Durden and Springhill.

 

[Country Lad]

Joe, your tolerance is to be admired, I have not come across a forum owner/administrator who has such tolerance. However this may be to the detriment of this forum.

I find it very unusual that the likes of NBNMyths is still here. Quite obviously, he is here for one reason only and that has nothing to do with shares or listening to other people's views. Same with 2 others. Still, it's your forum, I just have a concern that all this non share stuff by mainly 3 or 5 people people devalues the forum in the eyes of people looking to join up here.

Cheers
Country Lad

 

[Julia]

One of the reasons I don't post much on the stock threads is that they mostly seem to be on speculative stocks, which I leave completely alone. I confine my choices to high yield top 200 or fewer, and the other people here interested in this area seem to be quite few. Also, there's really not a lot to say about eg CBA et al.

On FA people talking amongst themselves, I'd have thought they already did this quite a lot. It's not my thing, but I do observe that they clearly get a lot out of comparing their company valuations, and also that they're pleasantly civil to one another.

But if someone new comes along with so far just an FA approach and asks for any additional suggestions, if any response proposing looking at TA or even just a simple trend following approach is put up, then there often follows a vigorous argument between FA and TA. After a while, it just gets repetitive and counterproductive, so I, for one, just don't bother.

I think people contribute in areas where they have the most experience or current interest. For me this includes anything related to SMSFs and capital preservation as a priority. The latter appears not to be high on the list of interests for many here who are decades away from retirement.

 

[basilio]

It is hard to gain traction in ASF on stock related issues. For myself I (like most people ) have been burnt on the speculative share front. For all the huffing and puffing they seem to going in only one direction - not up.

In that context it is hard to keep enthusing about the light at the end of the tunnel when, frankly, you have been run over by the train a dozen times beforehand

I agree with Julia that if you have decided to focus on high yielding market leaders there really isn't much point in prolonged discussions. These shares seem to move in line with the market. From my perception it seems as if most of the investment money is focused more and more narrowly on only a few shares. It leaves the rest of the industrial and spec section languishing .

With regard to the general conversation...Again from my POV I have found it dominated by a relatively few posters whose views and way of expression I just don't care for. So I leave the room.

I believe there is a space for thoughtful conversation on line. Sometimes I think it does happen on ASF but as was pointed out previously it needs a few thoughtful people to create the ideas and continue them. It looks as if those people are not around as much.

I have looked around at other forums for ideas. I found that 10 bags full offered some different stock related processes that were worth investigating. On some forums it also attracts some significant interest. Unfortunately I come back to my first point - on balance the "exciting" end of the share market has been steadily falling for at least 18 months. My guess is that only a small number of very careful traders have been making a dollar.

In theory a company could still become very successful in the real world and then see its SP rise. But again from my observations I think much of the share market is an illusion with some master magicians trying to persuade us the mother lode is just around the corner... (And Pixel consider EWC as an example of that!!)

 

[Joe Blow]

Joe, your tolerance is to be admired, I have not come across a forum owner/administrator who has such tolerance. However this may be to the detriment of this forum.

When I started ASF back in 2004, my intention was to create an online community. It became a stock market community because of my interest in financial markets. I never imagined that one day it would have thousands of daily visitors, or that it would become a business. Initially, it was a hobby. I had been a participant at a number of forums previously and had enjoyed both the discussions and the sense of community. I wanted to create my own, and as a result, ASF was born.

The forums that I participated in back then were very loosely moderated, so I quickly became used to a very rough and tumble atmosphere and spirited debate. The one thing I didn't like were insults, as I felt that they detracted from the discussion, lowered the level of debate, and derailed threads. So through this process of figuring out what I liked and didn't like about the forums I had participated in, I came to certain conclusions about the sort of online community that I wanted to create.

I find it very unusual that the likes of NBNMyths is still here. Quite obviously, he is here for one reason only and that has nothing to do with shares or listening to other people's views. Same with 2 others. Still, it's your forum, I just have a concern that all this non share stuff by mainly 3 or 5 people people devalues the forum in the eyes of people looking to join up here

I have always liked the concept of "the marketplace of ideas". I like robust discussion and the exchange of different points of view and perspectives. As a result, I find it hard to censor particular viewpoints. I believe that everyone should be able to have their say, as long as they are civil and are genuinely interested in furthering the discussion.

I don't like banning people arbitrarily, although it has happened once or twice over the years. Bullmarket springs immediately to mind. I like to have fairly straightforward rules that are easy to understand, and manage the community based on this. I only moderate on the basis of behaviour, as I believe that it is the only fair way to go about it. As a consequence, ASF has ended up with some strange and colourful characters over the years.

I realise that my management style results in a slightly unfocussed community, but one that I hope is well rounded and inclusive at the same time. Although I do understand that there are some who wish that ASF would be a little more focused and on topic.

I don't think there's any doubt that the General Chat forum helped ASF get through the GFC. When very few people wanted to talk about stocks, at least there was always something else to chat about. We have never really managed to recapture the pre-GFC enthusiasm for stock discussion, but I have no doubt that will come roaring back when the next bull market emerges. I think ASF, like the market, is cyclical.

I'd like to see more shares, trading and investment related discussion without sacrificing the vibrant General Chat forum that we have. I think it is possible, but it is something that has to come from the community itself. I would urge those who feel discouraged by the lack of discussion in stock threads to keep posting, and I would encourage those who don't post in stock threads as much as they used to, to consider getting back into the habit of doing so. The more people post, the more discussion will be generated. Perhaps not in every single thread, but overall.

 

[nulla nulla]

When I started ASF back in 2004, my intention was to create an online community. It became a stock market community because of my interest in financial markets. I never imagined that one day it would have thousands of daily visitors, or that it would become a business. Initially, it was a hobby. I had been a participant at a number of forums previously and had enjoyed both the discussions and the sense of community. I wanted to create my own, and as a result, ASF was born.

The forums that I participated in back then were very loosely moderated, so I quickly became used to a very rough and tumble atmosphere and spirited debate. The one thing I didn't like were insults, as I felt that they detracted from the discussion, lowered the level of debate, and derailed threads. So through this process of figuring out what I liked and didn't like about the forums I had participated in, I came to certain conclusions about the sort of online community that I wanted to create.



I have always liked the concept of "the marketplace of ideas". I like robust discussion and the exchange of different points of view and perspectives. As a result, I find it hard to censor particular viewpoints. I believe that everyone should be able to have their say, as long as they are civil and are genuinely interested in furthering the discussion.

I don't like banning people arbitrarily, although it has happened once or twice over the years. Bullmarket springs immediately to mind. I like to have fairly straightforward rules that are easy to understand, and manage the community based on this. I only moderate on the basis of behaviour, as I believe that it is the only fair way to go about it. As a consequence, ASF has ended up with some strange and colourful characters over the years.

I realise that my management style results in a slightly unfocussed community, but one that I hope is well rounded and inclusive at the same time. Although I do understand that there are some who wish that ASF would be a little more focused and on topic.

I don't think there's any doubt that the General Chat forum helped ASF get through the GFC. When very few people wanted to talk about stocks, at least there was always something else to chat about. We have never really managed to recapture the pre-GFC enthusiasm for stock discussion, but I have no doubt that will come roaring back when the next bull market emerges. I think ASF, like the market, is cyclical.

I'd like to see more shares, trading and investment related discussion without sacrificing the vibrant General Chat forum that we have. I think it is possible, but it is something that has to come from the community itself. I would urge those who feel discouraged by the lack of discussion in stock threads to keep posting, and I would encourage those who don't post in stock threads as much as they used to, to consider getting back into the habit of doing so. The more people post, the more discussion will be generated. Perhaps not in every single thread, but overall.

Keep up the good work Joe. Your arms length objectivity is probably the glue that holds this forum together. If the pro-liberal versus the pro labor can co-exist over the years then I'm sure some political/business perspective differences in regard the NBN can also be accommodated. I'm sure when the markets pick up the "bull market" enthusiasts will start posting with vigorous debates etc. Don't let a few opinionated naysayers get to you mate (including me )

Keep on posting. It makes the world go round, better than tweet or facebook, eh.

 

[Julia]

Keep up the good work Joe. Your arms length objectivity is probably the glue that holds this forum together. If the pro-liberal versus the pro labor can co-exist over the years then I'm sure some political/business perspective differences in regard the NBN can also be accommodated. I'm sure when the markets pick up the "bull market" enthusiasts will start posting with vigorous debates etc. Don't let a few opinionated naysayers get to you mate (including me )

Keep on posting. It makes the world go round, better than tweet or facebook, eh.

+1.
Of all the forums I've participated in or visited, ASF is for me the most fairly moderated. People are allowed considerable leeway in robustly offering their views, but Joe is prepared to step in when someone really gets out of line.

Perhaps, Joe, as an experiment, you could ban all political and general chat threads for two weeks or a month, and see what remains, whether what is left is viable.

I don't really understand why those who claim no interest in any political threads (despite actually posting in them from time to time) can't simply ignore them and do their best to promote more discussion in the stock threads. Particularly if such people can quote their membership in other fora which they find much more to their taste.

Another point I'd make is that offering comments in general financial discussion can generate unwanted results. Some while ago in the context of discussing capital preservation, I received a PM saying that if I put any emphasis on capital preservation it must mean that I had not acquired the asset base by my own skills in the first place, but rather probably via divorce settlement or inheritance, or I'd be entirely happy to not worry about capital preservation because I'd have the skills to make it all back again!!!

It was annoying not just on the basis of a completely inaccurate interpretation of my focus on capital preservation, but for the absolute rudeness of such a presumptuous message.
I mention this simply to point out why some of us are reluctant to expose ourselves to the potential of this sort of intrusive nonsense.

 

[stevier95]

For me personally, I'd like to see some more discussion in some of the blue chip companies. Being young and mostly uneducated about stocks, I'm not really able to contribute much but I try whenever possible.