Australian (ASX) Stock Market Forum

ASF Members - Where Are They Now?

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Could probably chart a trajectory that follows the downhill run of the economy since the new govt came into power and the death spiral after the first budget + slumping commodity prices and slower growth in demand..... ouch :D

Might find a lot of members have had to get a job or worse; protect it.

Telling everyone that all is GDP rosey on the back of over valued property doesn't install too much confidence and time to play on discussion boards, as many shore up their shakey leveraged investments.
 
With the advent of FB and Twitter, forum participation has been waning on most forums I visit. I reckon its the appeal of FB and the like, one point of entry to a lot of places. If you're a social butterfly that's fine I guess.

One of the reasons I'm not into FB is I simply don't have time to read every post my "friends" have posted, I have my own life to lead and it doesn't involve telling the whole world (and PRISM and other snoops) what I just had for lunch.

Yes, we miss tech/a and Julia and no doubt many other posters but hey, that's life. Also I suspect this to be true of a lot of us that are not office bound, participation rates ebb and flow due to circumstances at any given point in time. Right now I am making the time to post here, a choice I've made because I think its important.

Further, the role of Administrator is not an easy one. I think that Joe has it right, he gives us plenty of room to discuss and grow without letting his biases get in the way. Tough gig that!

ASF's appeal for me though is the level of knowledge that is imparted here. Even the more contentious social discussion threads have opened my eyes to other points of view that I'd never thought of, nor considered.

One last point as well, we all have diverse interests and time is not a commodity one can bandie around willy nilly. There is life away from online activities and those activities need our attention too.

A question to Joe.
Does participation rates increase in the cooler/winter months?

My way of thinking is that while daylight saving is with us, we tend to socialize more away from the Internet. In winter we tend to be house bound.

Anyway, sometimes its just a slow news day...
 
SirRumpole said:
There is no need to be involved in an argument unless you want to. If you post an opinion an someone posts an opposite view you don't have to carry it on.
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That's true, but the "vibe" of those threads sets the tone, especially for new/prospective members. I remember a poster, I think it was pixel, telling someone interested in investing he met at a BBQ, who was Muslim, that he should check out ASF. The first thing that greeted him were the latest posts in one of the Muslim bashing threads. He never returned.
 
Bill M said:
Having said that, I can't see why you don't comment on shares or other investments, I like everybodys input on that.
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I don't generally talk about stocks because of regulatory concerns. There is some regulation of internet chat sites in what is referred to as ASIC's Regulatory Guide 162 that was issued originally in 2000 and revised in 2007. I have certain obligations as an IDS (internet discussion site) operator that complicates matters a little so I decided early on just to stick to posting about administrative topics with some limited input in threads that are non-controversial in nature.

Craton said:
A question to Joe.
Does participation rates increase in the cooler/winter months?
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Not that I've noticed. I don't think traffic levels are connected to the weather/temperature as much as interest in the stock market generally. When the market is going up there is a bit more interest and when it's flat or going down interest declines a little.
 
Wysiwyg said:
Where is anyone? Least posts recently than I can remember ever. Has someone run the forum down? Have traders been carved up in the bear market?
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Joe Blow said:
I must admit to being at a bit of a loss myself. I have been tempted to say something about the lack of posting, which seemed to start about a month or so ago, but wasn't quite sure what to say.

In any case, I would really like to get things back on track. I've seen other forums become ghost towns due to a lack of posting and I'd really hate to see that happen here. I'm willing to listen to any and all suggestions about what changes people would like to see at ASF to get them to post more often. I did have plans in the second half of last year to re-work the website by changing forum platforms and adding some more content, but had to shelve those plans temporarily due to some ongoing legal issues. However, this is now back on my radar so if anyone has any suggestions or ideas please don't be afraid to let me know what they are.
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This is a very interesting thread. The fall off in posts probably has nothing to do with the style or content of posts, or people getting their keks in a knot over comments in the General thread.

Business and commerce is in a huge lull, worse recently, at least in North Queensland anyway. Everyone is quiet.

Now that those who buy from our huge big Resources Quarry are in a slowdown may be the ultimate cause of it all. Unfortunately there is little political leadership at any level, from any party since John Howard was voted out, which doesn't help.

I would envisage that there will be a recovery, not quite yet, but not too far away. I agree with Joe's comment ( not quoted ) re posting going up on a bull and down in a bear. The drop in ASF posting will be temporary. I have not be posting for other reasons, rather than anything to do with ASF. I intend to post more frequently again. It is by far the best investing forum in Australia.

gg
 
Over the years, I have been - and still am - active on a number of Share Market Forums. From my own observation, I can agree that the intensity of member participation waxes and wanes with bullish-/bearishness of Markets in general. But that is only a fairly small cause and effect.

A Forum's characteristic "climate" has by far the greatest influence on members' willingness to participate. We all know it takes considerable time and effort to put one's views into a post. If the result is -
  • ignored
  • derided
  • taken out of context
there comes a point of diminished or even no return.
That happened on one Forum, which has since folded completely. Another one is not far from that point, as it musters only a handful or two of new posts on a good day.
General disinterest may play some part, but most sapping are repetitive and controversial replies that remain unmoderated.

Joe's hands-off approach must not be confused with lack of moderation: When members are generally civil with one another, or know who is so far "out there" that their rants are best left alone, there rarely arises the need to pull someone into line. But when it is needed, it must be done clinically and quickly - even at the risk of losing one member. In this regard, ASF is by far the most "culturally diverse, yet civilised" Forum in its class. I can ignore topics that don't particularly appeal to me. I can quickly locate a specific stock discussion that I wish to read up on or add a comment to. And it doesn't take me long to find current additions/ questions that I then feel inclined to add my :2twocents

None of that applies to HC - and I hope we'll never aspire to rack up their number of "posts" per day. Just finding some relevant opinion (as opposed to one-line ramps) about a particular topic can take an eternity, the way threads are presented. And unless you belong to some "inner circle" - which I presume exists - your questions and contributions remain unacknowledged. Reason enough for me to go there only once in a blue moon: mainly when someone here or over the road refers to specifics mentioned "there".
 
As someone else said, what keeps me coming back is the knowledgable contributions of people like Smurf et al.

Quality posters need to be encouraged to keep coming back.
 
SirRumpole said:
As someone else said, what keeps me coming back is the knowledgable contributions of people like Smurf et al.

Quality posters need to be encouraged to keep coming back.
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Yes that's very true, and as silly as it might sound, a 'thumbs up' option is an easy way to provide a reward for effort. Some people really do give a lot of themselves and it's nice to be recognized.
 
Gringotts Bank said:
Yes that's very true, and as silly as it might sound, a 'thumbs up' option is an easy way to provide a reward for effort. Some people really do give a lot of themselves and it's nice to be recognized.
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ThumbsUp.png

It also avoids some of those short "Agree" replies that don't add anything new to a thread; saves time and clutter.
 
Gringotts Bank said:
Yes that's very true, and as silly as it might sound, a 'thumbs up' option is an easy way to provide a reward for effort. Some people really do give a lot of themselves and it's nice to be recognized.
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Simple, clean and I think worthwhile. Plus 10

____________________________________________________________________

Overall I think the point of a stock market forum has disappeared in the last 4-5 years. The reality is that the enthusiasm for many punters is the speculative end of the market. The facts are that the speccies had their day pre 2008 with only a few fliers since then. Essentially most people have lost their money attempting to uncover the next high flying stock. Even more significantly the market just won't allow any rise in speculative stock to hold. Profits are taken as soon as they emerge.

In that context the next line of stock winners is trying to analyse and predict quality companies that have a good chance to succeed over a 2-5 year period. In fact this might be a worthwhile thread to begin to perhaps encourage people to share their research and maybe even make a useful addition to their portfolios. :2twocents
 
Garpal Gumnut said:
I would envisage that there will be a recovery, not quite yet, but not too far away. I agree with Joe's comment ( not quoted ) re posting going up on a bull and down in a bear. The drop in ASF posting will be temporary. I have not be posting for other reasons, rather than anything to do with ASF. I intend to post more frequently again. It is by far the best investing forum in Australia.

gg
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Hear hear to gg statements!!

As for lack of posting and or quality of poster (such a word?) I think Craton has got the best grasp on things.

I myself am of this opinion ...

If your audience is still paying attention after the first 8 seconds, you have approximately 4 minutes and 52 seconds until their attention spans are exhausted. The average adult attention span has plummeted from 12 minutes a decade ago to just 5 minutes now, according to a Fortune.com article.
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Me personally if it is not grabbing my attention after 8 seconds I am generally not going to pursue much further. This is not a slight on ASF. It is what happens in the real world. We are bombarded with information from that many different media outlets and receive signals from subliminal and mainstream advertising along with social media and occasionally what the next door neighbours opinion is. We have been conditioned to ignore.

Also the same constructive debate has been mulled over and digested and hashed and regurgitated and picked over like a carcass on the Serengeti plains in Africa. This goes for general chat only (and the Australian property price thingy) ... stocks never bore me.

There have been some absolute legends post in here ... their opines created diversity and comment whether it was ridicule or boasting. Like Superman needs Lex Luthor and Spiderman needed Doc Ock it would be a very boring place if we all formed a circle and sang Kum by yah around a fire now wouldn't it??

Good to see you back posting GG :cool:
 
ok here's my solution.

Add thumbs up with value 1, 3 or 5.

[5 thumbs up = 'wow you helped me enormously, thanks for spending the time on that post'. ]

At the end of each month, highest total TU gets $200, second $100, third $50

What does this achieve?

-- new posters get bombarded with helpful info, and will decide to stay and ask more questions
-- experienced posters get something back for their effort
-- total traffic increases.

If you don't have the cash, do away with the stock tipping prize and add a few more ads to pay for it.

Not sure how to monitor rigging; still thinking on that.
 
One option may be to market ASF differently, perhaps not as a stock forum. From what I have seen, and this may be biased due to the threads I tend to look at, not so many people come her for stock tips or to consider individual stocks. A lot of regular posters are more interested in international markets like forex, commodities and indices rather than individual stocks. That could be one aspect but the more interesting posts here in my opinions are about broader concepts, like macroeconomics, international markets, tools, software and fundamental and technical analysis. I am not sure if Aussie Derivatives Forums has the same ring to it though:(

I am aware in saying this there are a number of people specifically interested in trading equities but those regulars can still discuss that, it's just more of a marketing thing.
 
Once again, thank you for all the feedback. I appreciate it all, the good and the not so good.

craft said:
ASF may not reflect your views because you keep them under wraps but that does not stop ASF from having a strong political identity. In the absences of moderation that identity reflects the most vocal tribalism. How helpful or harmful is that identity in attracting, retaining posters. My opinion is that its causing you a lot of harm.
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I think that this issue of political discussion and censorship is probably the one that seems to cause the most division. I must confess that I struggle with the issue myself and often wonder where the right place to draw the line is. Experience has taught me that what is going too far for some is not far enough for others, and ultimately it is all very much a grey area and the question of what is acceptable and what isn't is probably different for every person. I do tend to err on the side of free speech for a couple of reasons. The first is that there are ways of filtering out those whose views you find objectionable, such as using the ignore list or just avoiding particular threads altogether. Another is that too much moderation usually leads to accusations of bias and feelings of resentment. For example, if I moderate an anti-muslim migration post in an immigration thread thread then I am automatically anti-muslim to some, irrespective of what caused me to moderate it in the first place. This is only one hypothetical example and can be applied to any position on any topic. This is why I tend to step in only when the opinions expressed are so hateful or so over-the-top as to be considered unacceptable by most people. In the end, that is usually where I draw the line.

If ASF has a strong political identity then it is one that has evolved on its own. I'm not interested in pushing a political agenda or using moderation to achieve that end. In my opinion, ASF is a pretty civilised place for the most part. There are almost no forum trolls here and even the most extreme views expressed are no more extreme than the sort of views expressed in an average episode of Q&A. My aim is to strike a balance between free speech and civilised debate. Finding the right balance is a real challenge, and I am always open to feedback from those who think I am getting it wrong.

craft said:
There is absolutely a network effect for stock discussion. Why talk to yourself on ASF when you can be involved in a stock discussion on another site?

So stock discussion has no critical mass on ASF and non-stock is dominated by tribalism, which IMO is best handled by avoidance = No reason to post here = BORING = cardinal sin for stock forum survival.
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I agree that a lack of stock discussion is a big problem, and I would love to see more of it. Whether or not it is something that is caused by the nature of the non-stock discussion is something I'm not sure about and would be interested in getting more feedback on from others.

Ultimately, more stock related discussion is simply a matter of people posting more in stock threads. I really don't think it's any more complicated than that. When someone goes to a lot of effort to post something in a stock thread and they don't get any response I understand that it is discouraging. For that reason I encourage people to reply to the posts of others in stock threads and share their thoughts, even if it's only a sentence or two. A small effort can often yield substantial results.
 
Valued said:
One option may be to market ASF differently, perhaps not as a stock forum.
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I do see that ASF is substantially a financial / investment forum rather than purely a stock forum as such.

Aussie Investment Forums? Aussie Finance Forums?

As for the off-topic (general chat) stuff:

Politics doesn't worry me, indeed I'd argue that politics as a general topic does have some relevance to investment. What's the number one issue that keeps coming up again and again politically? Well that would be the economy. Even if the actual issue being discussed is non-economic, politics still does have some broad overall relevance in terms of who's in government and who isn't and noting that non-economic (as well as economic) policies do have some influence over who wins elections and who doesn't.

Off-topic stuff that has no relevance to investing - no problem as long as it's in the appropriate section. Just about every forum has a place for off-topic posts and it shouldn't detract from ASF generally given that it's easily ignored for those not interested. But if someone wants to post photos of their fishing trip then I see no problem there. And if someone wants to say that all the restaurants in town x are crap, well there's your business opportunity to go there and open a decent one. Etc.

Religion is the one and only thing that does concern me somewhat. Some people are open to such discussion but many do get easily offended when it comes to religion and I can see how that could deter them from staying around if they're sensitive on the subject.:2twocents
 
Joe Blow said:
Ultimately, more stock related discussion is simply a matter of people posting more in stock threads. I really don't think it's any more complicated than that. When someone goes to a lot of effort to post something in a stock thread and they don't get any response I understand that it is discouraging. For that reason I encourage people to reply to the posts of others in stock threads and share their thoughts, even if it's only a sentence or two. A small effort can often yield substantial results.
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I don't mind posting in the general thread, but hate posting in the specific stocks thread.
This is mainly due, to my own lack of confidence, in any personal belief in the underlying integrity of a stocks value.
I have been in the market for nearly 30 years and still find it has no rhyme or reason. It is driven by market manipulation, self centred management and herd mentality, therefore it is very difficult IMO to post other than an educated guess.
I personally try to adopt a policy of buy and hold a core of companies, that make the foundations of my holdings, then gamble on a small percentage free cash.
However I do find there is a wealth of knowledge on ASF regarding financial matters, be it regarding tax matters, superannuation, general financial, real estate and political matters.
Maybe it's an age thing, maybe a lot of the posters on ASF are old enough to know " unless you have something intelligent to say, say nothing"?
Who knows:confused:
 
SirRumpole said:
I wonder if the advent of algorithmic speed trading has contributed to a lack of interest in trading by small investors and therefore a drop off of interest in forums like this ?

Lets face it, small investors are just not in the race when it comes to trading. Computers that have direct access to the ASX computers have the advantage as this article points out.

http://www.smh.com.au/money/investing/share-wars-how-the-robots-are-robbing-you-20120825-24t4t.html
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That article is four years old, a virtual lifetime away. Some of it may still apply, but it's certainly out of date.
 
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