The General Chat forum at ASF

The dominance of the General Chat forum at ASF continues to be a controversial issue and I have started this thread to gauge the sentiment of ASF members.

Please vote in the poll above and feel free to post in this thread and let me know how you feel about the General Chat forum.

I want to better understand how people feel about the overwhelming volume of posts in the General Chat forum with a view to possibly placing restrictions on it should it be serving to diminish ASF as a stock market forum.

Joe Blow said:

The dominance of the General Chat forum at ASF continues to be a controversial issue and I have started this thread to gauge the sentiment of ASF members.

Please vote in the poll above and feel free to post in this thread and let me know how you feel about the General Chat forum.

I want to better understand how people feel about the overwhelming volume of posts in the General Chat forum with a view to possibly placing restrictions on it should it be serving to diminish ASF as a stock market forum.

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That's democracy for you Joe

If people are interested in stocks, they will post there, but there are other things going on in the world.

General should be strictly limited to broad single topic threads, as i suggested a couple of years ago, 1 thread for each broad topic same as the real estate thread and then moderated by moving any new threads into the main thread.

As happened for a while with the political party threads.

I don't see a link between removing / restricting the General Chat forum and an increase in stock-related posts. That is, I don't see that one competes with the other.

If anything, removing General Chat might actually reduce the number of stock-related posts. My thinking there is that those who wish to chat about politics, religion or whatever are going to do that somewhere. If the option to do so on ASF is no longer there, they'll simply go somewhere else. In some cases, that might mean they also stop visiting ASF to post about stocks.

My personal thought is that ASF would be better off with a broader financial focus if the aim is to attract new members and encourage more posts. That is, keep the stocks but encourage more discussion on other investment matters as well.

In that context, I see "on topic" as being anything that can meet a simple test. Does the discussion relate to something in which someone can invest, or which has implications for their investments, or which at the very least relates to some other way in which an individual can earn money, manage it, or reduce their expenses?

If it doesn't relate to anything financial then personally I wouldn't ban it, but I'd re-name "General Chat" to "Off Topic" as that makes it very clear to new visitors to ASF that threads in that section do not relate to the primary purpose of ASF. Many other online forums use that term for the same purpose.

For the record, there's another (not stock-related) forum that I frequent and the single biggest thread by far is in the off-topic section. And that thread is about, you guessed it, climate change / the carbon tax. I haven't personally made a single post in that thread on that forum but it's now 274 pages long and still going. Most other threads on that forum tend to be 1 to 5 pages.

As for the dominance of politics in the off-topic threads, I see that as a likely reflection of the reality that there is a (perceived or actual) link between financial matters and politics. The GFC became a mainstream political matter. Interest rates have been mainstream politics for decades. So too many other economic indicators have political links. If the ASX drops 50% over the next year then I'm sure we'll be hearing plenty about it during the next election campaign. In contrast, there is no such link between stocks or investing and gardening or plumbing. Hence we have plenty of political off-topic threads but very few relating to gardening, plumbing or how to fly an aeroplane.

SirRumpole said:

That's democracy for you Joe

If people are interested in stocks, they will post there, but there are other things going on in the world.

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The problem is between yourself, luutzu, bintang et al, there are several hundred posts similar in nature, buy going off different tangents. As soon as the topic goes on one of these tangents, you guys start up another thread and continue. Tonight's new thread is a perfect example, with several posts having the ability to slot right into the current few threads.

Now I don't usually get involved with politics or religion, but if I wanted to see these topics, I would search for forums on that nature. General chit chat fine, including a single thread for what you guys are discussing, but new thread after new thread isn't conducive to share trading etc.

And before you say 'you don't have to read what you don't want to read', unfortunately this place has more political and religion threads coming up when you hit 'new posts' than actual on topic threads.

pinkboy

I can’t see what the problem is. It’s incredibly easy to avoid the General Chat section by not navigating there.
Once in the General Chat it is also incredibly easy to navigate out.

As Rumpole said “there are other things going on in the world” and sometimes they can be important to investment decisions just as much as the technicalities of the markets.

The activity in the General Chat section is a barometer of what issues are foremost in peoples minds at any particular time and I find that useful.

There are times when some members become just a little too liberal in the passionate expression of their opinions. Also, some threads appear to have become dominated by just a very few posters with strong attachments to deeply entrenched beliefs.

Instances such as these lead one to question the wisdom of offering alternative perspectives to certain matters under discussion. Although it can be delightfully comforting to find one's views met with full agreement, I seriously question the benefit of allowing threads to stagnate into something akin to the mutual appreciation club/society that certain threads have sadly become.

Despite the aforesaid, I remain particularly fond of the general chat section and the way it grants members the opportunity to freely share perspectives on the non-investment related aspects of their personal lives. As such I'd hate to even imagine ASF without it!

Hi Joe,
I am cool with chat!!

The problem with general chat is that it is flooded with political and religious threads. Do we really need 5 different threads on Islam or Muslims? Do we really need a thread on every politician or every states liberal or labor party? When I go away for 6 hours or so and come back to my PC and click new posts the last thing I want to see 9 out 10 posts being on politics and religion.

On another forum the forum owner had a good idea. He created a sub forum called "Bedlam". There was a warning that it was a no rules area and anything could be discussed. Don't not enter it if you are easily offended, it said. Perhaps we could have a similar sub forum for religion and politics.

Put them in a sub forum well away from those who aren't interested in them and leave them out of the "new post" searches. Then those who really want to see and discuss these topics can go and view their sub forms anytime they like and have open and free banter between themselves.

I love general chat too, but not when it is heavily dominated by religion and politics.

Maybe there is a way to flag threads as "religion" or "politics" or whatever and a way members can block these from their view. ?

Instead of winding down the general discussion thread, it should be encouraged in my view. This will increase the forum's exposure and leakage into the stock threads. It's the same method car forums operate and many do very well with memberships and static advertising revenue.

I would work off the general discussion area by infusing generalised investment topics where impulse discussions can occur. This would provide a soft entry for those who would like to experiment, but were afraid to ask. Of course it would require some wise heads to keep the message simple albeit amongst the arguments that will and should occur.

It would be a pity to see the demise of all the ground work Noco (and others) has laid down in steering us all from the path of Labor perdition to one of Liberal redemption.

The three discussion taboos of religion, sex and politics combined with money are the aphrodisiacs of the human race. Sex was obviously not enough, thus the invention of the other three.

My only asks are that personal attacks be considered, instead favouring good humour and avoiding the so easy snide and superior mocking commentary that often surfaces here. As with the established conventions of discussion boards, pursuing members across dissimilar threads be avoided (it's trolling, does not allow a reset and shuts down meaningful debate).

Personally it keeps me coming back. I've been out of the share game for a few years as my capital is elsewhere, I still do like to read some of the stock related threads but the general forum is what I continue to come back for. I feel its working quite well currently where the general forum posts don't appear in the recent posts on the home page, so any newcomer wouldn't be under the illusion that religion and politics are discussed heavily on this site and those that want to discuss it know where to find it.

I don't have a problem with the amount of religious or political threads but if it was an issue then maybe have sub forums within the general chat.

General chat is just the 'kill time' area between trades. Just merge threads if they get to similar. As for the stock section, I personally prefer hotcoppers forum where I can see which stocks are trending. Click for click I seem to be hitting hotcopper to asf 4:1(sorry Joe). I don't think this site needs more sub-forums as it would be spreading posts a bit thin all round.

Firstly I must say I love stock tipping posts. It's a great idea and keeps me checking. However actual stock posts that are about a particular stock on appear on the radar when some radical news or results happen. After this they disappear again into hyperspace. I guess the same can be said for the Market and Commodities threads as well. It seems very few members rely on the very pulse of the market from minute to minute.
Where as the general happenings in the World change in just seconds , and everyone has an opinion. I was born here from the Storm Financial Thread , I'm still here and enjoying it .

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I'm really just trying to gauge sentiment with this thread and if most people are happy with the way things are then I won't change anything.

Of course, it's always nice to see more posts on individual stocks and trading and investment topics, but in the end the purpose of ASF is to serve those who use it and this is my number one priority.

Growth has been a little stagnant lately and I'm trying to put my finger on what the problem is. We get around ten new members every day but traffic levels have flatlined and I'm not sure why. It occurred to me that perhaps newcomers aren't seeing enough stock market related discussion and are either moving on or seeing ASF as a place to pop into occasionally rather than every day.

I was hoping that 2015 would be a year of real growth for ASF but so far it's more of the same.

Tisme said:

The three discussion taboos of religion, sex and politics combined with money are the aphrodisiacs of the human race. Sex was obviously not enough, thus the invention of the other three.

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I agree there just is not enough discussion about sex (in a classy way of course).

Joe,

a fair bit of the General forum posting is indirectly relevant to markets, eg the party politics and climate change threads.

The stock tipping and A-REIT threads are good vehicles to grow interest.

Also experienced investors know it's a patience game, so they often like the mind-refresh of the General forum.

I think Smurf hit it on the head, there's a certain symbiosis between the Gen and Stock threads.

Hi Joe

I enjoy posting and reading on the General Chat Forum. I think it should remain as it is.

Other than obvious duplications all new threads should be allowed (within the law of course).

My gut feeling is that if you get rid of the General Chat Forum there would not necessarily be an increase on stock/trading threads/contributions.

As noted by others; the world is made up of more than just stocks (et all) and at times, world events can have a direct impact on the those very same stocks.

Oh to have had computer/internet access in the days after 9/11 for example...

moXJO said:

General chat is just the 'kill time' area between trades. Just merge threads if they get to similar. As for the stock section, I personally prefer hotcoppers forum where I can see which stocks are trending. Click for click I seem to be hitting hotcopper to asf 4:1(sorry Joe). I don't think this site needs more sub-forums as it would be spreading posts a bit thin all round.

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I have to agree there. Perhaps it's because I don't know how to navigate the most efficient way, but I find it really difficult to get to a forum on a stock I want, if I need to follow Stocks Q-Z (or whatever) and then search down until I see the ticker I am interested in, as they are listed in chronological order of most recent posted to. I find HotCopper easier with it's favourites list, so all new posts on the stocks I am interested in appear usually on the very first screen I encounter. For that reason only I use Hot Copper for stocks, but ASF for the Chat.