Tipping Competition for Full CY 2020

[finicky]

Great, but let's pull a lever like the U.S Democrats and change it this year. That would nicely tip out Kaya (2 posts, Last seen Dec 31, 2019) whose hot breath is on my neck and I do not like his XRO chart nor gold's late year weakness. Plus I plan to share my winnings. Should this be in a PM I wonder.

 

[Trav.]

I would suggest that those entering need to be regular contributors in stock threads in order to qualify to win the prize money. The details of that can be worked out in the next few days.

Please feel free to share your thoughts regarding the proposed 2021 yearly competiton.

@Joe Blow whilst I can see the requirement for more post I also get annoyed with the influx of of post just to qualify for the monthly comp's and to be honest I have given up on these monthly competitions because of this issue. Some may think my post are low value but I try to spread them out over the months instead of just on the last day of the month.

No easy answer but I feel better now. and if that is the biggest issue I have then all is good.

 

[debtfree]

The amount of entries that basically haven't been back to visit ASF since they lodged their picks is really disappointing. ? I can understand if some don't have much to say but not even to visit, come on!
I could see roughly 46 entries (nearly 40%) that haven't even bothered to visit at the very least, to support ASF this year but are quite ok to take the cash. ?

 

[tech/a]

Need to define active members.

 

[So_Cynical]

a minimum contribution post, in a single stock thread, once a month thru the year
the first one is to enter the comp and a balance of minimum once /month = 11 posts to come

Very hard to police as we go but easy enough at the end of the comp i suppose, would hate to lose
my prize cos i was on holiday for 5 weeks or whatever. Agree that some sort of active member
definition needs to be agreed on and implemented.

 

[Joe Blow]

@Joe Blow whilst I can see the requirement for more post I also get annoyed with the influx of of post just to qualify for the monthly comp's and to be honest I have given up on these monthly competitions because of this issue. Some may think my post are low value but I try to spread them out over the months instead of just on the last day of the month.

We really need more posts in stock threads. So I do what I can to try and encourage more activity in this area. I don't mean to irritate anyone, or turn anyone off, but we have been struggling in this area for a long time.

I had hoped that people would understand the dire straight we were in with declining activity and posts in stock threads and just pitch in and help. But unfortunately it hasn't worked out like that.

If we lost the maybe 8 or 10 people who post daily in stock threads, I may as well turn out the lights here. Because then we'd be at two or three posts in stock threads a day. And what's the point of that?

It's all very disheartening I'm afraid. I've struggled for years to try and improve things, but to be frank we're getting nowhere.

 

[finicky]

You've done a great job, I'm sure all would agree. I think it's another illustration of 'first mover advantage' and network effect. A number of other forums are struggling to make headway against h.c which treats its posters with contempt.

 

[Joe Blow]

You've done a great job, I'm sure all would agree. I think it's another illustration of 'first mover advantage' and network effect. A number of other forums are struggling to make headway against h.c which treats its posters with contempt.

Thanks. The crazy part is, we have enough people to solve the problems we have here. We just need to focus our energies in the right areas. As an example, if every member who visited here every day took a few minutes to post in a stock thread just once each day our problem of not enough posts in stock threads would pretty much be over.

 

[brerwallabi]

Thanks. The crazy part is, we have enough people to solve the problems we have here. We just need to focus our energies in the right areas. As an example, if every member who visited here every day took a few minutes to post in a stock thread just once each day our problem of not enough posts in stock threads would pretty much be over.

Joe I joined ASF over sixteen years ago and average 34 posts a year over this period, I have been absent for many years due to running my own business now in retirement I find I have more time.
I would hate to be excluded from competitions because of my low contribution, I do post when I think I have something to offer the community. I still have a very active interest in shares however some days are shared with other interests and I don’t even tune into the internet.
I do not enter competitions for the money I enjoy reading other members picks and how well or not so well they do.
My suggestion is you do not limit entrants but make it very clear that a minimum amount of posts will get you the money if you win, maybe a post twice a month on the picks reporting either on the progress of the company or even the technicals if the person is a chartist. It may work for people who are working full time as the posts can be any time in the month which may alleviate annual leave issues with people holidaying away from home.
It’s best to keep it simple in entering the competition I am sure there might be better solutions to get the entrants and members posting.

 

[Joe Blow]

Joe I joined ASF over sixteen years ago and average 34 posts a year over this period, I have been absent for many years due to running my own business now in retirement I find I have more time.
I would hate to be excluded from competitions because of my low contribution, I do post when I think I have something to offer the community. I still have a very active interest in shares however some days are shared with other interests and I don’t even tune into the internet.
I do not enter competitions for the money I enjoy reading other members picks and how well or not so well they do.
My suggestion is you do not limit entrants but make it very clear that a minimum amount of posts will get you the money if you win, maybe a post twice a month on the picks reporting either on the progress of the company or even the technicals if the person is a chartist. It may work for people who are working full time as the posts can be any time in the month which may alleviate annual leave issues with people holidaying away from home.
It’s best to keep it simple in entering the competition I am sure there might be better solutions to get the entrants and members posting.

I recall you joining and participating back in the very early days and I want to assure you that nobody would ever be prevented from being part of a competition simply because they have been inactive for extended periods of time. That doesn't make any sense to me.

I always take an inclusive approach and would prefer to have more competition entrants, but at the same time I hope to see those entrants active and posting in stock threads during the course of the competition. Any rules would most likely relate to entrants keeping the community up-to-date on their competition entries on a regular basis.

For example, if a stock someone has chosen has gone down rather than up, perhaps that person could comment on why that is so. Similarly if the stock has gone up more than they expected they might like to comment on the reasons for that. If it is a mining company, perhaps the drilling has uncovered a larger resource than previously anticipated? Ultimately any change in the company's state of affairs could be a reason to comment and help keep the stock chat going during 2021.

 

[jbocker]

Maybe limit entry to people who have had minimum 20 entries in past x years (or higher number) and then must contribute 20 for the 2021 year to stay as a qualified entrant. The contribution not necessarily on their own selections but must be on stocks and must be a meaningful statement or reply.
You could qualify with a 'shortfall' in entry requirements but must double their contribution for 2021 (ie 40 in the case above).

 

[Joules MM1]

Very hard to police as we go but easy enough at the end of the comp i suppose, would hate to lose
my prize cos i was on holiday for 5 weeks or whatever. Agree that some sort of active member
definition needs to be agreed on and implemented.

fair call, @So_Cynical
the idea is based on non-regular posters, to encourage some basic participation and enhance ASF, you would be the exception to this as you are a regular poster, lets call it, guideline

 

[systematic]

You don't want to preclude anyone, and you want to keep it simple. Therefore:
- anyone can join
- have a very simple and achievable qualifying rule to collect on a prize. Example: Must have made at least 12 stock thread posts in 2021.

 

[Smurf1976]

You don't want to preclude anyone, and you want to keep it simple. Therefore:
- anyone can join
- have a very simple and achievable qualifying rule to collect on a prize. Example: Must have made at least 12 stock thread posts in 2021.

As a concept that seems pretty reasonable to me.

Ignore the past, that can't be changed, but must post not less than x number of posts in stock threads during the course of calendar year 2021 and only those posts containing meaningful content are counted.

Meaningful content doesn't mean it has to have turned out to be right, but more than simply "agreed with above" etc.

 

[Joe Blow]

As a concept that seems pretty reasonable to me.

Ignore the past, that can't be changed, but must post not less than x number of posts in stock threads during the course of calendar year 2021 and only those posts containing meaningful content are counted.

Meaningful content doesn't mean it has to have turned out to be right, but more than simply "agreed with above" etc.

I largely agree with this, although given the substantial prize money involved I think that the amount of posts in stock threads required should be around one a week on average. Although the posts could be made anytime. You could theoretically post them all in the final month if you like. However, as you suggest, they should contain meaningful content and some effort should be put into them.

I don't think that's too heavy a burden, although some may disagree.

 

[jbocker]

I largely agree with this, although given the substantial prize money involved I think that the amount of posts in stock threads required should be around one a week on average. Although the posts could be made anytime. You could theoretically post them all in the final month if you like. However, as you suggest, they should contain meaningful content and some effort should be put into them.

I don't think that's too heavy a burden, although some may disagree.

Joe I am not a prolific poster but I would be happy for a 50 post minimum to stock threads in the year. I would update the entry requirements with a minimum number of contributions required, as being one of the rules.
ALSO that each selection is given a reasoning for selection not just top pick.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

With only 12 replies, and even less entries, for the full year 2021 comp, so far the odds are looking great.

It's a tricky issue, this tradeoff between attracting views, posting content and adding meaningfully to comment. I try to stick to companies for the obvious reason that there's money to be made, but I also appreciate some of the macro stuff. Getting the mix of contributors right, keeping it civil AND making the forum profitable for Joe n Co, is an unenviable task.

I reckon at least a dozen posts, on relevant topics and over at least 6 months is a minimum. But it has to be defined well.

 

[Joe Blow]

With only 12 replies, and even less entries, for the full year 2021 comp, so far the odds are looking great.

If we don't get at least 30 entrants in the 2021 competition I would be inclined to cancel it. It's hard to justify running a year long competition without a significant amount of entrants to make it worthwhile.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

and, of course, that should be "fewer".

 

[systematic]

One other addition to what I mention above...I only just noticed that the rule states a single post is required for your top pick. Given that there are only 4 picks, it wouldn't have been unreasonable to require a post in each of those stock threads. At least you get 4 posts out of the people who never come back. Probably too late now, though.

Secondly, although it's clearly just subjective opinion, I would've thought a weekly post in (any) stock thread would be more relevant if their was a monthly comp within the yearly (or simply to do with the monthly comp). Anyway, I'll leave it there...as these types of posts often turn into a great lament about the state of ASF, and I don't want to be an initiator of one of those.