Yahoo! to Remove Message Boards Dedicated to Bulletin Board Stocks
Dow Jones Newswires
NEW YORK -- Yahoo Finance, a popular Web site run by Yahoo! Inc.,
has decided to remove its message boards dedicated to over-the-counter
bulletin-board stocks.
The operators of the site said they were concerned with wasting
manpower and computer resources on message boards, also called
"threads," that are largely underused.
"What we realized was that there wasn't a lot
of traffic on these OTC bulletin board
message boards," said Mike Riley, Yahoo
Finance producer. "We crawl through all the
messages and index them so users can search
them. The resources that it takes up are considerable."
The reputation of OTC bulletin-board stocks has been battered in recent
years amid accusations of fraud and manipulation. Bulletin-board
companies are usually too small or too speculative to be listed by a
recognized exchange, like the New York Stock Exchange, or quoted on
Nasdaq's national or small-cap markets. And because the shares have
small floats and prices less than $5, they are prone to volatility and can be
easily hyped and manipulated.
The decision also stems partly from stricter requirements being imposed by
the Nasdaq regarding securities traded on the electronic pricing system.
Mr. Riley said Nasdaq is growing more insistent that a distinction be made
between Nasdaq-listed stocks and bulletin-board stocks. That's a concern
for Web sites that offer stock quotes that specify the exchange on which a
stock trades.
In all, about 100 of the more than 8,200 message boards created by
Yahoo Finance to discuss specific stocks will be delinked over the course
of the next month, Mr. Riley said.
The ban doesn't, however, completely eliminate the presence of
bulletin-board stocks on the Web site. Message boards created by Yahoo
Finance users will remain intact and stock quotes and news stories about
the securities will still be available, Mr. Riley said.
Operators of the Motley Fool financial Web site decided four years ago to
ban talk of bulletin-board stocks on its message boards, said David
Forrest, community coordinator for the Motley Fool. |
