Now watch this:
As of Saturday, June 9, 2001 7:19 PM ET
Subject Replies Latest Forum Hot Score*
Trading From Main Street. 193 12:51 AM Market Trends and Strategies 680%
NEW Market Gems - Swing and Day Trades 852 5:23 PM Short-Term Traders 290%
Pump's daily trading recs, emphasis on short selling 1941 6:55 PM Market Trends and Strategies 207%
Mu Gamma Lambda 147 6:42 PM Short-Term Traders 193%
The Thread II 983 7:11 PM Short-Term Traders 175%
NEW Market Ideas - Weird Opinion Trades 845 7:10 PM Coffee Shop 150%
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH 152010 7:13 PM Coffee Shop 135%
BEA Systems (BEAS) - Undiscovered Growth Stock 1934 5:03 PM Software 105%
Analyze The Trade: Home of the T/A Archive 101 6:40 PM Market Trends and Strategies 95%
Steve's Channelling Thread 17479 6:54 PM Market Trends and Strategies 90%
COMPUTER LEARNING 20476 5:49 PM Coffee Shop 87%
As of Saturday, June 9, 2001 7:22 PM ET
Subject Replies Latest Forum Hot Score*
Trading From Main Street. 193 12:51 AM Market Trends and Strategies 680%
NEW Market Gems - Swing and Day Trades 852 5:23 PM Short-Term Traders 290%
Pump's daily trading recs, emphasis on short selling 1941 6:55 PM Market Trends and Strategies 207%
Mu Gamma Lambda 147 6:42 PM Short-Term Traders 193%
The Thread II 983 7:11 PM Short-Term Traders 175%
NEW Market Ideas - Weird Opinion Trades 845 7:10 PM Coffee Shop 150%
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH 152011 7:20 PM Coffee Shop 135%
BEA Systems (BEAS) - Undiscovered Growth Stock 1934 5:03 PM Software 105%
COMPUTER LEARNING 20476 5:49 PM Coffee Shop 97%
Analyze The Trade: Home of the T/A Archive 101 6:40 PM Market Trends and Strategies 95%
So what happened in those three minutes? Well for ONE thing, I bookmarked COMPUTER LEARNING. It moved up two and Analyze the Trade and Steve's Channeling dropped down!
What does or could all this mean? If I can change the percentage by 10%, could a person with 10 alias change it by 100%? I know nobody would think of "stalking" someone by bookmarking their thread (LOL), but if a number of stalkers did appear, they could boost the thread to the top of the hot list. <GG> Members bookmark people and threads for both "good" and "bad" reasons. Therefore, bookmarks are not really a measure of one's popularity! And, as is already quite obvious, the number of posts is not an accurate measure, particularly when they are all made by the same person.
Again, I say, I am not defending the hot list nor denying any manipulation of it. I am only pointing out the complexity of it.
Bill |
