Hi All, I've been looking around for a potential new home just as an insurance policy for the thread I've maintained here since 1997. We were welcomed here by Jill and other staff members at the time. We brought many of our regular posters from Prodigy and lots of lurkers as well. Most of those were "granfathered" at no membership cost at the time.
Now nearly five years later, we have quite a library of posts here. Since our thread isn't specific to a single stock, but to an investment strategy, our older posts aren't necessarily losing value relative to the time that has passed. I would mourn the loss of that database.
I've been reading this thread since it first appeared at the beginning of the month. Many good ideas have been presented. For those who have wanted to post on SI in recent times membership fees as well as general confusion on how to become a member has caused them to stay away. Instead they email me. that's fine because I'd have answered the questions on the public forum anyway, but the "public" loses because they don't necessarily see that exchange of ideas.
I've taken on this peculiar role of unpaid internet teacher. SI is where I've been holding "class" for the last five years. Before that it was Prodigy for about the same length of time. Part of the reason I brought our discussion group to SI was because of Prodigy's fees for use. Part of it was that Prodigy's BBs at that time weren't available to the public via the internet. Only members could access the stuff.
Well, in looking over at least one alternate site, the comparable thread subject is frequently referencing my SI thread as a way to answer questions. So, these satellite threads are being developed essentially by SI lurkers and SI non-members. I don't consider this a bad thing, but it makes me think we're not addressing as large an audience as we could. When posters on stockstuff-R-us.com are using SI as their reference library, it means that they could have easily been SI members if given the right option for joining.
Here's the things that I use at SI personally which I would have to replace if SI folded:
- Charts, with various TA info and variable time frames (in semi-log format)
- Company Profile
- Company Financials
- Ticker look-up
- personal Stock Portfolios
- occasional "contests" (like the Biotech Stock Pickers)
- Individual Company discussion threads
- Market Daily Direction thread
- Laughter is the Best Medicine
- My Dictionary
- Finally, the very well qualified and sincere posters that seem to still be around, even if not as prolific as 20 months ago.
I don't follow the Politics and Current Events threads much. Sometimes I look at the Hot Subjects and New Subjects lists just to see what's going on. I always felt that part of the formula for Hot Subjects should be "readership" oriented. Currently it's based upon posting activity and "bookmark" activity, but some threads have a zillion lurkers that just "read" and don't post. Seems they should be measured somehow and added to the formula.
If we were forced to move from SI, I'll want to replace the function of most of the listed items. However, it's still the loss of our "library" of Q&A stuff and other info that will be almost impossible to replace. I've felt good about all the time I've spent at SI. Somehow I've managed not to tick off any SI members or staff enough to ever have spent time on "probation", etc. The community feel has always been strong for me here on SI. That's also something I should put as a priority for replacement.
Best regards,
Tom |
