Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : E*TRADE IPO ALERT THREAD -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: VeloSpeed who wrote (3845)	6/9/1999 10:47:00 AM
From: Diamond Jim	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 15145

"Remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch. You gotta' give a little to get a little, the lottery format kills that spirit." - That is the main disagreement right there. You few on this thread are bummed, the rest of us say, great, we now at least have a chance. No matter how small. We have a better chance than we did before. Why was it changed?

To: VeloSpeed who wrote (3845)	6/9/1999 10:59:00 AM
From: ChopChop99	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15145

Lottery system and progressive taxes... ...are of the same ilk, IMO. They both redistribute the wealth from those willing to do whatever it takes to those who sit back and whine because they have not. ETrade definitely had some problems with their FCFS system, since there are many occasions when non-flippers with early timestamps didn't get shares. But with the limited time window there was at least an increased chance of participation for those willing to put in the work. The stock market has never been "fair" and it never will be, so that's not even the argument. All of the brokerages now using the lottery system are doing it from a business standpoint, because now they'll be able to say, "As long as you don't flip, each and every one of you has exactly the same chance as anybody else" and draw in more and more customers. From the brokerages' standpoint, fairness is a non-issue. The result, however, is unfair. It's not fair to take away an advantage gained by work, and yes, those of us who got the early timestamps worked* for them. I read in one of the articles about all this that someone was upset because they had always gotten their offers in within the first 30 minutes and still never got any shares. How naive. I remember being the same way in the early days, but you know what? I took the time and spent the effort to find out how the game was played, and have gotten in on 7 IPOs since. I don't have high hopes for getting in on 7 more during the next couple of months.