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To: Stockbull who wrote (17461)	5/22/2003 11:24:41 AM
From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 32883

Bob..I wonder if the rules can be changed for Moderated Threads. At some point, when SI and iHub merge, this will be a major bone of contention. I would make the rules extremely simple: 1. No message board primarily dedicated to the discussion of a single security can be moderated. 2. Moderated boards will carry a strong disclaimer in bold red type, such as "Warning: Material on this board is solely dictated by its moderator, and thus extreme caution should be used in evaluating its contents as dissenting viewpoints may have been excised." Thus, you can have a board called "Stockbull talks about the market", but you can't have "Stockbull talks about Microsoft". The latter opens the door for things like "My favorite stock -- longs only!" To broach another hot topic... Like several people here, I was not at all supportive of iHub when it first appeared. It seemed nothing more than a thinly disguised way to tout stocks as opposed to promote the free flow of ideas. When Bob Z was brought on board, I gave it a second look simply because Bob had a track record here on SI of not being afraid to be a voice of dissension. People seem to forget that Bob was a programmer long before he began posting on stock message boards. Programmers have this attitude they can make anything "work" if given the proper time and resources. Making a message board truly successful necessitates accomplishing many things: a) a good user interface, b) a myriad of useful features with good response time, c) a good business plan, d) the ability to listen and respond to user feedback, and e) sufficient money and resources to accomplish all of the above. I'm sure if Bob were able to fund everything from scratch using his own money he'd have done things differently. I believe Bob when he says he only really started to find out about iHub's inauspicious beginnings after he accepted the task of running it. As a programmer, the opportunity was just too good to pass up. I'm sure he truly believed he could "correct" whatever was wrong and clean up whatever bruised image he thought the site or those associated with it had. Has he done that? No. But I do believe he is making progress. That being said, I completely understand how the perpetuation of moderated message boards has put iHub and thus Bob, the guy in charge, in a bad light. IMO, it's a huge design flaw that should be corrected as soon as possible. I would think long-timers on SI would mostly all agree on this. At least I would hope so. - Jeff