Greetings Brad,
First a simple "thank you" for creating this web site, with design to allow everyone the ability to exchange trading information.
Your purpose for SI was for investors to obtain a detour from those brokerage firms whereupon you pay high cost to obtain a one sided trading advice, mostly slanted for the brokerage firm's advantage.
Yes, I arrived here and obtain the same at a low cost with an addition benefit of financial assistance varied from many person.
The late good doctor Zeev Hed was a good example for how SI could be of service to all SI members, not so much on trading advice geared to individual stock boards where only one company was discussed, but on board dedicated to day trading taken to minute trading where everyone in real time exercised his "The trend is your friend."
Yes, those Zeev type boards functioned sucessfully as a hippy commune where all worked and all obtained equal sharing to the harvest no matter the degree of value they supplied. Zeev of course reaped an extra based on quality, not quanity, picking the best and ripest fruits and vetables and meats on a hoof.
It may now seem obvious to all that have been here a while that advice given on individual stock boards had quality not of good trading information, but folks just "Liking to hear themselves talk."
I became a lifer member a few years after you created this web site, this as a result of having zero exposure to the market that involves buying shares in public companies and I needed advice and help to engage and join as a shareholder into a company I viewed as a great investment opportunity.
So there I was, scouring the internet searching for where I could ask questions or simply absorb opinions of others on this company.
I did a search on the company and obtains results of folks talking about the company here on the young SI.
Great I excitedly exclaimed.
but but but...
Be careful what you wish for, you may obtain it at SI. :)
It only took a few months,
losing $55,000.00 on International Precious Metals (IPMCF)
:)
Yes, I fell into that trap of accepting only the post contents of folks that advanced my buying shares into this company for a near term future reward.
It seemed easy to do since this place was a source of trading advice, all good and sound, except for those odd balls that spoke of scam and doom & gloom.
As for a sucessful SI business model, its simple, "back to the future."
Back to a time where if you wanted a product or service you exchanged something of equal value to the person or place where what you wanted was made.
A pig farmer exchanges a pig to a chicken farmer for a dozen chickens.
A carpenter builds furniture for a person that pays him in cash, cash obtained selling chicken feed he created in his garden to the chicken farmer than obtained the pig for chickens.
The cash of course, as ole49r demanded, paper fiat based on physical gold, but if not gold the paper money needed to have a real value represented in actual goods and services already created or initially a promise to create, meaning all paper money is created only as a convenient medium to replace actual physical movement of chickens and pigs or when the value one creates is a service to be exchanged not for a chicken or pig, but as a store of value to be used later. As in, if the bank or governenment creates a $100 paper note out of thin air (grown on trees and ink fountains) and someone asks for it as a loan, then as loan implies, that $100 paper note can only become real if it creates $100 or more in equalised values. If not, then that $100 becomes counterfeit. But hopefully during its existance as counterfeit in it initial creation in nature it will create value, and if more than $100 of value that extra can be represented as real money from the get-go and loaned as such without the stigma of false. Without a gold backing for exchange, all fiat paper is introducted with risk, but if that risk is avoided during it travel we have a means of exchanging values where one of physical or service being replaced with paper and ink.
The "back to the future" business model for SI is represented here where the exchange of values, chickens for a pig, does not contain extrinsic objects like advertisements to purchase items not connected to either the pig or chickens, for example, "Drinks at the local pub."
SI needs to have members exchange cash for access here on SI.
No ads, period.
If SI charges too much, it will go out of business.
If SI charges too little, it will go out of business.
If folks can't join and pay only for feature and access they want, then thats a deterrent and a sign of a poor business model.
SI can do an IH type Happy Hour to allow folks to sample the goods here, as this is a good business model as showned where IH having it active ten years going after it was adapted via my suggestion to BobZ here when he was also employed there, and as I must mention, nor he or Matt or Dave ever gave me a thanks for that suggestion :) eventhought Dave did a "Sorry Doug I can't do that and acknowledge the value you gave to IH."
An alternate to a Happy Hour is a temporary one time free account good only for a week where all features available a la carte are denied, as read 10, 100, search, advanced search, and access via SI to any off site web sites or access to whatever them phones or twillel or bookfaces are.
SI members choose what features they want, and accept those they feel are worth the cash.
No sales, or life time deals, or sign up for 99 years at a discount.
The man getting a dozen chickens for that pig has too much on his mind on how to transport them chickens to have an ad for a pub down the road in his thoughts.
Imagine, the man is trying to decide which 12 of them 100 chickens he want to take and the pig farmer puts a piece of wood with the pub ad in front of his face.
Better yet, the man is trying to decide which 12 of them 100 chickens he want to take and the pig farmer has a dozen neked females dance at his side singing songs of the show they have for him at the local pub.
Doug
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