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Strategies & Market Trends : Roger's 1998 Short Picks -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mama Bear who wrote (5141)	3/17/1998 5:30:00 PM
From: Roger A. Babb	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 18691

Barb, there is no law against hype or outright falsehoods in support of a stock except by insiders. Even insiders get away with a lot. But statements against a company can be prosecuted and can be very expensive even if you win. Note that you can be sued for making a TRUE statement that adversely impacts stock price. Lawyers depend on having weak adversaries in these cases and will rarely sue someone with substantial resources unless they have a really strong case. But they need little excuse to pounce on someone without the resources or will to fight them in court. Bottom line is: Shorts can not reply in kind to hype and unfriendly posts. You can say that a stock is over valued or ahead of itself. You cannot call it a scam, even if it is. You can post earnings projections, but you can not say bad things (even if true) about their products or people. Consider each of your posts as potential evidence in a court of law. These lawsuits have not been very frequent in recent years only because stocks have been going up. When stocks head down they will be hunting for scapegoats.