TL getting more popular each month!

[brownsfan019 17]

Looks like people are hearing about TL...

 

 

 

 

So James, here's the question of the night - how do you plan to keep TL a great place to be, able to share ideas, and do so in a comfortable environment all the while continuing to grow the site? I'm sure we've all seen forums where it's nice while it's 'cozy' and things can turn sour quickly when there's too many fish in the pond; but you also want to grow the site, esp if building it as an additional business for James.

 

Don't get me wrong, growing is good, but I think you should be aware of the growth and all that comes with it as the site gets more and more popular. Please don't misread my statements here, I just think we all enjoy the TL environment b/c it is in fact different from most other trading boards and it would kind of suck to see TL turn into an ET down the road.

[Soultrader 12]

Thank you for the comments Brownsfan I have a few plans in mind at the moment in maintaining the atmosphere of TL even with further growth. I added a premium members forum which I plan to grow. I plan to make premium membership based on user activity, number of posts, quality of content, etc... This can provide a seperate forum section for those who prefer to interact in a smaller environement. I am also looking into possibilities of members able to open private discussion threads. So perhaps trader can enjoy interacting in various smaller groups.

 

I have a few other things in mind which I am working on at the moment. I am also open to suggestions as to features members would like to have on the boards. Just one thing I am scrict with the board is keeping it clean. I prefer it to be a good discussion board instead of a board focused on just shoutouts. While we have a few educators, brokers, analysts on board with us I try to avoid conflict with members interest. I am looking at a more educational point of view even with the member/sponsor/educator interaction.

 

[sudha78 10]

Soul

 

I too watched this exponential growth and felt similar too brownsfan019 in the same context. Every one knows uniqueness of TL and it shouldn't be jeopardized by spam and frivolous threads .

 

In my case I read a lot all the valuable threads but I don't post like you guys atleast for now(keep it clean!). So when you create premium group you may restrict posting to premium(elite) members but 'view only' access to other members/genuine active members.This is my humble request. My respects to your integrity and best wishes to TL!

 

(mistakenly I created a different user name for chat session -mitrader)

[Knyyt 10]

I second brownsfan,.. we dont need another ET.. stay strict.. no BS smart-a**'s here ....

[Kiwi 16]

I think the problem at sites is a little different to just the fighting. I love ET and reserve it for somewhere to have a scrap (unlike here or T2W, say).

 

IMO part of the fighting problem is caused by the mix of long time posters, long time traders (not always the same), arrogant newbs, and normal newbs, and I guess newbs who really don't know just how much they don't know. So you get newbs pretending (self-deception?) to know it all, long timers who've seen every question asked before (including the stupid ones) and bored traders just out for a bit of fun all mixed up together. Incendiary, a lot. Educational, not very. Entertaining, frequently.

 

Often the fights occur when experienced traders who still care about misinformation get into arguments with the arrogant newb types when they offer opinions/answers to other newbies that are just plain wrong. The experienced traders who don't care or just laugh a bit at the stupidity of it don't actually get involved.

 

A new board tends to get a honeymoon period where long term conflicts don't yet exist.

 

One challenge is to find a way so that your more experienced posters don't get bored with newbie trader questions and opinions. If they do, most will either leave or perhaps seek entertainment destructively (suggest ET for such games). Also, unless you've a specific reason for participating in a board they tend to become a little boring over time once repetition sets in. It will be interesting to see how the premium club works.

 

Another challenge is to detect long term conflicts and defuse the interaction of the sides (jack/grob and everyone who doesn't believe in him is a good example on et, trader28 and anyone else, me and anyone I think is an f'wit, etc etc). Strong action against both parties needs to be balanced with your desire to keep one or both sides still participating on the board. A laissez faire approach doesn't seem to work.

 

Having been a member of a lot of boards at one stage or another of my trading development I shall watch and participate with interest.

[brownsfan019 17]

Kiwi brings up great points. Once this board reaches the maturation stage, exactly how it proceeds forward can be tricky. If nothing else James, take our advice for what it's worth, but like Kiwi, I've seen great boards turn to either a b*tch fest (like ET) or abandoned (kinda like T2W).

 

Keeping an active trading board fresh so that the 'regulars' want to come back and keeping it interactive for all newbies (b/c there will always be newbies) is difficult. Perhaps trying to meet the demands of each group is simply not possible on one message board... Perhaps the thought process should be to be a 'niche' board vs. a 'jack of all trades' board. It's just like trading really - you can either attack the markets with a shotgun approach and see what you hit or you can finetune your strategies and become a sniper... Either you try to be all things to all people or realize that's simply not doable, so you move forward in one particular direction. We already know that a b*tch fest board exists, I think trade2win is rather dull and not active at all... so.... where will TL fit into the mix... only time will tell.

[Soultrader 12]

You bring up some good points Kiwi and Brownsfan. This is the first trading board I am a part of... I actually did not find out about ET until late 2006 and T2W until after I created this board. Ive seen a number of boards of different genre and did alot of research on them. There is definitely an atmosphere in each board. I think we have a good atmoshphere here at TL... the hardest will be trying to seek balance, maintaining the attitude, and yet keeping it educational. (like Kiwi pointed) I definitely want to create a private section for the veteran members on the board and perhaps make this either accessible based on user activity or even through referral only. The conflict between experienced vs new is definitely something I have in mind. It is not a problem UNTIL the experienced traders find themselves answering the same questions over and over again. So a seperate section where they can interact without repetitive arguements may be useful.

 

I monitor strictly on rants, fights, abuse, etc.. in the threads. If a member has nothing to contribute but just criticism and negativity... I tend to ban them without any warning. This is not to say I ban anyone who becomes heated. NO. A heated arguement is healthy in my opinion. But the obvious posts that attacks a poster for pure self satisfaction is something I do not tolerate. Whether experienced or new to trading, each opinion/post must be respected.

 

Any off-topic discussions should go into General Discussions. I also move any unrelated topics to the appropiate category or may even pm a member to try to stay on topic. Content should always be number one on this board. As the board grows, I am positive that I will encounter new problems and will need to come up with solutions accordingly.

 

If you have any suggestions feel free to let me know guys. I am pretty much going with the flow... just adjusting things as new problems appear. But I make sure any slight problem gets fixed asap.. its the little things that matter.

[torero 10]

Regarding the repetitiveness of the questions, I think this is inevitable, unless we have the search engine is sophisticated enough to find what the new users are looking for. This is one of first features I use when going to a new forum, looking for content that does not exist in other sites. If the search fails, they will ask over and over. So might want to spend time (and maybe a bit of money) on getting search and categorization tidied.

[TinGull 10]

I've found that this feature can be very helpful....

 

 

 

 

 

But really...Soul said it a little while ago. Quality breeds quality. It's a great idea to have a smaller community inside this community for veteran members, though I myself wouldn't want it to go unnoticed by other guys (n00bs). I think that having something like mitrader mentioned...where there is a restriction to posting but not a restriction to reading in that area, would be awesome. There's real quality stuff that goes on here and I'd hate for some of it to be unseen by new traders who could benefit from it.

[brownsfan019 17]

Regarding the repetitiveness of the questions, I think this is inevitable, unless we have the search engine is sophisticated enough to find what the new users are looking for. This is one of first features I use when going to a new forum, looking for content that does not exist in other sites. If the search fails, they will ask over and over. So might want to spend time (and maybe a bit of money) on getting search and categorization tidied.

 

Excellent points tor!! I don't know how all the programming and stuff works James, but I would start to categorize and organize now before you have to spend weeks doing it later.

[Soultrader 12]

I opened the premium members section to the public. But am limiting new threads and posts to members with posts counts of over 100. If you are currently a premium trader status this will not apply. Added a little search feature when posting new threads as well. I may remove this for a different idea. (still debating)

 

Would you guys like to see any new forums or sub categories?

[Anonymous 11]

Yes. I too watched with bated breath as the number ticked towards 2,000 and then thru it. Great Job Soul. Thanks for such a nice place to call home.

 

* I like the idea of mutli levels for the members. Members would have to be at that level to post there, but lesser level members could read the posts.

 

* However, I think there should be a level that is NOT accessible to all members from the start. In this level there could be an exchange of "not ready for prime time viewing " ideas. At some point the person who started the thread might want to let everyone view it (by starting a "sister thread" at a lower level), but he/she might want to restrict who sees it in the beginning stages.

 

* As far as repetitive questions go, I point to numbers: 95% of traders lose. Now if that is true, it stands to reason that what drive this business is the influx of NEW traders. They are bound to ask the same questions that have been asked before. Most new traders will walk down the same path of the 95% that lost. Clearly the questions would be the same.

 

Simply, in a business with high turnover, repetitive questions are part of the deal. Seasoned traders should actually like this. If there were no newbies then the seasoned traders would be trading amongst themselves. Not as profitable a proposition as trading with clueless newbies.

 

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against newbies. Just trying to make a point for those whose tire of the same questions.

[TheBramble 10]

* However, I think there should be a level that is NOT accessible to all members from the start. In this level there could be an exchange of "not ready for prime time viewing " ideas. At some point the person who started the thread might want to let everyone view it (by starting a "sister thread" at a lower level), but he/she might want to restrict who sees it in the beginning stages.

As a new kid on the block I don't feel it's appropriate to get too involved with site politics and admininstration, but I have to ask PivotProfile what his reasons are for suggesting this particular idea?

 

If this were to be implemented there are always the questions of 'what information exactly is considered 'not ready for prime time' and 'who will be considered unworthy to receive such information' and 'who is it that will be making that decision and based upon what'. It is somewhat elitist and counter to the spirit of any bulltein board in the first place. I'm really not into divisive attitudes or the withholding of the free flow of ideas and discussion.

 

If there's felt to be a need to 'restrict' and be 'covert' in discussion of ideas with only a select few there is always PM or email. No need to rub peoples' noses in the fact that they're 2nd class citizens.

 

I've seen this implemented on another board and was myself a member of the 'private forum', but felt the existence of the 'them and us' mentality did no favours to anyone.

 

If it's purely a question of not being inundated with stupid questions on serious topic threads or abuse /flame etc then that all comes down to moderation. And if James would like suggestions on that score one simple solution to moderator overload would be to give the thread starter edit/delete privs for that thread. Abusers of thread would soon get the message as would abusers of that priv itself.

[TinGull 10]

If it's purely a question of not being inundated with stupid questions on serious topic threads or abuse /flame etc then that all comes down to moderation. And if James would like suggestions on that score one simple solution to moderator overload would be to give the thread starter edit/delete privs for that thread. Abusers of thread would soon get the message as would abusers of that priv itself.

 

Interesting point there about giving the thread starter those privs...I like that idea. Your thoughts, James?

[Soultrader 12]

I wish that function was available with the system. Unfortunately it wont be possible at the moment. Im working on adding a small feature with new thread postings so we can limit the amount of repetitive questions on the board. Or I can start making a glossary of posts soon.

[Anonymous 11]

As a new kid on the block I don't feel it's appropriate to get too involved with site politics and admininstration, but I have to ask PivotProfile what his reasons are for suggesting this particular idea?

 

If this were to be implemented there are always the questions of 'what information exactly is considered 'not ready for prime time' and 'who will be considered unworthy to receive such information' and 'who is it that will be making that decision and based upon what'. It is somewhat elitist and counter to the spirit of any bulltein board in the first place. I'm really not into divisive attitudes or the withholding of the free flow of ideas and discussion.

 

If there's felt to be a need to 'restrict' and be 'covert' in discussion of ideas with only a select few there is always PM or email. No need to rub peoples' noses in the fact that they're 2nd class citizens.

 

I've seen this implemented on another board and was myself a member of the 'private forum', but felt the existence of the 'them and us' mentality did no favours to anyone.

 

If it's purely a question of not being inundated with stupid questions on serious topic threads or abuse /flame etc then that all comes down to moderation. And if James would like suggestions on that score one simple solution to moderator overload would be to give the thread starter edit/delete privs for that thread. Abusers of thread would soon get the message as would abusers of that priv itself.

 

 

First, up until a few hours ago we ALREADY had this.

 

Second, the person starting the thread would decide where he wants to place it.

 

Let me give an example using Brownsfan. He is the resident Volume Candle Guru .

He may want to start a thread topic on a very advanced aspect of VC trading. Now he would be willing to share this information, but rather than sharing with those who are not sharing back (no posts), he wants to only share with those who are doing so in kind.

 

Many people can "lurk" the boards and pick up good trading ideas. But maybe one wants to only share ideas with others that are also putting ideas out there.

 

I am not talking about secret hand shakes and private meetings in smoke filled rooms. Just members who have been around for a while posting sharing with others who are doing the same. All a newbie has to do to get there is continue to post. In other words, support the forum and the forum supports you.

[Soultrader 12]

Hi Pivot,

 

That is exactly what I had in mind My current question is whether to use the premium member forum viewable by all or only my premium members? I do not want to restrict content to traders. But I do think having an area where contributing members can benefit is helpful. This will in fact keep that specific area clean since the users will already have knowledge of the content on the board. (avoids repetitive questions, etc..) Any thoughts? Thanks

[torero 10]

I agree with Bramble in that we may start to seeing "we v. they" attitude. But I also agree with PP that in trading, sharing ideas is not a common, if not, the opposite, which I agree should be up to the person who's willing to share by adding a circle of friends or similar. James, that might be something you want to add I think they call it social network thingy where you add your groups of people you want to get involved in etc. This way, I agree this would exclude the 1st-class, 2nd-class problem, rather, it's a circle of friends.

 

The other I wanted to add in to somehow reduce the repetitive questions/threads is start a wikipedia-style format. I think TS is doing it after horrible complaints about not being able to find things when newbies come in. Might want to research this and pick a circle of experts to focus on their areas of expertise. I think this way, once newbies understand it and still have questions, at least they'll have a level of knowledge enough to ask more good questions.

[Soultrader 12]

Sounds interesting Torero. I had the TL! Groups (similar to yahoo groups) on the forums but took it off because of lack of interest. With the wikipedia, there is a similar function for it on this system that I can install. The only problem is I am not familiar with wikipedia. I noticed TS had it recently (still havent looked into it)... how does wikipedia and a forum fit together? Is wikipedia just a linking system?

[torero 10]

I'm not an expert in this area, but wiki is a way where certain members collaborate in certain areas of their expertise. If they want to contribute, they have to be approved to be added. This is how Wikipedia works. This keeps the content clean, relevant and orderly and of course, truthful knowledge. There is linking mechanism between forum and wiki, I'm sure. Check Wikipedia's parent company who distributes this app for free.

[TheBramble 10]

Let me give an example using Brownsfan. He is the resident Volume Candle Guru .

He may want to start a thread topic on a very advanced aspect of VC trading. Now he would be willing to share this information, but rather than sharing with those who are not sharing back (no posts), he wants to only share with those who are doing so in kind.

 

Many people can "lurk" the boards and pick up good trading ideas. But maybe one wants to only share ideas with others that are also putting ideas out there.

 

I am not talking about secret hand shakes and private meetings in smoke filled rooms. Just members who have been around for a while posting sharing with others who are doing the same. All a newbie has to do to get there is continue to post. In other words, support the forum and the forum supports you.

I know exactly what you mean PP and I respect your view. But look at ET and t2w. 50-70,000 members and how many regularly post sensibly at any point in time? It has to be less than a few dozen. Seriously.

 

The point is, those who post on boards such as this do so for what THEY get out of it. Not what they expect to get out of it. Me included. I realised some time back the effort to compose and post something useful was for me to give back something to a 'community' that had given me something. Note, not specific people , but 'the community'. I don't need a quid pro quo. I don't need all/any of those who may benefit from what little I have to offer to specifically, each or any of them, to have to feel then are then compelled personally to give me back in kind. Karma doesn't work that way. You put out it comes back in some possibly very indirect way to you - ten-fold. A hundred-fold.

 

 

Stop me, I'm getting misty....

[brownsfan019 17]

It's not an easy decision to make on how to take the board forward. James, I think you need to understand that you are not going to make everyone happy and that's just the way it is. Great ideas and thoughts in this thread, I guess we'll see where the ship ends up being steered.

 

I like the idea of a resident 'expert' / moderator / etc on particular topics. The only problem there is if someone is going to spend time with the newbies and such, there has to be something in it for them to keep them over the long haul. I think most of us would jump up and help right now, but 3, 6, 12 months down the road, being the resident newbie question answerer guy could lose it's flare... Just something to think about.

 

I also like the glossary idea James. I think this could save a lot of repeat questions and wasted time on the boards.

[Anonymous 11]

We are at 2300 and all the arrows are red. But it is the first day of the month !!! We'll see green arrows soon I bet. Nice job Soul. Thanks for the great place. I just want the quality to stay high. Then again, if evey member sets out to keep the quality high, then it will be.

 

Soul what do you have planned for 5,000?

[TinGull 10]

PP, you didn't get the memo? Soul is flying us all out to Tokyo for some drinks when the 5000th member signs up

 

hehe

[Soultrader 12]

hehe 5,000 is a good number. But I like 10,000 even better

 

I may do some kind of giveaway contest after we hit the 5,000 mark. Or better yet, the 1 year anniversary since launch. I will do whatever I can to maintain the quality here. That is my #1 focus of this site... I care less about the fancy layouts, cool features, etc... Content is KING. We have definitely attracted a very nice group of traders. I truly appreciate everyones contribution here.

 

I also removed the premium members forum for now until we get a little bigger. Seems it may have been to early to launch it.

 

brownsfan,

 

I will definitely get on top of the glossary. It may take a little time but will get to work on it.