Investment Forum??

[drlove]

A month or so ago there had been some talk of establishing an investment forum here on terb; has this idea fallen by the wayside??

I for one would like to see it become a reality. Just a place to trade investment knowledge and/or advice, as well as general discussion.

 

[xarir]

Do we really need another forum for this? Why not just posts threads here in the Lounge?

 

[Peeping Tom]

Investment forum, hell yea. Damned good idea ...

 

[drlove]

Do we really need another forum for this? Why not just posts threads here in the Lounge?

I could say the same for Sports and Politics...

 

[Sargon]

Its a very good idea IMO.

The lounge is an omniubus category and as such is very broad. For members like me who do not want to sift through pages and pages of Lounge search results to find a few (but important to me) threads on investment ideas/news, an investment forum makes a lot of sense.

I'm also reluctant to post threads in the lounge for fear that they'll soon get buried in a flood of other threads.

 

[drlove]

Its a very good idea IMO.

The lounge is an omniubus category and as such is very broad. For members like me who do not want to sift through pages and pages of Lounge search results to find a few (but important to me) threads on investment ideas/news, an investment forum makes a lot of sense.

I'm also reluctant to post threads in the lounge for fear that they'll soon get buried in a flood of other threads.

Exactly! Good points, Sargon.

 

[Fortunato]

An investment forum is not a very good idea... first off, it will attract a horrendous amount of SPAM, and all of the BS that "shop houses" spew out. More importantly, however, is that it would expose the operators to a number of risks - from authorities, to lawsuits from those who feel "hard done by" (and yes, it is not uncommon for chat boards to be sued by companies that feel slandered, or people who have lost money and think that they have no other recourse, etc.).

Do you really think it's important enough to risk the valuable service that this board provides? Especially when there are plenty of other sites out there that do the same thing?

It is, of course, Fred's choice - but I hope he makes the safe one....


Best regards,

F.

P.S. You shouldn't get (or give) investment advice on anonymous chat boards anyways....

 

[xarir]

Sports & Politics both grew out of a flood of posts on those topics. In past, particularly during Leafs / Sens series and with the war in Iraq + the US election, there were many threads on Sports & Politics. Given the volume of threads on those topics it seems there was enough support for specific forums.

IMHO, that demand doesn't (yet) seem to exist for an investment forum. To that end I'd suggest starting a few threads on investing to see if there is enough self-sustaining momentum to drive a separate forum as there clearly was with both Sports & Politics.

 

[drlove]

...I'd suggest starting a few threads on investing to see if there is enough self-sustaining momentum to drive a separate forum as there clearly was with both Sports & Politics.

Fair enough.

 

[xarir]

To Fortunato's points, I doubt that anyone would be silly enough to sue TERB, Fred or anyone else here for "bad advice". This is after all, primarily an escort review board that happened to grow up into something much more diverse.

Just as people post their views, learned or not on legal situations, personal ones and just plain general interest, I think people can and will post their views (learned or not) on investing. If someone acts on something posted here on TERB, the risk is theirs and theirs alone.

Having said that, I find that the advice posted here is generally pretty good.

Don't get me wrong here folks - I'd like to see an investment forum on TERB but I just think we don't need a separate place for it yet. Let's build the demand for a forum first.

 

[Fortunato]

Fortunato..we already discuss financial issues here. Why is a dedicated forum so bad?? Im pretty sure we just have to use tune our shill detectors to the financial side like we do the escort/sp side.

Later, Tom

A "financial" forum? I have no problem with that. All sorts of financial issues would make good topics. Talking about specific investments (assumedly the purpose of an "investment" forum), however....

There are very specific laws around who can (and how they must) offer investment advice. These laws are in place to protect the public. If this becomes prevalent, we move from a board that posts stories about alleged illegal activities (reviews), to potentially doing something that is directly against the law in the posts themselves (for example, offering investment advice without "knowing your client"). All it takes, then, is a member of LE with a hardon to make life miserable for us....

As for whether or not people will sue, it is not all that uncommon (and Canadian courts seem surprisingly tough on posts of the slanderous variety). And it's not just for "bad advice" - it is also for posters saying things that aren't true, rumours, etc. See an example link which lists some cases involving chat-board lawsuits:

http://www.cybersecuritieslaw.com/lawsuits/cases_corporate_cybersmears.htm

Should people be more responsible, as Mr. Xarir suggests? Yes, I think so - but unfortunately his and my opinion wouldn't matter at that point. And when you are dealing with money lost, litigation is VERY common (after all, they have little more to lose, and everything to gain/recover). Hence, the "chop house" bullcrap becomes more troublesome than just being irritating SPAM.

Will it happen? Probably not... but it might. My point is - why even bother to bring ANY of that kind of risk upon ourselves HERE (a board to discuss the pleasures of "professional company")... let alone encourage it by trying to grow a dedicated forum... when there are many other places on the web to go if you want to talk about investments.... It just isn't worth it.


Best regards,

F.

P.S. Again, what "benefit" would an investment forum be? If anyone here were to take your or my advice on an investment, they would be an idiot (and sometimes, in a civilised society, you have to protect the idiots from themselves).

 

[superquad1968]

Then there are the moderators. they already review and edit or delete posts that put this board in jeopardy.

But can we trust Goober to know anything about Finance? I mean he still lives with his Mom.

 

[Goober Mcfly]

But can we trust Goober to know anything about Finance? I mean he still lives with his Mom.

But I'm farking rich!*






*not to be construed as an actual statement of monetary wealth. Offer void in Quebec.

 

[mtl_guy]

An investment/personal finance/business forum would be nice to see.
It would encourage posting on the topic and it would make it easier to find information and would keep threads more active. In the lounge, threads can fall down the list pretty quick and once their on the 2nd or 3rd page they wont garner as much attention.

As for liability, Yahoo Finance was already mentioned. Stockhouse is another. And theres a handful of others as well. And many non-investment boards do have investment forums.

Id trade the political forum for an investment forum any day.