Your suggestions please for new forum categories

[Thierry Martin]

I am reorganizing the forums to make them easier to use, and I would like to know if you feel that any new categories are needed. I just added an ETF section, because we had a lot of threads on that subject, and I moved the existing threads there.

How would you feel about sections for Commodities Futures? Gold? Chinese stocks? Mutual funds? I would like input on this before making any more changes, to see where the interest is.

[flybynight]

I think the new catagories would be helpful.

Thanks

[XOM]

A second room in chat geared more towards trading. Perhaps rename the current room as Casual Trade & Chat and the second as Serious Trade or something along those lines.

[netwrangler]

A second room in chat geared more towards trading. Perhaps rename the current room as Casual Trade & Chat and the second as Serious Trade or something along those lines.Are you suggesting there be no puns or limericks in the second chat room?

Ah, XOM, where's your fun-loving spirit? :biggrin:

Seriously, what do you see as the difference between the rooms?
And how would that difference be enforced?

[smartinvestor30]

I am reorganizing the forums to make them easier to use, and I would like to know if you feel that any new categories are needed. I just added an ETF section, because we had a lot of threads on that subject, and I moved the existing threads there.

How would you feel about sections for Commodities Futures? Gold? Chinese stocks? Mutual funds? I would like input on this before making any more changes, to see where the interest is.

Yes that is exactly what I was going to say, one for Futures please and one to discuss commodities.

1. Futures- discuss your positions/strategies on futures contracts here

2. Commodities - discuss speculation on Gold and other precious metals, commodities etc

You get the idea just fix the "tags" because the ones above are not perfect obviously.

[XOM]

I have no problem with the jokes, zingers and one -liners at all, however there are times when I'd like to concentrate soley on making money. The idea of sharing trade ideas can become lost in the sea of humor that is the predominant theme in chat.

I would hope that enforcement would not be necessary, leave the current room as the default entry room and those that wish to exchange trade ideas more than they wish to merely socialize can enter the second room. I realize that a room can be made by anyone and even password protected, the drawbacks to that are that someone has to create the room every day and if there is a password the people that are not given it will likley resent those that are.

Anyway, just a suggestion as asked for.

[Hondaboy]

Xom doesn't like me in the chat room :(.

[blaster]

A second room in chat geared more towards trading. Perhaps rename the current room as Casual Trade & Chat and the second as Serious Trade or something along those lines.

I suggest that u don't chat at all and focus on ur trading:sheep:

[ChartShark]

How about a "Single and looking" chatroom? That would be swell.

Seriously though, I don't know what additional rooms would do aside from fragment the already relatively sparse population in the chatroom during the day. I'd rather have 15-20 people (of which maybe half are talking on a regular basis) in a room talking about the market, and/or other random things than a choice of 5 rooms with 3-4 people in them chatting about super specific stock market secrets. (Check out my sweet math skillz)

Don't mind me though, I'm still rather new.

[aiki14]

I suggest that u don't chat at all and focus on ur trading:sheep:
No offense Blaster, but you may not have given your comment enough thought.
In the year or two I have known XOM, I have found him to be real sharp, and I tend to pay attention when he offers his views, especially in the energy arena.
No doubt the chat room gets "off topic", and occasionally over focused on one stock or topic, I don't know how that can be prevented (or even if it should).

[mlegha1]

I don't think that we need a second room, we need some casual talk during the tense hours of trading.I don't normally chat due to my job but last week I was on vacation and joined the room regularly. I would say that it was a nice blend of serious traders and people making it fun for every one.

[ChartShark]

On the original subject of new forum categories; I think it's a good idea, though I have no additional ideas beyond what has already been proposed. Basically, I am useless.

[Thierry Martin]

Can anyone help me with this - what is the difference between futures and commodities? Can you buy a commodity without buying a futures contract? Can you buy a futures contract without buying a commodity? I believe you can buy index futures, but futures aren't a commodity. And you can buy contracts to buy grain, pork bellies etc. but are these contracts not futures contracts? Is gold bought as a commodity or a futures contract? Obviously I don't know what I am talking about here but maybe someone with experience can help clear this up.

The issue is do I create a category called Commodities futures or Commodities and futures or a separate category called Commodities and another one called Futures.

[aiki14]

Can anyone help me with this - what is the difference between futures and commodities? Can you buy a commodity without buying a futures contract? Can you buy a futures contract without buying a commodity? I believe you can buy index futures, but futures aren't a commodity. And you can buy contracts to buy grain, pork bellies etc. but are these contracts not futures contracts? Is gold bought as a commodity or a futures contract? Obviously I don't know what I am talking about here but maybe someone with experience can help clear this up.

The issue is do I create a category called Commodities futures or Commodities and futures or a separate category called Commodities and another one called Futures.

Since futures based on underlying assets that are not commodities exist, they are separate in that sense. It is possible to hold commodities, but other than precious metals I don't know of anyone who does.
Then there is the amount of traffic the topic will generate, and is it worth it to make the individual forums so specific.
Seems to me a forum on Futures and Commodities would suffice until traffic dictates otherwise.

[Jelly]

I don't engage too much in newbie type chat for the reason that trade info gets lost out the top too quickly for those that are actually following specific stock convo. I also cut all funny stuff, when I do surface, short for the same reason.

If you wanna get all superior, you can do an IMconference or separate chat. Then kill each other when somebody and their loser sheep loses a ton on a bad call. Make it so, or don't.

The existing chat (as is the forum) is a community that has evolved . Untoward behavior, outside the accepted norm, is either killed or is great for the entertainment value of the ensuing war.

I already know a forum where intolerance is the name of the game (it has a chat). If you want the link, PM me.

[blaster]

No offense Blaster, but you may not have given your comment enough thought.
In the year or two I have known XOM, I have found him to be real sharp, and I tend to pay attention when he offers his views, especially in the energy arena.
No doubt the chat room gets "off topic", and occasionally over focused on one stock or topic, I don't know how that can be prevented (or even if it should).

Aiki may be i should edit my orginal post here and replace the sheep with a smily face. I know XOM in the chat room do give good advises and i have discussed few of the energy tickers myself with him. I in no way was telling XOM to runaway or anything.......:-) He has a right to an opinion and i respect it. I was just being sarcastic and funny is to how i felt about the separate room....
And as far as Offense brother...i dont take offense even if you curse at me here :-)

[netwrangler]

I have no problem with the jokes, zingers and one -liners at all, however there are times when I'd like to concentrate solely on making money. The idea of sharing trade ideas can become lost in the sea of humor that is the predominant theme in chat.

I would hope that enforcement would not be necessary, leave the current room as the default entry room and those that wish to exchange trade ideas more than they wish to merely socialize can enter the second room. I realize that a room can be made by anyone and even password protected, the drawbacks to that are that someone has to create the room every day and if there is a password the people that are not given it will likely resent those that are.

Anyway, just a suggestion as asked for.Despite being one who goes 'off-topic' often for the sake of humor, I agree with you that there are times when it would be nice to filter out the noise and have a serious exchange on a topic.

Right now, we can do that one-on-one with the IM feature of the Chat Room.
I didn't know that 'anyone' could set up additional rooms.
Maybe we want to do that on an [I]ad hoc basis.
Sounds like a middle ground between IM and a dedicated room.

BTW: I apologize for setting you up for bashing with my initial reply. I'm sure you knew that I was just playing my post for laughs. Evidently, others may have thought I was painting a couple of concentric red circles on your back.

Let the record show that I value your contributions — both in the Chat Room and on the Forum. :embarassed:

[XOM]

Interesting reactions, thanks for the support of those that recognize my suggestion for what it is and Net; don't even sweat the 'set up', I had already figured this would happen no matter how diplomatically I tried to state the suggestion.

As for you Hondaboy, don't be absurd...I don't like you anywhere:tongue:

For the sake of any humor-challenged people, that was a joke. I don't understand why Hondaboy would say or think that I don't like him in chat. This is the point some of you seem to be missing, I'm not trying to break up your party, just thinking that those who are busy trading and that have been noticeably quiet the past few days might talk a little more in a room designed for such people.

As already stated, it was a suggestion. I'll just make a room myself and talk to myself if nobody else shows up, no big deal.

[ChartShark]

I just played around with the chat application for a moment, and this is probably already known, but anyone can create a room. This room can be named anything the creator desires (e.g. Madam Puswa's Palace of Profits or Strictly Stocks) and the password is optional. I think with the community here, passwords would be unnecessary, unless you were discussing my aforementioned super specific stock market secrets. (PM me for these secrets - they're only $40 and fistfuls of money can be yours) What's with my love of alliteration, by the way?

Anyway, I respect your thought, XOM. I understand the desire to perhaps get away from the POT and WNR jokes for a moment and really talk shop. Give it a shot, and see how it works out.

[yupyup]

I think a 2nd room dedicated to trading / stocks would be beneficial. Would filter out a lot of the noise.

[Thunderbolt]

In my opinion, at 28 categories there are too many as is, and rather than adding more I'd suggest consolidation of existing categories, for example:

Reduce "Jim Cramer" to one.
"Trading systems" and "Brokerage Discussion" could be combined.
Some of the least visted categories eliminated.

I've seen this other boards, what happens is members get scattered into various pigeon holes and useful questions/info can get lost or overlooked if one isn't in the right category at the right time.

[Survivor]

I really like the "off topic and politics" -watch out it gets heated in there, forum. A absolute favorite that has been fun and enjoyable. Please put it back. Also,would anybody be interested in an auto forum? your favorite cars or repair help or anything to do with autos & light trucks.

[Thierry Martin]

I really like the "off topic and politics" -watch out it gets heated in there, forum. A absolute favorite that has been fun and enjoyable. Please put it back. Also,would anybody be interested in an auto forum? your favorite cars or repair help or anything to do with autos & light trucks.

I merged it with the other off topic forum, it was far less busy and it was just confusing to separate the topics like that. Humor can't be segregated. We can always switch it back again, but the posts from both off-topics are all in the same forum for now. Nothing was lost.

If there are enough threads about autos, we can add a sub-forum to the off-topic. The general rule I try to follow (not always, but usually) is to spin off new categories when there are enough posts to justify it. Just creating a category and hoping people fill it up doesn't usually work.

[dadooh27]

I find the current room to be a fairly even blend of serious stock information exchange and relief from slow or down trading days. The regular visitors of the room are always willing to be helpful to those who have questions and consistently share trading strategies throughout the day.

There have been times when the room gets "off topic" and we have fun but isn't that part of a healthy office environment? I personally get a valuable lift in energy from the folks here and think of them not only as a source of information but as friends. Sure, sometimes we get a bit crazy it's all part of the day's activities.

I say sit back, learn, share, trade and equally important laugh often and loud!

Dadooh

[blaster]

I find the current room to be a fairly even blend of serious stock information exchange and relief from slow or down trading days. The regular visitors of the room are always willing to be helpful to those who have questions and consistently share trading strategies throughout the day.

There have been times when the room gets "off topic" and we have fun but isn't that part of a healthy office environment? I personally get a valuable lift in energy from the folks here and think of them not only as a source of information but as friends. Sure, sometimes we get a bit crazy it's all part of the day's activities.

I say sit back, learn, share, trade and equally important laugh often and loud!

Dadooh

Well said there Buddy. Now if could make a point come across effectively like you Dadooh i could have avoided lota trouble 8)

[Hondaboy]

Forgot to put the LOL thing for you XOM, hope you didn't think thats what I think of you. I have no issue with you and love your reviews on stocks like everyone else in the chat room.

[RayRay180]

I just posted a link to an article I thought was worth sharing in the "Stock picks and strategies" thread.

As I did, I thought of this "poll" and wondered if I was posting in the correct forum....

I'll leave this up to the more "seasoned" members here, but thought maybe it would be useful to have a forum for something strictly as this.....Somewhere for everyone to posts relative articles from the net for others to read.

Whatdaya think?

[netwrangler]

I just posted a link to an article I thought was worth sharing in the "Stock picks and strategies" thread.

As I did, I thought of this "poll" and wondered if I was posting in the correct forum....

I'll leave this up to the more "seasoned" members here, but thought maybe it would be useful to have a forum for something strictly as this.....Somewhere for everyone to posts relative articles from the net for others to read.

Whatdaya think?I opened your post of the article, but didn't open the link the first time through. Went back and opened the link after reading your post in this thread [that is, the post quoted above].

I guess I wanted you to say something more about the content of the article and not just post the link. Why did you feel this was 'interesting'? What should we be looking for as we read it? With just a little 'context', I think your post qualifies easily in "Stock picks and strategies".

Without the context, the post looks like a pay-for-click post. Let me hasten to add that I don't believe your post of the article was pay-for-click. — just that, because of its form, it could be mistaken for one. Indeed, that was part of my thinking the first time, when I chose not to follow the link.

You deserve credit for seeking feedback.

[netwrangler]

Bob Doll's comments on CNBC this morning:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/23791882/site/14081545?__source=yahoo%7Cheadline%7Cquote%7Ctext% 7C&par=yahoo

He does like BBY among other stocks.Ray, found this post from BuyOnDips just now and thought it was a good illustration of putting 'context' around a link.

Note he mentions the source and an opinion on a stock. Did that in a very few words. I thought it was nicely done.

[RayRay180]

Ray, found this post from BuyOnDips just now and thought it was a good illustration of putting 'context' around a link.

Note he mentions the source and an opinion on a stock. Did that in a very few words. I thought it was nicely done.

Appreciate the feedback Net.....makes sense.

I jsut thought there has been debate in the forum whether we really are at bottom or if there is still some bumps in the road. Thought it was a good Bull argument.....

You're right, if I spelled it out a bit, maybe some discussion would have been started. Thanks.

[goldentraders]

I guess there are enough threads on this...But what bothers me is that, people are creating so many threads without even searching if there's an existing thread related to what they are about to post... Just a thing in mind... But just a compliment there are lot of interesting topics you've got here at onlinetradersforum.... :)

[brownknight]

Hye guys,

This is my first post on this forum, I've been trying to reach the admin, but somehow the mailbox doesn't seem to work.

I wouldn't wanna step on anyone's toes, but I was wondering if anyone here is investing in or is running their own Percent Allocation Management Module (PAMM).
I'm starting one in August based on my own Metro Gold Trading System for Spot Gold Trading, and once I find my way around here, I'd like to promote it on this forum as well.

I wish there was a separate section for PAMMs or trading co-ops or Managed Accounts, etc. It can be a good platform for traders like myself who are looking for investors and also for investors who are looking for solid trading systems to invest in.


Can anyone help me with this - what is the difference between futures and commodities? Can you buy a commodity without buying a futures contract? Can you buy a futures contract without buying a commodity? I believe you can buy index futures, but futures aren't a commodity. And you can buy contracts to buy grain, pork bellies etc. but are these contracts not futures contracts? Is gold bought as a commodity or a futures contract? Obviously I don't know what I am talking about here but maybe someone with experience can help clear this up.

The issue is do I create a category called Commodities futures or Commodities and futures or a separate category called Commodities and another one called Futures.

IMHO Commodities can be traded spot or Futures. So I think Futures is a subset of Commodities.