Any interest in a stock picking board?

[brewer12345]

Its perfectly conceivable that this could stay in the "FIRE & Money" board, but it seems like there is a specific subset of forum participants who are interested, and most others simply call us dirty market timers.

[farmerEd]

Yes...there are a lot of smart people on this board; I'd love to somehow limit who can post on it based on tenure here on the ER site(either based on date of first post or some number of posts); wouldn't have to set the bar too high, but just high enough to keep the pump-n-dumper's from showing up with *hot* *hot* *hot* stock tips....

[unclemick]

Yep - still have those 'quick picks' - EGLE and STON.

Short term positions - will give them 7 years and then dump em if they don't perform.

heh heh heh - just a hormonal momentum trader in my hobby/dividend stocks.

[Brat]

Agree with others.

[Nords]

Originally Posted by brewer12345

Its perfectly conceivable that this could stay in the "FIRE & Money" board, but it seems like there is a specific subset of forum participants who are interested, and most others simply call us dirty market timers.

Sure, let's call it the "Stock-picking thread" similar to the "Surfing thread".

Or "Stock-picker's Saturday"...

Originally Posted by OldMcDonald

Yes...there are a lot of smart people on this board; I'd love to somehow limit who can post on it based on tenure here on the ER site(either based on date of first post or some number of posts); wouldn't have to set the bar too high, but just high enough to keep the pump-n-dumper's from showing up with *hot* *hot* *hot* stock tips....

Perhaps one rule would be to post numbers from a recent 10Q or 8K to back up one's analysis. Or we'd have to see a .pdf scan of the brokerage purchase confirmation.

Or maybe we'd just have to rely on moderators.

[Gumby]

I would be interested. I agree that some supporting analysis should also be required and that there should be a post count screen. At one time, you would see some analysis on the Yahoo stock message boards, but they have been overrun by spammers.

[laurence]

I like the idea. I think that while most here follow the vanguard bogle bernstein "can't beat the market, be the market" philosophy, we shouldn't drown out other views, and I think enough of us have a little adrenaline account we like to play with...

[Mwsinron]

Sure Id like to see how people do.

[Anansi]

There definitely seem to be enough people who are interested in individual stocks to make it worth having a specific forum for that discussion. A separate board has some advantages over a thread for doing this. It is more permanent which is appropriate for an open ended topic and it is also less likely to get hijacked into interminable arguments about whether picking stocks is simply misguided, totally irrational, or actually immoral. It also keeps the discussion politely out of the way of the many people who just aren't interested.

[Texas Proud]

Sure... I would love it.. but I am not a good stock picker.. just lucky at times and stupid at others..

And I don't think it is against the investment advice that is given to most people... how many people go to Vegas to gamble How many people buy lottery tickets?? How many people play sports? I do it with a small amount of money to scratch an itch... I enjoy looking at it if I am doing better than the market, but the portfolio is small so I don't know the true risks...

[CCdaCE]

Yep. Better fire one up. I always think I knock one out of the park on the stock plays I've tried, then I compare to the index I invested in during the same timeframe. ... pfft. Back down to earth.

And, in order to avoid the $hitstorm... like OldMcDonald already mentioned... something should automatically reject the spam.

Personally, I'm not aware of the coding... moderating sucks for this sort of thing. I mean, actually going through and trying to stay ahead of the idiots/spammers? Sounds like w*rk.

See "The Sept. That Never Ended"

See Perhaps I'm preaching to the Moderator choir on what works and what doesn't, when things go awry.

-CC

Edit: added the link.
Edit2: added 2nd link.

[Nords]

Originally Posted by CCdaCE

Yep. Better fire one up. I always think I knock one out of the park on the stock plays I've tried, then I compare to the index I invested in during the same timeframe. ... pfft. Back down to earth.

And, in order to avoid the $hitstorm... like OldMcDonald already mentioned... something should automatically reject the spam.

Personally, I'm not aware of the coding... moderating sucks for this sort of thing. I mean, actually going through and trying to stay ahead of the idiots/spammers? Sounds like w*rk.

See "The Sept. That Never Ended"

See Perhaps I'm preaching to the Moderator choir on what works and what doesn't, when things go awry.

-CC

Edit: added the link.
Edit2: added 2nd link.

Good links, CC. Interesting reading!

Let me make sure I understand the proposal so far, and correct me if I'm wrong.

A thread would be started somewhere on the boards-- perhaps in the "Fire and Money" section-- titled "Stockpicker's Saturday" or some other catchy phrase. It might be made a sticky thread like Funny Joke Thursday or (like the surfing thread) users could search for it when they want to post.

Spam would continue to be the discretion of the moderators. Posters already have to sign up with a valid e-mail address, a process which can't (yet) be automated. I think we're pretty experienced at catching the generic "See my site!" and astro-turfers. A stockpicking post would be considered useful if it included specifics like "sales doubled, cash flow up 75%, dividend raised 5%" and perhaps a spreadsheet model or an analysis of a balance sheet. However qualitative assessments such as "XMSR is going to the moon!!"... well, that's why Yahoo! has stock pages. Users are also pretty good at sniffing out whatever the moderators haven't found.

I think a vital part of a stockpicker's board would be a summary of the stocks, who recommended them, when they were "purchased", and their performance to date. Then there's the whole issue of summarizing the performance of individual portfolios. I'm not sure how easily that's accomplished here, although maybe it could be handled through a spreadsheet that's updated periodically.

Other suggestions?

[brewer12345]

Sounds reasonable to me. I guess I care a lot less about the performance tracking than the analysis and constructive criticism. There is nothing better to improve one's analysis than a round of constructive criticism.

[dex]

I think it is OK to pick and play stocks with "play" money.
I'll help with the technical analysis.
I like China Life

[cute fuzzy bunny]

It'd be interesting to keep track of all of it. Seems to me there have been as many misses as hits. But we've got that good memory for the wins and none at all for the losers.

[clifp]

I am very interested and I have a couple to contribute, although at current prices. I don't think they are big bargins now.

[Sheryl]

I'm really interested in reading it, although I don't feel qualified to contribute. I would love to peer over the shoulder of the masters.

Is there going to be a sticky thread set up?

[terminator]

FWIW, I like the idea and would contribute, but the one sticky thread really isn't a good format as there (already) are too many individual topics inside of one thread.

A separate forum would be nice to remove the activity from the Early Retirement Orthodox branch of the Vanguard Holy Church. I love some of Vanguard's products too, but as an investor in individual securities it gets old having 50% of the replies to every "market timing" question end up being about asset allocation and Vanguard. At some point it would be nice to assume we understand the meaning of risk, allocation and diversification and want to discuss specific matters.

But for that matter, I'd be interested in hearing of other forums with more intelligent security analysis. Needless to say, Yahoo Finance message boards do NOT count . . .

[brewer12345]

Originally Posted by terminator

FWIW, I like the idea and would contribute, but the one sticky thread really isn't a good format as there (already) are too many individual topics inside of one thread.

I agree wholeheartedly. It would be a lot easier and cleaner to have individual threads devoted to individual investments.

[jIMOh]

good idea... maybe even a special section for dividend stocks.