Lack of financial discussion lately?

[dave559]

By the time TMF closed its boards that younger community had gone.

Look, young Clariman, I'm doing my bit! I've recruited 33.33333% of my offspring to this site and I think, if I'm not mistaken, that 66.66667% of them have stuck their noses in.

Chris

That's a particularly impressive achievement given that one of the first rules of growing up is "Never hang out anywhere where your parents hang out"!

[dealtn]

MSE is a great website (with an enormous reach) and a useful forum, but as it doesn't really deal with investing, we are very lucky that TLF does fill that niche. However, it is perhaps very much a niche: it is only in the past few years myself that I have had a sufficient salary to be able to start investing (and previously I was also very worried at the potential for losses, when it is perhaps more the case that you need to choose your risk level carefully, and that over the longer term you are (fingers crossed) much more likely to have made gains overall, even if there may have been some downs and ups along the way).

Another thing for older members of the forum to perhaps consider is that for the segment of the population aged from late-40s or younger, there has been the burden of ever-increasing student loans, quite possibly not enough well paying jobs to go around, and also massively increasing housing price and even rental costs, meaning that possibly a much smaller proportion of the younger population actually has the means to be able to start investing (or save for a home deposit) nowadays? Those of you who were lucky enough not to have had to deal with those issues (and I am aware of the difficulties of the interest rate issues of the 70s and 80s, although I understand that then at least it was easier to start, and then stay on, a professional level career, than it is nowadays?) perhaps might not be fully aware of the full range of obstacles that stand in the way of most younger people who may want to start investing, or even just saving more than a few pounds at the end of the month.

Which is why there are also non-investing Boards such as

Dealing With Debt viewforum.php?f=10

Bank Account Savings ... viewforum.php?f=11

Living Below Your Means viewforum.php?f=14

Mortgages viewforum.php?f=18

Credit Cards and Loans viewforum.php?f=24

Your Tomorrow Starts Today viewforum.php?f=50

as well as a host of others. I would think these would overlap, and appeal, to the segment of the population you are referring to.

It's fitting with the topic of the thread that these seem to be underutilised or undiscovered.

I don't use the "new post" functionality. I assume many do, and it's useful to them, but isn't that part of the problem here? With little use of the lesser visited Boards they aren't seen in "new posts" and therefore stay unused.

[johnhemming]

I don't use the "new post" functionality. I assume many do, and it's useful to them, but isn't that part of the problem here? With little use of the lesser visited Boards they aren't seen in "new posts" and therefore stay unused.

Although you are of course right that if people are responding mainly to new posts they won't review older posts. However, in the end forums really require some form of niche to develop. The discussions will then tend to concentrate around that niche whilst having other elements.

[dave559]

MSE is a great website (with an enormous reach) and a useful forum, but as it doesn't really deal with investing, we are very lucky that TLF does fill that niche.

Which is why there are also non-investing Boards such as [...]
as well as a host of others. I would think these would overlap, and appeal, to the segment of the population you are referring to.

It's fitting with the topic of the thread that these seem to be underutilised or undiscovered.

I don't use the "new post" functionality. I assume many do, and it's useful to them, but isn't that part of the problem here? With little use of the lesser visited Boards they aren't seen in "new posts" and therefore stay unused.

I do know that those sub-forums exist, and I do read posts in them in the "new posts" list that are of interest to me (and have also posted in some of them occasionally), but my point was more that MSE is so well known that it will be almost impossible for any other UK "general finance" site to compete with it on those topics.

So i was suggesting that it would really only/mostly be people who also have an interest in investing that will discover and use TLF. To give an example, go to a search engine (preferably one that doesn't alter results based on profiling/tracking you), and search for (say) "savings accounts interest rates" (or any other sort of general finance search term). MSE will appear near the top of the results list, TLF will be much further down than most people will look. So, a random newbie is more likely to sign up to the MSE forum once they know that site exists, which goes back to my original point that you need to know that TLF exists, to know that TLF exists (I have mentioned it to a few friends, and perhaps that sort of more "natural" growth through real human social networks is just as good as that gained through search engine results?).

[SalvorHardin]

Apparently the oil/gas TMF board had a lot of interest and lively debate, and much money was made there by some, although it was not one I frequented much.

In the early 2000s, some of the key boards on TMF for money making were Paulypilot's Pub (small caps and Paulypilot's action groups), plus Oil and Gas (and related company boards such as Soco International). TMF's Best of Boards feature was routinely dominated by these boards.

Lots of money was made by private investors, especially on Soco and Paulypilot's action groups. Some of us (e.g. me) took very early retirement thanks to the oils. The TMF posters' post 2007 Soco AGM booze up was quite an event!

After the 2008 financial crisis, these boards saw a big drop in traffic. It didn't help that several jealous people got some major league oil and gas posters temporarily banned by TMF, never to return. Losing posters who drove much of the traffic was a big blow to the Oil & Gas boards.

[csearle]

I have mentioned it to a few friends, and perhaps that sort of more "natural" growth through real human social networks is just as good as that gained through search engine results?

Yes I mention it to mine too. I suspect this site only appeals to a minuscule proportion of people that ever see it. Apart from making it non-loss-making I don't get the feeling that the owners are prioritising growth on the scale of Martin who, let's face it, is a bit of a people's champion and deserves all the rewards I hope he gets.

Most of those to whom I've mentioned The Lemon Fool have expressed an interest in investing but, frankly, have no clue as to where to begin. We introduced the How to Invest board, which I feel is a good place for would-be Fools to start asking their questions.

Those that don't get on with the way things are done here will fall by the wayside but if 1% remain then that is encouraging. I think it takes a certain kind of person to appreciate this site. That filter has its benefits.

C.

[johnhemming]

What TMF had was a number of well informed people. TLF also has a number of well informed people (although not entirely the same group). It is entertaining to have a debate about the history of the English language and the role of the Normans (particularly in a thread about Lockdown), but the reason I participate is that I learn things from other posters particularly about investment issues. I don't mind sharing some of the information I have although at times there is a conflict of interest, but one is not forced to comment.

That requires a critical mass of well informed people.

ADVFN has some useful information about individual stocks in the forum if you can be bothered to trawl through all the ramping, deramping and abuse (and when I am researching a stock I will look there some of the Ferrexpo information was quite useful).

I don't think MSE operates at even ADVFN's level for stock information. I don't bother to look for the information I need there (although I do have an account and post on MTD issues).

I don't think there is a lack of financial discussion. It was interesting to see Bilby crop up recently (a stock I have been buying from time to time for over a year). Bilby has a market cap of only £15m hence it will not otherwise get much attention.

What TLF has is some people who really know their stuff and as far as I am concerned I learn things from them.

[SteMiS]

Apparently the oil/gas TMF board had a lot of interest and lively debate, and much money was made there by some, although it was not one I frequented much.

In the early 2000s, some of the key boards on TMF for money making were Paulypilot's Pub (small caps and Paulypilot's action groups), plus Oil and Gas (and related company boards such as Soco International). TMF's Best of Boards feature was routinely dominated by these boards.

Lots of money was made by private investors, especially on Soco and Paulypilot's action groups. Some of us (e.g. me) took very early retirement thanks to the oils. The TMF posters' post 2007 Soco AGM booze up was quite an event!

After the 2008 financial crisis, these boards saw a big drop in traffic. It didn't help that several jealous people got some major league oil and gas posters temporarily banned by TMF, never to return. Losing posters who drove much of the traffic was a big blow to the Oil & Gas boards.

With the oil price soaring to $147/bl, investing in oil stocks was like shooting fish in a barrel. Probably the most popular oil share on TMF was SOCO, whose extreme luck with the drill bit, together with the rising oil price, was single handedly responsible for creating the reputation of its most enthusiastic proponent (I'm sure you know who I mean). Lots of people (including myself and no doubt you) made good money riding that stock but the 2008 oil crash pulled the rug from the easy money. The poster in question decided to act like the TMF site rules on language didn't apply to him, got suspended, spat his dummy out and decamped to Advfn. Since then SOCO's luck has run out and it now languishes at a tiny fraction of it's previously value. Our man rode the share price all the way up and then all the way down. Ouch. So two lessons I think come from that (IMO)
1. never fall in love with a share. Investors sometimes spend so much time researching and becoming an expert on a share that they are unwilling to turn their back on it.
2. sometimes investors are just lucky. Just because someone successfully calls number 30 on the roulette wheel doesn't mean they are any better at playing roulette than anyone else.
3. it's relatively easy to make money in a bull market. The people worth following are those who do it in a flat or bear market. There's an old stock market saying - "never trust anyone who hasn't survived a crash" (or something like that). Paulypilot (and I don't think he'd disagree with me on this) made a lot of money with leveraged bets on illiquid small caps in the 80's bull market and then almost went bankrupt when the market crashed.