Sticky How can T2W better serve its community?

[Sharky]

News and economic calendar - live - section with a chatting/commenting feature .

I think it's a good idea, although I realize these days there are many established resources available offering just that. A few years back we did launch an Economic Calendar, but the amount of work required to set it up and maintain was disproportionate to the amount of activity it attracted. Ultimately it couldn't compete on speed with competitors and without an edge, it just didn't catch on.

I like the idea of commenting on news, in a similar way we feed in comments from the articles to the forums. The reddit style way of linking to content then providing a means to have a conversation about it appeals even more.

i would say that its worth finding the gems from the proper traders who have now left and recirculate them for a month or so to create new interest again.

The "Off the Grid" section is good for light relief from the boredom of full time trading - but so many good comments are lost in a couple of hrs in busy times - it needs to be latest 25 or 50 posts rather than just 10.
F

Thanks for the suggestions. We had the same idea a few years back and that started off the Best Threads initiative, with some of the best threads from the archives being brought to light through the stickies in each forum and more recently through the newsletter. Given the size of the archive, I think we can uncover a lot more good content that would otherwise be extremely difficult to find. That just requires some co-ordination as to how best to locate them, ideally incentivizing regular members to do the prospecting.

Re. "Off the Grid" - and the latest 10, how do you mean?

 

[Forexmospherian]

Re. "Off the Grid" - and the latest 10, how do you mean?

In the latest Top 10 stats section at the bottom of the forum list - you can adjust the contents stats etc etc - but are stuck with the latest 10 only posts

On busy days - your comment might be number 11 within an hour or so - so many who are just quickly checking on latest new comments - might never see a really good comment posted say 2 hrs ago - and then it gets lost etc in the "mass" of other comments"

If you could therefore see new comment on a thread or a new thread being on show or advertised in a sense over a longer period - ie in top 25 or 50 - or all comments over last 4 -6/ 8 hrs it would be seen by more members and guest - and then might create more responses

Also another point on rating of threads- you see some 5 star ratings and they have had only 2 or 3 members who have rated - and then some other threads might only have a 1 or 2 star rating - simply because 3 or 4 "haters" / spoilers " have given a 1 star rating cancelling out the 10 members giving 4 star ratings

No star rating should appear without a minimum 20 or 25+ members rating the thread.

Also maybe any new threads not getting a minimum say 100 or 200 page reads in a week should be dropped or moved into threads with similar subject matter

With regards to threads limited to who can comment on them - this should be shown in the heading who are down on the list not allowed to reply.

I have tried a few times to comment on certain threads - only to see a header basically saying the OP does not want to hear off you . That's fine - but maybe it should be advertised to show the OP of the thread is selective / bias / narrow minded or what ever you might want to call them ;-)

Regards

F

 

[Sigma-D]

I hope this is taken in the spirit intended of this thread when I say with the greatest respect to all that forexmospherian represents the very antithesis of what this site needs or what Sharky is currently trying to do.

While I've got no issue with self-obsessed mirror watchers, stat watchers, thread ratings review watchers, post count jockeys and other such trivial, it is that sort of hollow vanity that has degraded the quality of the site its current extent. It's all about form over content. Thousands of self publicizing posts with no meat on the bones, Perfect for hooking gullible newbies and those with stars in their eyes about just how easy it's all going to be.

Forget the stats and the views and the star ratings and the hottest posters hottest threads - it's all a mirage. The real quality went long ago - Sharky is trying to get it back which means, hopefully, less bandwidth for your noise.

 

[WklyOptions]

More focus on trading 2 win?

Hi, Sharkey & T2W Moderators,

Like FM - I am fairly new to T2W. And as previously posted earlier in this thread - there is strong competition to attract and keep visitors/regular members/contributors amongst forums and discussion groups (especially in the investing, trading niche).

I've been trading options since 1990 professionally as a risk manager and also as an independent trader concurrently. So I have a strong bias to read and work thru thread posts that are actually trading-related posts. I readily accept that my focused viewpoint on trading-related posts may be a narrow one, especially if T2W is really more focused on general financial news, analyses, etc.

But replying to the question of "how to better serve its community?" - at least with regards to trading-related threads and posts, I have listed a couple of ideas:

(1) In my opinion, there are just too many "opinions" and "analyses" in the FX arena, especially trying to jiggle and mix/match economic reports vs geopolitics vs whatever else. Here in T2W - there are so many FX analyses that are very "plain vanilla" type analysis of Support, Resistance, etc. But as the old Wendy's commercial goes - "Where's the beef?" (I know many of the T2W members may be a bit too young to have seen this classic Wendy's tv ad!)

What good are pages of analyses - without guidance on trade bias/entry bias?

Many analyses are also just restating the obvious news of what happened on the price action for that day (or time period). Again - easily picked up by members across our daily trading news feeds. So not really educational or action-"able" from a trader's perspective.

(2) Another area to evaluate are the threads and posts which do provide Entry and trade-related posts. However, many of these posts do not have sufficient follow-up and "trader quality control" - how did the trade turn out? What length of time? Was the inciting trigger (or Edge) "trade worthy" from an educational perspective for the newbie traders here in T2W? :smart:

I have seen way too often here - posts for trade Entry - but no posts for trade closure b/c the trades ended up as losses! I have notice many such "no follow up" on losing trades - but elected NOT to comment b/c it appears that T2W criteria does not "care" if only winning outcomes are posted and losing outcomes are intentionally "lost or forgotten" by the post authors. :!:

It should be a Standard - those who posts trading-related Entry, etc., should provide fair and transparent disclosures - and follow up on the trades itself. Winners AND losers should be included (and insisted upon) by the post authors. This way, all T2W traders/members can learn to identify which trading ideas and Edge(s) may be worth more time and more R&D to follow through with from a learning basis. :smart: :idea:

Well, otherwise, I pretty much agree with the highlights of the other members who have replied to this thread.

Still- always enjoy posting and learning and developing friendships with traders here at T2W.

Also - I appreciate the time and comments and effort of the T2W Moderators. I know it is never an easy task to actively maintain such a large, diverse Forum!

Regards,

WklyOptions

 

[Forexmospherian]

I hope this is taken in the spirit intended of this thread when I say with the greatest respect to all that forexmospherian represents the very antithesis of what this site needs or what Sharky is currently trying to do.

While I've got no issue with self-obsessed mirror watchers, stat watchers, thread ratings review watchers, post count jockeys and other such trivial, it is that sort of hollow vanity that has degraded the quality of the site its current extent. It's all about form over content. Thousands of self publicizing posts with no meat on the bones, Perfect for hooking gullible newbies and those with stars in their eyes about just how easy it's all going to be.

Forget the stats and the views and the star ratings and the hottest posters hottest threads - it's all a mirage. The real quality went long ago - Sharky is trying to get it back which means, hopefully, less bandwidth for your noise.

I have no problem with your comment with respect to me - and think it should be pointed out to the rest of the members reading this particular thread - that you are one of the members who have stopped me responding to one of your own threads - and even changed the content of a couple of comments - after I had liked them - ( lol) - quite a sly one if you ask me ;-)

Lets look at some facts here.

I am 60 yrs old - full time FX trader with more retail forex experience than maybe 90% of all the members here - I am level headed - lived the good life - normally very polite and helpful - Hons degree in Economics - trained as an accountant - been a director of several large companies and basically totally opposite of the type of traders you mentioned who try to trade FX.

Further more - I am always saying trading is a journey and takes many years to get to a good acceptable level - and actually mention on my thread - that its not for newbie traders or ones with less than 12 /18 months of experience.

Hardly hooking gullible newbies and saying how easy it is ???

So - not at all like you have commented and its just so embarrassing to see how wrong you get things.

Good trading to you - that's if you do any ?

Regards


F

 

[Sharky]

In the latest Top 10 stats section at the bottom of the forum list - you can adjust the contents stats etc etc - but are stuck with the latest 10 only posts

If you could therefore see new comment on a thread or a new thread being on show or advertised in a sense over a longer period - ie in top 25 or 50 - or all comments over last 4 -6/ 8 hrs it would be seen by more members and guest - and then might create more responses

Also another point on rating of threads- you see some 5 star ratings and they have had only 2 or 3 members who have rated - and then some other threads might only have a 1 or 2 star rating - simply because 3 or 4 "haters" / spoilers " have given a 1 star rating cancelling out the 10 members giving 4 star ratings

No star rating should appear without a minimum 20 or 25+ members rating the thread.

Also maybe any new threads not getting a minimum say 100 or 200 page reads in a week should be dropped or moved into threads with similar subject matter

With regards to threads limited to who can comment on them - this should be shown in the heading who are down on the list not allowed to reply.

I have tried a few times to comment on certain threads - only to see a header basically saying the OP does not want to hear off you . That's fine - but maybe it should be advertised to show the OP of the thread is selective / bias / narrow minded or what ever you might want to call them ;-)

Regards

F

Thanks for the clarification Forexmospherian. I suspected you might have been referring to the Top 10 Stats but wasn't sure. I think the majority of members pay less attention to the stats, and tend to navigate the site through the "New Posts' link so I don't think changing it from 10 or qualifying which thread appear will make any meaningful difference.

As far as the ratings go that's a tricky one. If we increase the number of ratings required, then less people tend to rate. It's the same issue with the articles, we show a rating once there are 3 ratings (I believe), I think the thing currently lacking int the forums is an indication of how many people rated it (that's what's somewhat misleading right now) and we should probably find a way to add it. We do for the articles, and then members can understand a 5 star rating from 3 people is very different to a 5 star rating from 100 people (probably impossible).

I agree with you that threads where there is a limitation on who can post to the thread, need to be better signposted. Thread Privacy is unique to the Journals forum, and we need to do better to make it clear the thread has some limitation on the participation. I'm going to make sure we do that.

I hope this is taken in the spirit intended of this thread when I say with the greatest respect to all that forexmospherian represents the very antithesis of what this site needs or what Sharky is currently trying to do.

While I've got no issue with self-obsessed mirror watchers, stat watchers, thread ratings review watchers, post count jockeys and other such trivial, it is that sort of hollow vanity that has degraded the quality of the site its current extent. It's all about form over content. Thousands of self publicizing posts with no meat on the bones, Perfect for hooking gullible newbies and those with stars in their eyes about just how easy it's all going to be.

Forget the stats and the views and the star ratings and the hottest posters hottest threads - it's all a mirage. The real quality went long ago - Sharky is trying to get it back which means, hopefully, less bandwidth for your noise.

Thanks Sigma-D. All feedback welcome, we're all adults and intelligent enough to welcome opposing points of view.

I agree with you the content should always win over form. The ratings and stats are all well and good, but they're not the end in themselves. They appeal to our human instincts for competing, 'gamification' as it's often referred,(especially traders).. but the pursuit of 'vanity metrics' in itself, is a hollow victory if there's no substance behind it. And I think we'd all agree the attention needs to be focussed right now on getting more quality content.

 

[robster970]

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I am not trading right now. I have gone back to doing what I used to do and am working on a corporate turnaround.

Without going into details, the primary reason for failure was a simple one. Right idea, wrong target audience. The work we're doing is taking the kernel of a sound business and re-focussing into an area where there is genuine value creation, premiums will be paid for the products/services and most importantly, it will also scale by changing distribution channels.

So I will ask you two questions Sharky.

1. What do you want your business to be?

2. Is this viable?

(2) Is the hardest question to answer. Often people lose sight of reality.

 

[Sharky]

Thanks for posing the questions robster970.

Simply questions, tricky to answer.

So, my thinking is to keep things simple. The forums are the heart of the community and that's where most of our energy should be focussed. An online community, esp. a trading one, is a complex eco-system made of a lot of different types wanting different things. You tip the scales too far in any direction then you're going to run into trouble. Notice I haven't used the word 'business' in there. I think it's tough to think in terms of business when it comes to communities. It's a recipe for disaster. People are smart and will choose something because it reflects their values and projects their identity.

Hence put the community first, give traders what they want, then success as a business will follow.

Yes, I think it's viable!

 

[robster970]

Thanks for posing the questions robster970.

Simply questions, tricky to answer.

So, my thinking is to keep things simple. The forums are the heart of the community and that's where most of our energy should be focussed. An online community, esp. a trading one, is a complex eco-system made of a lot of different types wanting different things. You tip the scales too far in any direction then you're going to run into trouble. Notice I haven't used the word 'business' in there. I think it's tough to think in terms of business when it comes to communities. It's a recipe for disaster. People are smart and will choose something because it reflects their values and projects their identity.

Hence put the community first, give traders what they want, then success as a business will follow.

Yes, I think it's viable!

I said question (2) was the hardest..........

If you want some help and advice, PM me. Any time.

 

[Sharky]

Thanks robster970, sending you a message now.

 

[NVP]

some good comments here and naturally the challenges of T2W being all things to all traders

the F/T experienced guys need lutz and some camaraderie.......they are pretty set in their trading so don't need lessons ........unless someone/something gets published that they find stimulating and worth a comment .........otherwise the rest is insubstantial ......they may even share a little of how they trade .......but this can blow up generally in their faces, so we sadly don't see as much of it as we could.........and naturally they bite at garbage if it is served up

the Beginners need information / direction / love / support :innocent: ...........anything really ...........they and the lurkers are the main volume feeders of new threads and the endless Q&A sequences we get regarding basic trading and the meaning of life/holy grail .......i'm not saying good or bad .........just reality

the inbetweeners need a combination of both ........dependent on their mood or recent trading experiences........big area and big challenge.......they behave like the experts vs the newbies but are still in truth vastly inexperienced and naïve vs the hard core experienced traders........

so that's why the forum will always have challenges..........and sprinkle in the endless debates and vendor activity and you have the full family assembled !

I suppose the balance for T2Win is trying to keep all the segments happy and stimulated without to much of the negatives/imbalances creeping in

for me I would love to learn more about how the top traders trade .......but that's just me

N

 

[NVP]

agreed

Hi, Sharkey & T2W Moderators,

Like FM - I am fairly new to T2W. And as previously posted earlier in this thread - there is strong competition to attract and keep visitors/regular members/contributors amongst forums and discussion groups (especially in the investing, trading niche).

I've been trading options since 1990 professionally as a risk manager and also as an independent trader concurrently. So I have a strong bias to read and work thru thread posts that are actually trading-related posts. I readily accept that my focused viewpoint on trading-related posts may be a narrow one, especially if T2W is really more focused on general financial news, analyses, etc.

But replying to the question of "how to better serve its community?" - at least with regards to trading-related threads and posts, I have listed a couple of ideas:

1) In my opinion, there are just too many "opinions" and "analyses" in the FX arena, especially trying to jiggle and mix/match economic reports vs geopolitics vs whatever else. Here in T2W - there are so many FX analyses that are very "plain vanilla" type analysis of Support, Resistance, etc. But as the old Wendy's commercial goes - "Where's the beef?" (I know many of the T2W members may be a bit too young to have seen this classic Wendy's tv ad!)

What good are pages of analyses - without guidance on trade bias/entry bias?

1000% agree ............someone telling me 5 different options on what will /has happened is pointless and a waste of time....then they delete the wrong prediction to preserve integrity ......(spare me)......

Many analyses are also just restating the obvious news of what happened on the price action for that day (or time period). Again - easily picked up by members across our daily trading news feeds. So not really educational or action-"able" from a trader's perspective.

yes yes yes

(2) Another area to evaluate are the threads and posts which do provide Entry and trade-related posts. However, many of these posts do not have sufficient follow-up and "trader quality control" - how did the trade turn out? What length of time? Was the inciting trigger (or Edge) "trade worthy" from an educational perspective for the newbie traders here in T2W? :smart:

I have seen way too often here - posts for trade Entry - but no posts for trade closure b/c the trades ended up as losses! I have notice many such "no follow up" on losing trades - but elected NOT to comment b/c it appears that T2W criteria does not "care" if only winning outcomes are posted and losing outcomes are intentionally "lost or forgotten" by the post authors. :!:

more exit threads/discussion would be good.........

It should be a Standard - those who posts trading-related Entry, etc., should provide fair and transparent disclosures - and follow up on the trades itself. Winners AND losers should be included (and insisted upon) by the post authors. This way, all T2W traders/members can learn to identify which trading ideas and Edge(s) may be worth more time and more R&D to follow through with from a learning basis. :smart: :idea:

good luck with that

Well, otherwise, I pretty much agree with the highlights of the other members who have replied to this thread.

Still- always enjoy posting and learning and developing friendships with traders here at T2W.

Also - I appreciate the time and comments and effort of the T2W Moderators. I know it is never an easy task to actively maintain such a large, diverse Forum!

here here (crawl)

Regards,

WklyOptions

 

[NVP]

Honestly? There was no need for it. We just wanted a place to hang out.

I think people said they wanted better trading related content but the group of us that are/were full time traders didn't really need to talk endlessly about trading. We wanted to hang out with each other for company. Occasionally we would discuss trading but we knew each other pretty well, knew where we were in terms of competence and felt comfortable just being friendly with each other rather than trying to prove stuff to each other.

I'm not trading full time at the moment (I am running a corporate turnaround in Germany) but I daresay when that finishes and I switch back to full time trading, I'd probably come back here just for chats and lulz. More likely I'll hang with DT at Big Mike's because we trade the same security in the same style and I like Pedro as a human being and trader.

sounds interesting....do you need a dodgy accountant ?

 

[Sharky]

the F/T experienced guys need lutz and some camaraderie.......they are pretty set in their trading so don't need lessons ........unless someone/something gets published that they find stimulating and worth a comment .........otherwise the rest is insubstantial ......they may even share a little of how they trade .......but this can blow up generally in their faces, so we sadly don't see as much of it as we could.........and naturally they bite at garbage if it is served up

the Beginners need information / direction / love / support :innocent: ...........anything really ...........they and the lurkers are the main volume feeders of new threads and the endless Q&A sequences we get regarding basic trading and the meaning of life/holy grail .......i'm not saying good or bad .........just reality

the inbetweeners need a combination of both ........dependent on their mood or recent trading experiences........big area and big challenge.......they behave like the experts vs the newbies but are still in truth vastly inexperienced and naïve vs the hard core experienced traders........

so that's why the forum will always have challenges..........and sprinkle in the endless debates and vendor activity and you have the full family assembled !

I suppose the balance for T2Win is trying to keep all the segments happy and stimulated without to much of the negatives/imbalances creeping in

I think you summed it up really well NVP. I've quoted it here, so I can easily refer to it in the future. Thanks for the input.

 

[12WBT]

Sorry if asking the wrong person or in the wrong section.
Can we see the most viewed threads in the last 7 days like it used to be set.
Currently showing the last 30 days.
Drop down menu won't allow it to change.

 

[Sharky]

Changed from 30 days to 7 days, as it was before.

 

[12WBT]

Changed from 30 days to 7 days, as it was before.

Thanks for that.

 

[Sharky]

Forum software needs updating.

I post on other forums that work more like social media sites. E.g you get an alert every time someone quotes one of your posts. You can tag other members in threads alerting them to the conversation. The idea being that you keep coming back to see how many alerts you have.

All to often, I will post on a thread here and then totally forget about it

I've just put the email alerts live for quotes in the forums.

So anytime somebody quotes you in a post, you'll get an email with the contents of the post and a link to it. In fact, ffsear, you should have already got an alert!

 

[ffsear]

Yep! nice work

 

[Sharky]

I've added a little more explanation on how it's used here:
http://www.trade2win.com/boards/t2w...bug-fixes-server-problems-31.html#post2382852