Be afraid of blogs, be very afraid...

It's a difficult question. On the one hand, blogs definitely have lots of filler and BS content. On the other hand, there is the occasional good idea in the better blogs.

As a trader, your lifeblood is information and ideas. Even if you only get one good idea a year from blogs, that could be worth the time invested, because of the profits you could make. Imagine if back in 2005 you had read one of the housing crash threads on ET and took it seriously, you could have made big bucks off that trade alone.

People probably waste far too much time on blogs, message boards, and the web in general. I certainly do. But I think completely cutting yourself off from the flow of market ideas and information could be a bad idea too. If only there were some way to find a healthy middle ground.

Maybe this should be decided by experiment? Try trading for a while without any web content, then try trading for the same length of time with full web immersion. See which works better.

I will volunteer myself for this experiment, and quit ET and all market-related blogs, message boards, and news sites for the next month. I will then return and immerse myself fully, and see which works better. See you in August.
 
Here is my multi-part reply:

"I guess you're too ignorant to research a blogger's credentials online."

You can't believe what you read online. I am not a computer whiz who can create these wonderful websites and content, however, I know people that can very easily. I also know of people who can manipulate what they say and make it appear however they want to appear. There are always two sides to every story and everyone just wants to show you one.

Need an example?

Click on the following link which is an article titled "The Two Faces of Trevor Cook". Trevor sounds very smooth in the interview bragging confidently about his investment experience. It should be mandatory for everyone to watch this video before they give away their cash to someone else or even read one of these blogs.

http://bit.ly/duro5A

"PS Are you a paranoid-schizophrenic"

When it comes to people with their hands out looking for my cash, YES I AM.

"You followed finance blogs in 1995? Did finance blogs even exist?"

They have always existed...not on the internet like you see here, but in forms of newsletters, radio talk shows and the like. In the link above, you see how it was done the old fashioned way. A so called "expert" on trading would come on a radio talk show or publish a newsletter. Then the suckers would contact them and send them their cash. So, in a way, they have always existed through these sham news shows and newsletters.

"What if someone had a blog where...by following that person your account doubled in 2 years."

If someone could make my account double as a result of their blog then I would be more then willing to make a donation. Hell, if you gave me some advice that doubled or tripled my account then I would have NO PROBLEM in cutting them in on some of the gains.

I dont care who it is on here or out there. I will give them some of the gains if they can make my account double. Send me your address and I will gladly write a check if you could double my account.

Name those blogs that will make my account double.

"Even if you only get one good idea a year from blogs, that could be worth the time invested, because of the profits you could make."

This is the thinking that keeps your eyes pealed to their blogs everyday. If only you could get one good idea per year...if only...

"Better yet -- I'll make you an offer? Since you seem to know it all I'll trade you on a daily basis -- lets' say for a month. Best P&L for each day wins $1000 from the other. So you have a chance to win $20K for a month since you're so on top of things. Wanna make a wager?"

How about this wager...I have 100 grand right here. If you can create a blog or journal on ET that would make that account go to 200 grand in a few months then I would GLADLY cut you in on half of the after-tax profit. I am very serious. If you can turn that 100 grand to 200 grand, then I wouldnt mind writing a check for half of the after tax profits. You stand to make about 30 grand Im guessing.

"I've read your mindless drivel on multiple threads -- you are NOT a trader."

At least I am not a troll. You troll around ET with the others reading every post in exact detail wasting away your life on here. The mods know that I dont come to this place everyday like some of you who examine every post and follow people around so closely. Thats why I stay away from the web for days at at time, just a waste of time with a bunch of guys who want to follow people around all day. I have no desire to follow people around on the internet just like I have no desire to watch them wipe their ass in the bathroom.

"People probably waste far too much time on blogs, message boards, and the web in general."

Think about it. If everyone took that time to do something, anything, constructive. Lets say going to an American Red Cross blood drive or volunteering at a local soup kitchen...

That time you have is very valuable and if it was used for volunteer work then think of how the world could be a better place.

However, a lot of you choose to read some stranger's market commentary from day to day. You tune in because you feel you are missing something. Then when you cant replicate the blogger's results, you then send your money to them...guys like Trevor Cook who then use your money on strippers, booze and whatever else.

I might be an idiot...a paranoid whatever...or whatever else you want to call me, but I am certainly not going to tune in to read the musings of some market guy each day or send my money to them. I'll send my money to the American Lung Association...I will send it to the Red Cross, but I will not be hitting the "Donate" tab on any blog. As for my time, I will use that time to help out on the next blood drive for the Red Cross. Laugh as you will, but at least I come back with a feeling of good rather then of being choked and ripped a new one.
 
Oops, I forgot this one little tidbit:

"nobody in the trading world shows account statements"

In your lifetime, whenever a male was in a good situation then what would they do? They would brag. In high school, they would brag about the girls they got and even give you every excruciating detail. At work, they bragged about the money they were paid. The bragging became an endless part of life. It never ended...

So if all these people are making so much money then where are the account statements? Surely, if so much cash is being made then they can at least show us a statement... In fact, I am shocked that some guy has not come on here throwing up screen shots of their statements and wins. I have not seen anyone do it...
 
Sorry for so many posts. I couldnt resist adding just one more thing.

Here is a private message sent to me by one of the aliases posting in this thread. The alias believes I am all riled up and ready to roll the dice with him in the streets. These swindlers and con-men on here find a way to exploit the emotions of the gamblers errr traders on here. I am old enough to know about the "loaded dice" and other gambling tricks. I am too smart to get involved in street games of loaded dice with strangers.

Watch out for those individuals on this website sending you PMs with their hand out. They may send you messages in a form of a challenge or try to befriend you. Just let those PMs disappear into the round basket. Ignore them. Dont play with loaded dice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dice#Loaded_dice




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Quote from failed_trad3r:

...You can't compare basketball to trading, when nobody in the trading world shows account statements while kobe is all over tv and everybody knows hes a great basketbal player.
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There are several threads here at ET full of account statements and several well known blogs full of account statements although these traders aren't too popular except for a few.

Simply, the basketball or any other professional sport analogy is suitable considering these are multi-millionaire athletes out using their free time (off season) to give free lessons, free camps, pay lessons or pay camps.

Smashes that old saying...those who can't do will teach. :cool:

By the way, there was a written article by a sport writer that saids Kobe isn't a great ball player. My point is there's always a different perspective and we choose to believe whom ever we want.

P.S. I strongly disagree with that particular sports writer. Kobe will someday retire as one of the all time greats. :cool:

Mark
 
Quote from retaildaytrader:

Flawed Thought #1: The idea that I would somehow lose money just because I read someone's blog is absurd.

You may think and believe you have the common sense to filter out the nonsense, but remember that trading and the markets is a purely mental game. Reading junk will corrupt your thinking just like McDonald's food will corrupt your physical well being. Then there is another psychological aspect behind it. If you spend time doing something, then you reason out in your mind that it must be worthwhile. You spent so much time reading their blog so something on the blog must be worthy of your time.

I remember my grandmother dieing and she remembered things that had taken place like 50 years ago in vivid detail. You remember everything you see even decades later. The junk you read WILL stay in your mental system for a LONG time. You may not think it will corrupt your thinking, but it will...you are what you read...if you read junk, your mind is junk.
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You may be this soft headed, but that doesn't mean everyone else is. You're projecting. I read all sorts of financial related sources, and much of what they write is probably wrong. Much of what's right is probably only right on accident in the broken clock sense. But every one in a while I stumble across an idea that's clearly correctly reasoned from first principles which I never would have thought of on my own. Some of these ideas have been very profitable.

My first profitable trading system was taken from a newsletter of the sort that was the philosophical predecessor to the blog. I might well not be trading for a living if it wasn't for that sea of mostly bad ideas.
Would you give your child a rag like the Inquirer to read? Why wouldnt you? Because you dont want that junk corrupting their mind. So if you wouldnt let your own children read it, then why do you read it?
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A more interesting question is why your children are so gullible that they would be "corrupted" by reading a National Enquirer. It must be terrifying knowing their minds are so fragile that every grocery store checkout line contains impending doom from which they must be protected.
 
"I read all sorts of financial related sources, and much of what they write is probably wrong. Much of what's right is probably only right on accident in the broken clock sense. But every one in a while I stumble across an idea that's clearly correctly reasoned from first principles which I never would have thought of on my own. Some of these ideas have been very profitable."

So you are saying that you have some sort of extrasensory powers to filter out thousands of bits of garbage and you somehow know exactly when there is a good idea.

Thats like putting 1 good pen in a container of a 1000 empty pens and saying that you know which one is the good pen after the container has been thoroughly mixed.

So you are telling me that you are some sort of guru with a profitable trading system who somehow found it from sorting through all the garbage.

Come on, I have one word for you, BULLSHIT.
 
Quote from retaildaytrader:
So you are saying that you have some sort of extrasensory powers to filter out thousands of bits of garbage and you somehow know exactly when there is a good idea.
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Yes, it's called logic and independent validation. Armed with these amazing tools, you no longer have to be afraid that your mush-like brain will be imprinted with the wrong ideas. You no longer have to avoid all sources of potential wrongness as a safety precaution. You can walk freely amongst the masses knowing that they may frequently be wrong, but that doesn't mean you have to agree with them :D
 
Quote from failed_trad3r:



Do you know a chatroom which started in 2002 and made $100k a year with $5k starting cash?
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LOL! If you only have 5K you're broke and shouldn't be trading period. To even ask such a moronic question says a lot about why you're a failed trader.

FWIW, I started with 100K as I do each year.
 
Quote from retaildaytrader:



"What if someone had a blog where...by following that person your account doubled in 2 years."

If someone could make my account double as a result of their blog then I would be more then willing to make a donation. Hell, if you gave me some advice that doubled or tripled my account then I would have NO PROBLEM in cutting them in on some of the gains.

I dont care who it is on here or out there. I will give them some of the gains if they can make my account double. Send me your address and I will gladly write a check if you could double my account.

Name those blogs that will make my account double.
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"make my account double"....Thats a very odd response. I can see why you feel so let down. It probably explains why 90% of the people who where once in our chatroom couldn't make money, even though the other 10% were doing well or even great.

What you really want is a money manager, not someone willing to teach you how to make money. This, btw, is why a lot of guys don't mind giving it away for free. Even when given the knowledge most won't ever correctly apply it for a mulititude of reasons.
 
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