alot of ET members switched to futures for various reasons.. tax benefits, lower margin, easy short sales, easier executions, the better technical response of indexes over individual stocks, etc etc..
topics havent changed that much though.. look back 2 years and you will see alot of the same thing we get today..
"how i will make 2763276 million my first month of trading.. (if my mommy will loan me 2000 dollars so i can open a real account)" threads..
then you have your.. "Im a brand new newbie trader who doesnt know anything about trading and havent taken the time to so much as read a single book on the subject and im far too lazy to do a search of the archives so ill just put my question out for more 'experienced' traders.. does anyone know the symbol for IBM?" type threads..
and of course the never ending.. "WHOA!! CHECK THIS OUT EVRYBOODY!! YHOO is trading near its 16 period moving average, what an obvious short!" type nonsense..
and the obligatory "I just made a fortune today/I just lost a fortune today" bragging/crying threads..
and my personal favorites, the threads started by such great thinkers as TradeRx, FasterPussyCat, and SuperEgo.. oh yes, and we had the unfolding drama of hitman and elusive princess..
-qwik