Fool's Eye View

[ December 8, 1999 ]

Improve The Fool

By Alan Oscroft (TMFAlan)

Bournemouth, Dorset -- A few weeks ago I considered the power of the Foolish community, and the unique nature of the Fool's message boards. Today, I'd like to ponder the issue a little further, and consider how we, as individuals, can get the most out of our community. Because it is ours, and it is only we who can keep it going and improve it.

Last time, I talked mostly about watching out for people trying to dishonestly push a share price ("ramping" as it is known), and concluded that nearly all of the possible ramps that we have seen have turned out to be perfectly honest posts, caught up on a misunderstanding of the nature of our community. Hopefully, most newcomers should be aware of how not to look like a ramper, but for anyone who isn't sure, check out the Fool's Rampers' Charter.

But ramping is just a small part of a wider issue, and that is how we can all learn to get the most out of this precious resource that we have. So let's think about what kind of messages we post, and why we post them. First though, a disclaimer. Remember the bit at the end of movies about "any similarity to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental"? Well, same here too. If one of my made-up examples sounds like one of your posts, it's just coincidence, so please don't take any offence.

Most posts fall into one of two categories, and either pose questions or provide information. The latter, of course, may be in response to a question, or just offered out of the goodness of our hearts because we think it might help someone. And that sums it up really: when we post a message, we are usually either asking for help, or trying to provide help.

So what's the best way to ask a question then, and how do we improve our chances of getting a useful response? Firstly, and this goes for all posts really, we should be familiar with the Motley Fool's Terms of Service and Disclaimer and really need to follow them. Any post that clearly breaks the terms will be removed, though thankfully the number is very small. Secondly, it's not a bad idea to be familiar with the Fool's basic ethos, which revolves around individuals taking control of their own destinies and making their own decisions, rather than devolving the responsibility onto others. So ask for information, ask for opinion, but please don't ask for tips and please don't blindly follow what anyone tells you.

The more background you can give to your question the better. Suppose you were to ask the question "How should I invest £10,000?" The chance of getting an answer telling you the right investment strategy for you would be about as slim as Mohammed al Fayed getting a British passport. But suppose you put it another way and said "I've got £10,000 that I want to invest for my retirement. I'm now 30 years old. Any ideas?" You still shouldn't expect to be given the right answer for yourself, but you would be far more likely to be given helpful suggestions. And suppose you also added "I have no investment experience, and I know nothing about modern technology"? Again, more focused information will most likely help to generate more useful opinions. At the end of the day though, never forget that it is you who must make your decisions.

How about another example? Suppose you are interested in a particular company and want to know more, and you ask "Condomsbypost.com have doubled in price this month, how high are they going to go?" Well, you won't get any sensible answers, because what you are asking for is pure speculation, which not worth the CRT phosphor it is projected on. Committed Fools would certainly never attempt to answer questions like that. But if you asked "How justified do Fools think the current valuation of Condomsbypost.com is?" you'd probably get higher-quality feedback.

The same kind of considerations apply when posting information or opinion, either in response to a question or simply to try to be of help to others. Here's a few posts I made up earlier. They're not real, but they could have been...

"There'll be an announcement from Syringes R Us any day now, don't miss the boat."
"The Rubber Utensils Company will soar by the end of next year, for certain."
"I'm having a punt on Custard International. Anyone else game?"

Is there much credibility in those? Are they really of any help to anyone? I don't think so. But suppose those messages had been worded differently....

"Syringes R Us have released a press statement saying there will be an important announcement soon. Check out today's Telegraph for more details."
"According to their website, www.bendythings.com, The Rubber Utensils Company has just signed a contract to provide China with 10 million flexible sink plungers. It'll add 30% to next year's earnings."
"I'm thinking of investing in Custard International, because their forecasts look so good and the current price is low. Any opinions?"

That's better, don't you think? We'll get much more credibility if we state facts where we can, tell people where we got our information, and try to justify our opinions. It's credibility that will convince more people to read our posts, and that will in turn increase our chances of getting useful answers to our questions.

And credibility is nothing to do with expertise, by the way. Some of my "Favourite Fools" would never claim to be experts; they got onto my list because I know them to be honest, Foolish people whose posts I enjoy reading.

Any thoughts on today's words, please use the Fool's Eye View message board. Suggestions for making things ever better for everyone should go on the Improve The Fool message board.