sometime when someone posts something, and nobody responds, the poster may think that nobody cares or nobody was reading his comments. This may be totally wrong and a like button could convey that you read the post and appreciate the time it took the poster to research and post his comments. Perhaps instead of Like you can have Agree and Disagree button. I do not think any would be upset with that. if someone posts that they think oil is going to the $40's, simple and politely clicking the Disagree button could be a polite way of doing this. Just my two cents. Agree with everything else.

Thanks Richard. I will consider this.

 I appreciate you staying loyal to MarketForum this year, despite the many unresolved technical issues that caused others to bail. ........and you were about to.

Hopefully, I will be able to stick around as moderator and bring back most of them. 

We have removed all the ads so MarketForum should be much faster and posts should no longer get lost. 

Our webpage designer, Chris Nellis from MHZ computers is really a sharp guy. He was unaware of all our issues this year. As soon as he found out, he has been on top of getting them resolved. You should already find MarketForum to be MUCH more user friendly.

 However, there is still a 26 second delay after hitting the submit button that I've notified him of.

Seems we've always had a few ads to pay the bills, which is fine. But I have to agree, the sheer number of ads as of late, have been a pretty bad problem. My browser home page is market forum, so when I open it,MF is the first thing that comes up. And it loaded in a few seconds just now, vs more than a minute yesterday. Thanks.

"My browser home page is market forum, so when I open it,MF is the first thing that comes up. And it loaded in a few seconds just now, vs more than a minute yesterday. Thanks."

Yes, yes, yes, yes, YEEEEES!!!!

Chris Nellis, our web page designer is working on why there is a 26 second delay on  save operations, including the submit  button. 

Mike,

I wish you good luck.  Thanks for taking this on.  

I wondered whether or not the threads never being deleted had anything to do with slowness of the site.  A thread that hasn't been active for a couple of weeks is not worth keeping around.

I like the separation of TR room and NTR room, but I think posters like to lump remotely TR items into the TR room, even though they are largely political.  I would vote for a policy that says, "when in doubt, put it in the NTR room".  Example:  "Great/bad unemployment report.  Trump is a genius/moron."  It's NOT trade related.  It's NTR (or worse).

It would be a lot of work for you but I think the long run attraction to the site would grow if personal insults were stricken.  You don't have to ban the poster.  Just take it down.  Example:  "_________ policy would be of great economic benefit, but you conservatives/liberals wouldn't understand."  Such infractions are where the downward spiral begins...."   As I said, this would be a lot of work for you, and I wouldn't blame you for not bothering.  Hey, the NHL stopped fighting this year... anything is possible.

Again, thanks.  And, best of luck!

Good comments joj and thanks for sticking around all this time. Hopefully, we can make it more worth your time.

I like the idea of personally editing specific posts that have value but also are objectionable.  It doesn't look like I have that option right now as moderator...........most of the powers were just bestowed on me.  However a moderator can delete the entire post...........which I prefer not to do unless its really unacceptable. 

I can also see, with your excellent example of how a NTR post would be in the TR section when it is more of a political statement. Maybe I can just move it to the NTR section and don't have to say much. The poster should understand.

With regards to TR's and NTR's. Everybody has a different tolerance for NTR's showing up in the TR section, but there does not seem to be any downside in trying to be fairly strict in separating them. That was one of the biggest reasons that we went to this new forum. 

Great news.  This new web page has been disappointing.

Jim,

We have eliminated the  many issues that were being caused by too many ads.  Please let me know what it is that we can do to make this site better for you.

I liked the old format better with regards to the way posts were threaded. Is this what you would prefer?

Not sure we can go back to that but our web page guy is excellent. He had no idea that we were having these problems on the new site until this past week. 

How about everyone else? If I know what the problem is, then maybe we can change it for the better. 

wow imagine that...site loaded in 2 seconds....congrats....was really awful to mess with

wow imagine that...site loaded in 2 seconds....congrats....was really awful to mess with

I've been thinking some changes were needed.   I still ask myself why the hell anyone would want to be moderator..    But I ask myself the same question about cops and I expect the answers are similar.

Would it be possible to have the old format broken into an NTR/TR section. The threaded version with all comments headings and contributors visible. You could get the jist of a thread without even opening it. 

Also, the enhanced posting functions, editing, graphics, etc.. must stay, but I suspect that goes without saying.

We'll need some ads to keep the lights on,  but what we had was excessive.

I think the moderator editing posts is a very bad idea.   Veto power has to be enough. And of course, suspension and/or banning has always been sufficient.

Finally, with a TR/NTR section,  people should be pretty clear on which topics fall into which category, especially the long time posters,  as most of us are..    But I maintain that the line between TR and NTR can get pretty blurry.. An "Iron Fist" approach will never be in the best interest of the Forum,  IMO. Civility is the only crucial ingredient.

You addressed some of the issues in your post Mike.  The load time was horrendous.  This morning it's lightening fast in comparison.

Thanks everyone.

Am not 100% certain that I can be available to revive the forum. It may depend on my trading this coming week but your posts make me even more hopeful.

The forum had completely died. On some days there were ZERO trading posts and maybe 1 or 2 NTR's. I am so glad to see a few of you popped in again to see that we've fixed the main problems. 

If I continue as moderator, then there will be several steps ahead.

1. Making regular, insightful weather and trading posts by me. There are many services that charge for this. 

2. Contacting everybody on this years email list and asking them to come back to try out the fixed Marketforum. 

3. Setting up a reasonable amount of ads which don't interfere with functioning.  I need to understand how this works but can't do this for free. 

4. Making additional changes. Most of the changes from the old forum are great. The delay after hitting the submit button is too long right now......26 seconds. This comment by Tim hits the nail on the head: 

"the old format broken into an NTR/TR section. The threaded version with all comments headings and contributors visible. You could get the jist of a thread without even opening it."

5. The best thing we have are posters like you. I wondered why I stuck around so long and felt like a glutent for punishment but decided it was just a creature of habit from posting here for over 15 years.  Now that you have weathered the storm, the sun is shining brightly. Maybe we can get everybody else to come back, at least to give us another try..........develop a large core/family of posters, then advertise MarketForum in other realms to people that never heard of us. When others see  something good here, some will want to be part of it. 

If it exists, a gold mine for us would be contact information of people from the old forum. Kate McCallum thinks it may at home but is going to be traveling for the next month because of her competitive bridge. When Alex unexpectedly passed away just over a year ago, he was unable to pass on key information.

Alex had offered me this position for years prior to his passing and I told him every time that I did not want to be stuck in his position..........moderator of a good forum and nobody that wants to take the job over. 

Now, the current job is moderator of a dead forum, trying to revive it but seeing potential if WE can generate enough interest. You guys posting in this thread or reading this page are the starting point. 

My trading this week will determine if I can stay. 

Hi Vandy,

Probably no more psychotherapy. 

After over a decade of posting here, you know me pretty well but the job of a moderator is to be as neutral as possible.

As an atmospheric scientist, I will still inject my authentic fact based thoughts and links on climate change and CO2.

When it comes to Trump, Clinton and politics, I will let you guys fight it out. 

Again, I apologize to you for using Alex's nickname for you here. 

Isn't it amazing what becoming a moderator can do to a person (-:

Orrrrr, maybe I know you're a traffic generating sort of guy that I would like to have around(which Alex very much recognized).

Mike,

 I'm in favor of you becoming the new moderator as you're more than worthy of the position but only if it doesn't result in your wx/TR posts going down in quality/frequency. If those were to suffer, I think there'd be a net loss to the forum overall since I think you're consistently one of the highest quality TR posters here. I think your many high quality wx/TR posts over the years has likely been one of the main reasons for the success of this forum.

It looks like the 26 second delay in response time when we hit the reply/submit button has also been fixed.

 Excellent job, Mike, in getting rid of the long delays!

 Mike, I forgot to mention that I actually like the "like" option because that is a good way for a member to be nice and say he/she likes someone's post without cluttering up a thread with a posting just saying "good post". Also, it gives a poster some idea about how much his/her posts are valued here. However, I'd be in favor of retaining a "like" button only if it is changed to where a member can't do more than one like of any one post. Also, I assume a poster can't like his/her own post as that option would obviously need to go. One option to consider to prevent overuse of the "like" button would be to have daily limits on the number of likes a member can do in a day. I've seen this on at least one forum, which I think has a limit of 5 per day. Maybe a daily limit of something like 3? That way members won't just be liking posts left and right just to be nice and would instead save likes for posts deemed excellent.

Larry,

You make some good points on the likes button but that is one thing that I emphaticallyinsisted that Alex NOT add to the new forum when he had me testing it. 

This is not a popularity contest and its not a place for posts to be rated. Having a likes button, if it was used seriously(which I doubt) may discourage some from participating in discussions, when they don't have anything profound to say. 

All comments from everybody, whether its a 30 year trading vet with keen skills or a nobody with a wild guess are welcome. In this world of increasingly divisiveness, especially in politics but also other realms, a likes button, to me represents an opportunity to amplify divisiveness.

An example would be a post on Trump. If it praises him, it would generate likes from one side. If it criticizes him, the other side would use the likes button.

Another element is that we don't have alot of traffic here but even when we had more traffic earlier in the year, the likes button did not get used much. Perfect example is this current thread, with the most comments in ages..................but still 0 likes. If you look at all the posts over the last month with 0 likes.......it just makes things look even worse than they are. 

 Mike,

 Thanks for the kind words below.

 You not wanting the likes button is also understandable. I don't think it is crucial by any means. So, if you get rid of it, that's fine by me.

 But what about this? Having a like button in TR but not in NTR for the reason you stated. I agree that it is useless/silly in a political thread due to very strong bias on each side.

 Also, you may not realize that this thread as a whole actually has already had 5 likes. The index notes only the # of likes for the first post of each thread. Actually, if the like button were to be retained, I'd have the index list the # of likes for the entire thread as opposed to just the initial post, if doable.

Larry,

I appreciate you pointing out that each response has its own likes button.

So this thread, that has something like 27 comments has a grand total(as of this moment)......adding up all the likes from each comment/response of...............5 likes.

So thats less than 1 like for every 5 responses.........and I thought some of them were outstanding.  Nuff said!

"I think your many high quality wx/TR posts over the years has likely been one of the main reasons for the success of this forum."

Thanks much Larry,

Actually, am planning on my weather and trading posts to go way up in frequency. Glad that you appreciate their value because that is going to be a big attraction to get everybody to come back...........and new people to follow. 

It can only work when we have guys like you making major contributions. Your natural gas fundamentals, especially historic and current supply/storage statistics are better than any (free) source that I've seen in my 26 years of trading. 

Your comprehensive analysis is 2nd to nobody. I take it into consideration with my own trades. 

Our web page designer has fixed another issue..... the 26 sec delay on the submit button and I'm having him look into the issue of the column for replies getting skinnier as the thread goes down.

Also Tim's suggestion of bringing back a portion of how the posts are threaded/appear compared to the old forum.

Pass the word around............the forum has been fixed.

Haven't been feeling well, partly the reason I haven't posted in a while.  But also, the way the forum was going, it didn't seem worth the bother. 

I 2nd the opinion that you're the most valuable poster and wish you best if you decide to be (permanent) moderator.

One thing I think needs to be changed (changed back). When you hit "reply", the post you are replying to disappears, which means you have to remember everything (not good plan at my age) or open MF in another window and bring up the post, which is obviously awkward. Tried to relay this to Julie, a couple of times, but never got a response.

BTW I must thick or lost too much grey matter, but was never able to find the NTR section of the forum. Quite likely I'm better off for not looking at it... still I bugs me I can't find it.

Great to see you pj! This is turning into a forum family reunion!

"One thing I think needs to be changed (changed back). When you hit "reply", the post you are replying to disappears, which means you have to remember everything (not good plan at my age) or open MF in another window and bring up the post, which is obviously awkward. Tried to relay this to Julie, a couple of times, but never got a response."

You just brought up a great point. Like me, you have always been somebody that comments specifically on what somebody else says and quotes them..........just like I did above with your comment.

I am passing what you said along to our web designer right now. 

Good to see ya PJ.  I've thought of you often over the last few and can't tell you how glad I am to see you post.

If we can see a few of the other "Long Losts",  that would be great :-) 

MetMike -- a point of clarification: unless this has been fixed, if an individual post is removed from a thread, the entire thread disappears. You can ask Tim New about that.

"unless this has been fixed, if an individual post is removed from a thread, the entire thread disappears. You can ask Tim New about that."

Thanks JP, 

That was also fixed today.

At the risk of sounding like a brown nose...  How nice it will be to have a moderator who actually responds to the concerns of the posters...

Seems like a no brainer to me... but that just me I rekin <G>

"but that just me I rekin"

Well, I think you're wrong there, TN! (g)  

'Bout time! :)

The only thing that will bring me back to MF is a BLOCK button, so those of us that dislike snarky, childish trolling posts don't have to siphon through threads trying to avoid them.

We should be able to block what we find offensive.

btw...there were more than one referred to as: "p r i c k"...per Alex.

12345,

I completely understand your preference for nothing but high quality, objective trading posts here and no politics. 

 I have a great plan to bring those back to our trading section, starting in early June. One thing that fellows like yourself can do to assist me........is by being part of the solution. Make a few trading posts or read just trading posts............which will minimize your encounters with others than don't.

I will soon have the ability to move posts. This will allow me to shift NTR's in the TR section at will and make the TR almost pure. 

With regards to that nickname from Alex, it's actually hilarious to me that now I am the moderator and regret having revealed it when I was metmike the poster to attack vandy. 

metmike the neutral moderator has apologized to vandy for using it. metmike the neutral moderator sees value in vandy here. He sometimes makes some good trading posts, which I hope will continue but yanking chains helps to increase traffic........and this place is DEAD.  

Even our NTR section has completely died. 

Our only hope is for me to:

1. Fix the numerous MAJOR technical problems that have been here since the new forum existed.

2. Make many  weather and trading posts from a professional meteorologist and trader for free every day

3. Contact everybody that was once here over the last 2 decades and invite them back to the now fixed forum. 

So far, #1 has mostly been accomplished but we are working on several more issues:

1. Spammers
2. Fix the width of replies
3. Add ability to move topics from one forum to another
4. Ads
5. Threaded view

I am spending a few hours a day doing #2 and on #3, I have 3,600 email addresses from people that posted here over the last 2 decades. It will take many, many days for me to contact them in masses to invite them back to our new and improved forum, then maybe even longer to respond to all of them.

If we can get just 1 out of every 100 email contacts from the old forum to post again on a regular basis, thats at least a couple dozen. I think we can get 10 times that many to just come back and try us out.

This thread is getting pretty long so I may use this comment to start a new thread at the top.

For your information, we had only around 50 legit people who might be posters signed up on this new forum. 

All of them had stopped posting on a regular basis.

But we are not starting from scratch. We have a huge list of people that once liked the old forum and we will try to change the threaded look of this forum back to that and keep all the other good things of this current forum.

Then add professional weather/trading posts.

I have another surprise bonus that we will give to people that make a few trading posts, compliments of the great and generous Jim Wyckoff. 

It would be a good idea to revamp the user name/sign up instructions. Initially, I tried several times to sign up with no success. It turned out that it was because blank spaces aren't allowed in user names. But, upon unsuccessfully attempting the signup, the signup page I was using just went "catatonic" -- it never told me that my effort was unsuccessful, let alone why!

I eventually managed to sign up, but it was only by guessing that the space between the first and last name (that I was attempting to use) might be the problem. Subsequently, I noted that the list of acceptable characters for a user name does not include a space -- but the instructions are written in computer geek speak, not human being speak; they should be clarified and re-written before you start inviting others back.

JP,

Thanks much!

I'm passing that along to our web page designer right now.

Mike

One other thing -- a search by poster name will not return any results. That's not very helpful.

THANK YOU SO MUCH MIKE !!!

I WAS ABOUT TO GIVE UP ON POSTING AFTER LOSING SO MANY POSTS(RESPONES ONLY) AND ON TOP OF IT, I COULD NEVER START A NEW TRADING TOPIC(LOST THOSE SUCKERS TOO)....

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME, TOLERANCE AND PATIENCE....

THANK YOU !... I MISS KABITZING ABOUT TRADING !

THANK YOU... !!!   

YW silverspiker,

Glad you stuck around but you ain't seen nothin yet.

I have an email list for all the past 3,000 members over the last 20 years.............after reviewing it carefully, I see that it might be under 1,000(repeat emails and lots of garbage mixed in)

I will be inviting them back, in blocks of 200? this Summer(so that I can respond properly), maybe every week or so. It will take many weeks to send out all the emails. 

It will be a huge reunion. Jim Wyckoff has donated an awesome eBook of his "Sharpening your trading skills" which will go out to everybody that makes at least 3 posts, after the reunions commences in early June. 

You might be the first to get it!

metmike, Thanks, but No thanks.

Just be careful of all the pitfalls on that Love of Money road you’ve chosen. There’s one big pit that’s inescapable.

Mention was made of blocking capability.  I can attest to the success of such a device on the investing.com discussion groups.  I, for one, would block Danny boi Ball as my first action.  

I would really like to have a block function, but it may be hard (expensive) to incorporate one within the existing forum architecture.

If it's possible, why not? Having one wouldn't hurt anyone who didn't want to use the function, and it would be very nice for those who do. A win-win, especially if it allowed the user to block numerous posters.