I read an excellent piece by another HC poster a few days ago that describes the current JAT forum perfectly. Let me share it (unfortunately I forget who posted this originally but note that this isn't my work);
"I'll just add a bit of my personal experience here. I have been a member of HC since early 2006 and a mod since late 2010. I have seen a recurring pattern and I have been on all sides and played different roles in the playing out of that pattern.
There are many stocks that suddenly become popular and spike to stratospheric heights. Occasionally you will get your SIR or your FMG but I would say 99 times out of 100 the stock spikes and then fades back into oblivion. On the way up everyone is friends with everyone and euphoria abounds. Then when the stock peaks the traders all quietly exit and leave the true believers to it. Day after gut wrenching day the stock bleeds a little more but the true believers stay strong and talk of better days to come when this or that fundamental kicks in.....but still the stock bleeds. Then after a while another breed of poster comes on and starts stating the obvious "hello guys and gals, your stock has a problem". Not very often are these posters thanked for their input and even though in the long run they are most often proved correct they are labeled as "trolls", "troublemakers" and "down rampers". Ultimately when the stock fails none of the believers say to the negative posters "You were right and I was wrong" but rather they then turn their anger onto company management and directors for ruining a company that should have been a sure thing and there may even be talk of a class action. Rarely does a true believer take responsibility for their own investment decisions. I have seen this pattern over and over and over again. In my time I have been a true believer and tribesman, I have been a negative poster bringing an inconvenient truth to the discussion and I have been a moderator yanking a scrum of angry believers off a poster who dared to have a negative opinion. Everyone always thinks that their stock is different. They accept the point about the negative posters being right on all those "other stocks" but on my stock they are just trolls and down rampers.
When I first joined HC I was a true believer in Bendigo Gold (BDG). It rose to $2.50ish by May 2006. There was a lot of back slapping and high fiving happening and talk about how the stock will rise to 20 bucks. Then the bleeding started. The believers kept believing and attacking the negative posters who told us what we didn't want to hear. I went from a massive paper gain to a considerable loss but I am glad I had the sense to walk away before the stock ultimately collapsed into oblivion. Since then I have seen a hundred BDG's on HC. Every time the believers say this time it's different and every time the negative posters are labeled as trolls. Without naming names there are stocks like that on HC today, same pattern, same arguments, same stereotypical posters as there were back in 2006. I think to myself that some of these posters may have been in primary school and had never even heard of the stock market back when I was living the BDG experience....more than a decade later and nothing has changed. A new generation of traders living out the same old groundhog day.
So you see, after having seen this from every possible view point I am loathe to jump in and label anyone as a troll. Maybe in some cases they are but all this experience causes me to be slow to act as a mod and to give the benefit of the doubt for as long as possible.
I should say in conclusion that this has been my own personal journey and I have brought these experiences into my considerations as a moderator......but I speak for myself here. Other mods and admin may have other ideas as may some of our long term posters."
(20min delay)