Tototy said: "You are completely wrong in your opinions. There...

Tototy said: "You are completely wrong in your opinions. There is a fundamental difference between longs and shorts. Longs are buying shares because they want to own part of a company they value. If they praise it its not up ramping. It is because they value its qualities. Longs are positive people who are glad when their company builds up and succeeds."

With respect Tototy, I disagree. The stock market is not a battle between good and evil, but a battle about prices.

Of course, everyone wants to be involved in a successful company and to share in its growth. THat however does not mean holding (or not protecting) your shares if you form a view that the SP is likely to decline materially in the short term. You are not helping the company by holding on to your shares in those circumstances. You are simply impoverishing yourself and your family.

I certainly totally agree with you that untruthful manipulation of perceptions without facts or without well-explained reasons is wrong. Perhaps, as you say even "evil". However, having thought long and hard about the issue, I dont see any qualitative difference between someone saying hold on to your shares coz I think the TOL is coming tomorrow (without any explanation for that view) or someone saying sell your shares and by back later, cox the TOL is not coming for 12 months(without giving any explanatin or reason). They are both forms of manipulation and they both can impoverish people.

The only posts that I think are worthwhile, positive and , in your terms, "good" (as opposed to "evil" are those that in good faith set out the poster's view with a rational explanation of how the poster came to that view (whether or not that view is that the SP will rise or fall). That way others can look at the opinion, look at how the opinion was formed and then come to their own view.

So, I for one, totally reject the view that posters who come out all the time and talk up the company and its immediate prospects without any explanation is a positive thing. It is something that could encourage novices to buy in at a price which then decreases significantly. Same goes the other way of course.

Anyway, it is a sensational Sydney winter sunday. I am going out to enjoy some sun.