Quite the conundrum indeed @speckledjim1 and as a result @Nodferatu both posts I thought were Great Analysis imo so I used mine today on you
I think the 'GA' idea is complete poo imo & doomed into the future. I will stick my neck out now and predict that it gets binned, like lots of updates and ideas at HotCopper.
It reminds me of the 'brain fart' they (HC) had when they decided to change the entire UX with displaying the home screen different and there was a petition and HC had to change it back because it absolutely killed the spec end at the nano end.
If they were really serious about this button they should not have changed the playing field of a 3 GA limit after everyone were out there abusing it early in the piece. There are a ton of respectable posters here who are deserving of their GA bulbs - but there are lots of baseless ramps outside of the STT which attract the button I feel.
What HC should have done before is actually survey their members and ask what they think? For me there is no inherent value in HOT imo. When I see and read that respected people here are often giving HC a wide berth if reminds me that the value of this site is in the hearts or intellectual posters or the community here. If you were to take those posters away suddenly I'd be interested to see what happens to HotCopper
Corporate spotlight is probably a useful idea to the un-educated punter, however, I don't use it and don't see why a company would pay to put up their market ann's on HC if they can be downloaded by any trading platform or the ASX - the only value I see is if there is a video or extra content that is beneficial to the punter
We have already seen the bird feed take over - and unfortunately while I do not like it - it is probably here to stay. The only thing keeping HC popular I feel is some gun coder hasn't or can't be bothered doing a better version of this site - but I feel this service is also ripe for disruption. Time will tell I guess
Hopefully this doesn't get modded and just treated as feedback. If punters agree with me then the only way to create change would be to use the GA button in an entirely different way, which I will aim to do
Apols to sidetrack the STT - I will end my rant here.
(20min delay)