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The Battle of the Forums – truth in numbers
Toni Case - August 10, 2007

Does the cream rise to the top? Is there truth in numbers? Toni Case reports

The CompareShares Forum of the Year award is in full swing, with seven of Australia’s largest stock forums battling it out to be Australia’s no.1 forum for 2007. Forum members have been asked to cast their vote, and the results so far are telling.

“Everyone who is a member or who uses this forum has a duty to vote,” posted one member from Aussie Stock Forums. And so the votes rolled in, day and night.

The seven forums included in the awards include Aussie Stock Forums, HotCopper, investEd, Shares.com.au, ShareScene, Top Stocks and Traders & Investors Network.

The battle for top spot has raised important issues about what makes a good forum. Is the biggest forum necessarily the best?

The CompareShares Forum of the Year award restricts members to one vote each, meaning larger forums have a natural comparative advantage – based on sheer numbers alone. The trouble with large forums, however, is that within the chatter and noise, rallying troops for a common goal is trickier. “Viva HotCopper,” declared a member from HotCopper, which claims to be the largest forum in Australia. Although the votes came in, they were quickly submerged in a sea of posts.

Not being the largest forum on the block has its advantages. An ability to foster teamwork and camaraderie between members is a plus. Individual posts are also more easily viewed by others.

One point raised by a forum member is the accuracy of forum membership numbers. Although a forum may boast a membership of 20,000, for example, how many accounts are actually active? And could members have more than one account thereby boosting numbers?

Some forums prevent multiple accounts (possibly by tracking the IP address of members) to prevent stock ramping and other unsavoury practices. Indeed, the ability to hide your identity in the stock forum world means that few actually know the true names, alliances and ‘real-world’ identities of the people posting. This is also true of other virtual communities such as dating sites, although I hesitate to mention the two in the same sentence.

Indeed, forums could almost claim to be the first true Web 2.0 medium – almost a second life for many of its members. “You guys have been my home away from home,” posted a member from Aussie Stock Forums.

Another member replied: “Perhaps the ‘best test’ is not how many members a forum has, or how much you pay, or not, but - and everyone could answer this their own way - why you keep posting, why you feel others value your opinion, why you have confidence in the opinions of others.”

Forum hopping is fairly common, where forum members sign up with a number of forums – possibly prior to forming an alliance with one in particular. “I'm relatively new here,” posted a member on ShareScene, who’d recently left another forum, saying: “too much ramping for my liking, and I certainly don't like the abuse that is meted out to some poor soul who makes a mistake, loses money and then dares to ask for advice.”

Whether the topic is about trading or investing, or understanding the nuances of web development or photography, virtual communities are increasingly prevalent in today’s computer-centric world. But what makes a top stock forum? And can numbers alone guarantee success?

Most forums acknowledge that to become the top forum in the CompareShares audience awards won’t be an easy task. “Make your vote count,” said a TopStocks member. “This is war.”

At the time of writing, Aussie Stock Forums was leading with 29% of the votes, or 317 votes, followed by ShareScene with 310 votes, and Top Stocks in third place with 259 votes.

If you haven't already done so, you can cast your vote now.

See table below for ranking as at Friday 10th August:



The CompareShares Audience Awards for the Forum of the Year ends at midnight AEST on 31 November 2007.

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