RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:Does anyone remember Raging BullI was a member at the beginning of RB but left after it got too big. At the beginning there was a ready access to information that was impossible to get otherwise (because very primitive internet and no company web-sites). A lot of knowledgeable people shares thoughts, ideas, and information. Much better than getting a three month old analysis from a brokerage firm. But the boards (especially small stock boards) were also susceptible to paid promoters and those situations often ended badly.
What I learned was that any message board has an optimal size. I remember that lesson well. I made the calculation that 5 of 100 people were JPN (just plain nuts). So if a message board got to the size of 100 persons who were active contributors, then there were 5 who were JPN. And that tended to totally destroy the board as a useful device for exchanging information.
Once in a long while, the board convinced a JPN poster with some dollop of reasonable ideas and information that there was a better way to contribute (it is called a message board community after all). Not often.