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Post by deadmoney95 on Apr 13, 2012 12:14:12 GMT -5
I wholeheartedly agree with Tender. This strikes me as fixing something that ain't broke. And the fix, right now, seems a bit odd. I mean there's already stocktwits as an established set of amazing traders and bloggers. Fastopia has always had more of a sense of community about it (with all of its associated pluses and minuses). Rant frankly seems like a rushed attempt something new and amazing that is nowhere nearly as successful as that which it is replacing, nor as efficient as already established sites like stocktwits.
i know that sounds harsh, but I have at two friends who have founded multi-million dollar websites (one stock photography, one an early e-money site) who frequently say the best advice they ever got was to take their time going live, and to not be afraid to start all over again when their grand ideas were not translating tosomething usable online.
in any event, prove me wrong and i'll be sincerely happy for the rant founders. my fear is that all we'll end up with is something far less than what we've happily had for years.
best of luck.
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Post by deadmoney95 on Apr 13, 2012 12:16:52 GMT -5
oh, and a basic b-school lesson. you don't start a successful venture asking your clients/colleagues/partners to be patient, and understanding, and to forgive the clunks and errors and dificulties. you start a venture that is so awesome on its face and blows people's minds and exceeds any expectations that they send more and more people to you.
that's what it was like coming here to fastopia from YMB.
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yjfang
Broker/Dealer
Posts: 525
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Post by yjfang on Apr 13, 2012 12:19:44 GMT -5
One other comment. It may feel like that we are moving towards corporate but I don't think it is in their vision to be another CNBC or Yahoo. Rant Finance needs to get paid for all the cool stuff that we want and will have. (There is no such a thing as a free lunch. Somebody is paying for something somewhere.)
What is important to remember is that one of their main goals is to encourage independent thinkers and writers to express their views. A lot of the articles that you see on Rant Finance are not mainstream stuff - they are written by Fastopians and independent writers! In that sense, we are still kinda of that grass rooty, independent, rebellious bunch with the freedom to discuss / rant financial stuff and anything else we want, but with the financial support for the bells and whistles that we want now and down the road.
Oh and if you become a regular contributor, you would get paid for blogging. It's a win win.
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Post by cosmic on Apr 13, 2012 12:30:07 GMT -5
oh, and a basic b-school lesson. you don't start a successful venture asking your clients/colleagues/partners to be patient, and understanding, and to forgive the clunks and errors and dificulties. you start a venture that is so awesome on its face and blows people's minds and exceeds any expectations that they send more and more people to you. that's what it was like coming here to fastopia from YMB. K
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Post by dino on Apr 13, 2012 12:40:07 GMT -5
Nats get a cookie from me as soon as I can make one...
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Post by natsalilfly on Apr 13, 2012 12:42:55 GMT -5
Nats get a cookie from me as soon as I can make one... Yum Yum (smiley rubbing tummy)
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Post by drtracyb on Apr 13, 2012 12:54:01 GMT -5
I feel agnostic about it, this board seems fine for me to check in and test the sentiment about the market among you guys, opinions I take as seriously as anyone's. Maybe the new site will be great. Don't know, haven't given it a chance. If it is really about a few securing their own equity stake in Fastopia for greater gain, and it has that slick corporate feel rather than the underground rebellious feel of this board, I personally will not like it. Can you believe that I woke up around 2 am last night to get a drink, and this board closing was on my mind? Good grief I know I need to get a life, I am becoming pathetic. No, you are not pathetic - I was up at 4 and couldn't sleep also. Granted, we had a big storm and too much coffee, but Fastopia closing kept me up. All of us who remain have liked it here this whole time, but many have left. I see why we need to change. I stopped trading a year ago and still check this board every day. I will feel a great sense of loss when it closes.
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Post by brosin on Apr 13, 2012 13:20:43 GMT -5
oh, and a basic b-school lesson. you don't start a successful venture asking your clients/colleagues/partners to be patient, and understanding, and to forgive the clunks and errors and dificulties. you start a venture that is so awesome on its face and blows people's minds and exceeds any expectations that they send more and more people to you. that's what it was like coming here to fastopia from YMB. We've said all along that we were "soft launching" this week to allow Fastopia members to get an advanced look and to get comfortable with the new area before we go to full launch. Some took the opportunity, while others did not. The Open House thread started by saying there would be various things installed this week. No site would ever go live without having people test it out and give their feedback. Some did that, and so the site already looks different than it did last week before opening it up to people. I think a lot of this comes down to adventuring into new waters. We experienced the same thing coming here - I was opposed to moving here from YMB if I remember correctly, for example. The people we have sent to the site who are heavily involved in markets but were not Fastopia members have seemed to think it is the greatest site since sliced bread. Time will tell if that is a consistent view or not. I know that writers who use Rant Sports and have joined at Rant Finance think the site looks amazing compared to Rant Sports. I don't need to talk about what that site is worth right now. Fastopia's collective membership has been asking for this and voting with their feet(clicks) and their voices for many months now. Not *everyone wants the change, but most do. Look, we know we can't force you to like it. We can try to get your feedback as to why you don't like it and what we can improve. At the end of the day, it offers everything that is offered here and over the long run will offer much more to those who are spending their time to contribute. Few if any sites out there offer that. We have asked that you all HELP us in building it to be what you want - that doesn't mean we'll do everything you suggest and especially not in a span of hours if the task is difficult, and that's all anyone can ask of us. I think many will find the same thing they found here - that at first it is a little confusing to be in a new place, but after giving it a chance and using it you will become to be (very) glad we did it. I may be wrong, but that is ultimately the goal and we all individually contribute to that achievement.
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Post by natsalilfly on Apr 13, 2012 13:27:28 GMT -5
oh, and a basic b-school lesson. you don't start a successful venture asking your clients/colleagues/partners to be patient, and understanding, and to forgive the clunks and errors and dificulties. you start a venture that is so awesome on its face and blows people's minds and exceeds any expectations that they send more and more people to you. that's what it was like coming here to fastopia from YMB. DM - actually friends help friends start new businesses. Friends give input and feedback, and sometimes they are the first customers & sometimes they work for free. Friends become the first clients/colleagues/partners. Without friends helping each other start businesses, many new ventures would not get off the ground or anywhere near mind-blowing.
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Post by kryptos2009 on Apr 13, 2012 13:44:03 GMT -5
No, you are not pathetic - I was up at 4 and couldn't sleep also. Granted, we had a big storm and too much coffee, but Fastopia closing kept me up. All of us who remain have liked it here this whole time, but many have left. I see why we need to change. I stopped trading a year ago and still check this board every day. I will feel a great sense of loss when it closes. DrT, You definitely need to sign up at the new place. You would make a great blogger on a wide range of topics.
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Post by dino on Apr 13, 2012 13:55:33 GMT -5
i'm been doing software development for 20 years - the last 10 under my own business - and i don't like the format either. in fact, i cringe everytime i see all that frigin' white space next to the site logo and menus all over each page.
but then it doesn't take long for me to remember that i wasn't contracted to create this site and if i was - it would be a 6 figure site that would take MONTHS to design, develop, unit test, integration test, qa test, ua test and launch. and it wouldn't just take my time - it would take a team of people.
fastopia 1.0 and 2.0 generated NO REVENUE that was funneled back into itself so it couldn't pay to have a professional site created. fastopia's not even a business! it doesn't have a marketing budget to create a new site. so the only way to get to the next level was to team up with rant and that's what happened. unless, of course, fastopia members would have ponied up their own money in a venture capitalist type way and created their own site from scratch.
so i think cos/bros/rant are doing the best they can with what they got and they are building the site off of a brilliant idea imo. in a perfect world - yes, fastopia would go through a rigorous design and development cycle to create a successful site that was bug free. but that's not an option, so i think we just need to be patient and work together to help our new home evolve into the best it can be.
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Post by dino on Apr 13, 2012 14:01:10 GMT -5
Nats get a cookie from me as soon as I can make one... Cookie ready nats! Enjoy!
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Post by jack on Apr 13, 2012 14:03:29 GMT -5
Ya know I hate to say it, but by the looks of things, Repukes embrace change better than Democats.
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Post by brosin on Apr 13, 2012 14:03:52 GMT -5
i cringe everytime i see all that frigin' white space next to the site logo and menus all over each page. Trust me Dino you're not alone. All in good time. That white space especially. The menus are something we've been debating over and over again as to how best to do it. It's a matter of trying to separate things as best we can (secondary nav menu with FAQs/ABOUT stuff vs primary nav menu with home, mkt snapshot, bloggers, etc) while at the same time acknowledging some of them we don't have a choice on like the ones on the activity screens. With great power comes great (amounts of menus)? lol ;D
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Post by natsalilfly on Apr 13, 2012 14:04:54 GMT -5
Nats get a cookie from me as soon as I can make one... Cookie ready nats! Enjoy! thank you!
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Post by kryptos2009 on Apr 13, 2012 14:21:39 GMT -5
Here are some quick thoughts:
1) Fastopia wasn't always the great site it is today. 2) Fastopia evolved organically to be what it is today because we the members are not pros, so we did not build it the accepted "right" way. 3) It grew to be what we wanted it to be by stumbling around and adding things as we realized we wanted them. 4) Cos & company have done a fantastic job with the available materials to get Fastopia to where it is today. 5) We are at a point that it is very difficult to improve Fastopia with out a total tear down / rebuild. 6) Rant Finance:Fastopia 3.0 will allow us to continue to grow and improve. 7) It will be what WE want it to be because WE are the builders/developers of it. 8) There will be a period of pain as we learn this new land, just as there was a POP when we moved from YMB to Fastopia. 9) I have personally made suggestions to the team and felt that I was heard and my ideas were acted upon in a timely manner.
Please everyone join us on this new adventure!
It will be worth it!
Have patience, the team is working hard to build it to be what we want it to be.
that's my 1 cent for now, I reserve the right to add the other 1 cent later....
Thanks for listening,
Kryptos
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Post by natsalilfly on Apr 13, 2012 14:23:01 GMT -5
Exalt Dino for the most sensible post on this thread!
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Post by jack on Apr 13, 2012 14:26:11 GMT -5
All this obsessing about Fastopia 2.0
Let me lay it simply on the line. Traffic on the Board for the last few months has sucked. Sometimes I've felt like I was going neurotic talking to myself because either no one was there or those there said squat. In other words it was definitely dying.
This new joint oughta bring in new blood I hope and new characters and new financial weenies...folks we might be able to learn something from.
At least that's my hope.
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Post by sloop on Apr 13, 2012 14:27:55 GMT -5
I'm with you Jack. It will evolve just like this place did
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Post by dino on Apr 13, 2012 14:29:37 GMT -5
i cringe everytime i see all that frigin' white space next to the site logo and menus all over each page. Trust me Dino you're not alone. All in good time. That white space especially. The menus are something we've been debating over and over again as to how best to do it. It's a matter of trying to separate things as best we can (secondary nav menu with FAQs/ABOUT stuff vs primary nav menu with home, mkt snapshot, bloggers, etc) while at the same time acknowledging some of them we don't have a choice on like the ones on the activity screens. With great power comes great (amounts of menus)? lol ;D i would either have all the menus at the top, or... site menus at the top and page menus in a left hand navigation pane. the key being that the menus should NEVER be intermixed with the content of the page. if your site can't fit one of those models, then i'd question why. in other words, mold your site to a standard menu model - don't start creating menus all over the place just to accomodate content. just my 2 cents...
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Post by maxi on Apr 13, 2012 14:31:32 GMT -5
My 2 cents. for now I will participate at RANT to try to offer suggestions and improve it. But as far as using it goes It takes too much time for now for me to try to get from one place to another for me to incorporate it into my trading day.
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Post by natsalilfly on Apr 13, 2012 14:33:03 GMT -5
When Kryptos mentioned the word "organic" it reminded me of this: www.rantfinance.com/about-fastopia/about-rant-finance/I will copy and paste because maybe it will get read by all who visit Fastopia: Rant Finance: Fastopia 3.0 Mission In an ever-expanding and increasingly complex financial world, Rant Finance’s mission is to provide a platform with access to accurate and timely market information and a community for organic and open discussion among market enthusiasts. To accomplish our mission Rant Finance has joined forces with the forum Fastopia, a supportive investor group which spontaneously coalesced from the global financial crisis and is characterized by a willingness to share savvy trading skills in a respectful environment. Succeeding as individuals in their mutual desire for portfolio growth while identifying and overcoming common obstacles distinguishes Fastopia as the ideal base from which to launch Rant Finance. Bringing Fastopia’s dialogue to the new Rant platform allows users to browse eclectically sourced news, join forum discussions, glean trading tips, and enjoy blogs, games, contests, & social networking. We firmly believe the stresses of financial planning, investing, and trading can be offset by camaraderie and even competitive fun along the way. A stop here can be amusingly worth your while…and staying a while can help build your worth. Constantly evolving, improving, and listening to user needs and desires is a signature aspect of our culture. At Rant Finance, knowledgeable & resourceful group moderators help find answers to market questions; writers and bloggers thrive on feedback; fellow users drop by almost 24/7 to discuss trading ideas and suggestions. Come. Observe. Participate! The Rant Finance executive team welcomes opinions & inquiries at any time, please email support@rantfinance.com.
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Post by sloop on Apr 13, 2012 14:33:54 GMT -5
Tender, I hope you become more supportive. You are a good chart reader and you could have your own blog. I really think we need to stand with Broisen and Cos on this change. I am the most illiterate computer person here and I'm willing to try. Hell. one day I might be able to post a chart.
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Post by dino on Apr 13, 2012 14:38:33 GMT -5
My 2 cents. for now I will participate at RANT to try to offer suggestions and improve it. But as far as using it goes It takes too much time for now for me to try to get from one place to another for me to incorporate it into my trading day. hey maxi - i remember reading somewhere bros talking about the current site being in a "staging environment". if this is true in the traditional sense, a move to the "production environment" should perform better...
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Post by herceg1967 on Apr 13, 2012 14:59:38 GMT -5
Again, this was not meant as a plea to keep this board open forever, it was a request to give the migration a few more weeks. From the response it looks like that's probably not going to happen, but my request still stands and I'd appreciate it being actually considered, rather than, as I've said, soundly dismissed without consideration. Tender, I know you and I don't always see eye to eye, but then again who does...............Outside of that, I too would like to see Fastopia remain in the ST...........The time I spent on Rant is rather difficult to maneuver............I really enjoy the FME ease of this board and would like to see something along those lines which I know has been discussed..................Maybe I need to practice more over there or it just might take some time to have that type of format in addition to all the wonderful things that were created......JMO.........
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Post by herceg1967 on Apr 13, 2012 15:03:48 GMT -5
I love you, man>:0 Tender, I know you and I don't always see eye to eye, but then again who does...............Outside of that, I too would like to see Fastopia remain in the ST...........The time I spent on Rant is rather difficult to maneuver............I really enjoy the FME ease of this board and would like to see something along those lines which I know has been discussed..................Maybe I need to practice more over there or it just might take some time to have that type of format in addition to all the wonderful things that were created......JMO......... Back at you...........LOL...........hope we can exchange thoughts this easily over there or at least in due time..........otherwise much will be lost in sharing great stock ideas............... JMO and BOL...........
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Post by drtracyb on Apr 13, 2012 16:03:02 GMT -5
I stopped trading a year ago and still check this board every day. I will feel a great sense of loss when it closes. DrT, You definitely need to sign up at the new place. You would make a great blogger on a wide range of topics. Thanks, I have no interest in blogging. I just enjoy interacting with smart people and being exposed to new ideas. I've enjoyed this community a lot over the past few years - frankly, I've never had anything like it in my real world. But I did sign up. It may just be a little too "trading" oriented for me to find a niche.
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