Wednesday, April 10, 1996

Ahh, how I love to use AOL. Newspapers to read, games to play, people to chat with. And my favorite thing of all: reading the various financial message boards.

One could lurk in the financial boards for months, and never get through all the messages. There are messages on stocks, mutual funds, bonds, options, futures, shorting, you name it. In other words, if there's something you want to read about, it can be found on the boards. Oh, and the action that takes place in some of these folders---it's to die for. Smart people imparting their wisdom to the masses. Almost makes one think they could come into a message area, look for an interesting stock, read every post about it, and come away sure that there's nothing left to know. Oh, but read on.

There have been many times when I've entered a chatroom and heard someone touting a stock. I'd say to myself, "Hmm, that sounds like a winner, maybe I should go to the message boards to see what I can find out." So off to the boards I go, find the alphabetical listings and start clicking. A, B, C, ah, there's my folder, "T." Man, oh man, I'm going to know all there is to know about this stock, and more. I wade through 185 posts and gee, my intuition is confirmed. I mean here are 180 messages that say "T--" is the best stock to own right now, and with so many voices yelling a resounding "BUY," how can I go wrong? Heck, this was easier than I thought. Where do I sign up? I'm sold. In the morning, I'll call my broker and yell my own resounding "Buy" into the phone.

Ahh, but it only gets tougher from here. I mean what will I do with all the profits I'm going to make? Get a wide screen TV? Sure, that'll go right in front of the bay windows. I'll probably need new curtains, too, so as to complement the new tube. Yep, and that old raggedy couch just has to go. Only leather in this house from now on! But why stop there? Plan that trip to the Bahamas, Paris, or Hawaii. Gosh, life is sweet. Yep, in the morning, I'll call that broker of mine and buy.

Well, now that I'm committed to the stock (and all the profits that'll be rolling in) maybe I should just charge all of the new stuff that I'm getting. Heck, it'll only take a couple of weeks to pay it back. I'll do it!

<A couple of weeks later>

New furniture in place, new TV in front of the bay windows, new carpet (oh yeah, got the carpet), and the plane tickets are in the mail. Life sure is grand. Hmm, I think I'll sign onto AOL and see what's going on in the message boards. Gosh, my brand new 17" computer monitor looks fantastic. Let's see what's going on over at that "T--" folder. Wowwww! 5 new folders of messages since I last came here! (Hey, I've been busy decorating.)

Thinking to myself: Hmm. . . yep, yep, yep. . . hmm, that message is interesting. . . ahh that must be some quack, trying to manipulate the stock. Who cares? Oh, good point there, stock still going to the moon. Everything still seems to be great. What the heck, I'll read a couple of more posts just to make sure nothing else is going on, like. . . CEO under investigation? Whaaattt??? Questionable financials? Huh??? Sheesh, I better get a quote on my stock! <click><click> Arggggghhhhhhh! What the? My goodness, what the heck happened to the PRICE??? This has got to be a typo! Yep, a typo. . . Right. . . ?

<Two weeks later>

Old raggedy couch is back, wide-screen TV is no longer here, and the new carpet has been replaced by artificial turf. Just to think, 4 weeks ago, I was on top of the world. Man, have I learned my lesson. I will never, ever, ever, go to the message boards again in search of a hot tip. I guess I should have realized that the boards were only a starting point, a forum for discussing the virtues AND the warts of a company. While there's some great stuff in those boards, I should have realized that some of it isn't always the way it appears. Yep, from now on I'll do my own homework. Remembering that the message boards have their place, but that they are only a starting place. Yep, only a starting place.

<5 minutes later>

What was that honey? You say you saw something on CNBC today? Stock started with the letter "S"? Hmmm....where is that "S" folder?

Transmitted: 4/10/96