Someone named TMFTwitty just closed the LSBC board, declaring it, and I quote: "a penny stock" "ripe for manipulation". Large Scale Biology...which traded at many,many times it's current $1.10 price (and, I think, will again)


Folks, I've got to tell you...I didn't know I'd be paying for Boards....only to have the Boards closed on me for completely arbitrary reasons. And, yes, closing for being 'under $5" is completely arbitrary. Large Scale Biology is the premier non-transgenic protein plant production technology company in the world (the only one to have an actual factory doing this, in fact). I challenge anyone to show how, in the past year of this recession, it has been 'ripe for manipulation'....or manipulated even a single time.

The same goes for CPST/Capstone Microturbine, the #1 microturbine manufacturer on the planet. I again challenge anyone to show that this stock has been manipulated in any way. I mean, we're not talking what TMF considers I guess legitimate, non-penny stock companies that would NEVER get manipulated....like Tyco, or Enron, or Worldcom, or .....(fill in the blank). NONE of the stock boards for the stocks I'm most interested in that are closed, have in any way been as manipulated as much as these 'legitimate' stocks; yet though I'm paying money to have quality discussions on them...I'm not permitted to. Not only is that wrong, it's worse than wrong. It's dumb.

Time to enter the 21st century, folks. $5 is ARBITRARY, particularly in the computer age...though I believe TMFs rules were written before most of us had PCs on our desks, maybe?
Fonar, the company that invented the MRI, and is now selling lot hotcakes one of the world's most expensive such machines that actually works on a person standing up....according to TMF is a overly-risky 'penny' stock ripe for manipulation. Only one small thing: it ain't been ; and I've been following it....daily...for years.

It's a BS rule that doesn't belong in the 21st century, folks.
And it's directly impacting me.

JP
TMFTwitty now Ignored. I don't like people who are, well, manipulative.

Ahhh...we revisit the ol' closed board issue again. This has been one of my pet peeves since they started closing boards, why close a particular board for arbitrary compliance standards when you have community activity and interest? This is beyond baffling. It's as if TMF feels they know what's best for the community and must protect them even if it means censorship.

Take for instance the AKAM stock board, I fought to keep the board open when it drifted below a dollar to no avail. We had many frequent posters concerned about their investment and used the board as intended, to discuss the future of the company and bounce opinions off one another. TMF said this is unacceptable. After more than a few complaints TMF decided to close the board anyway and as a consolation prize allowed us to start a board called the "AKAM community". Now tell me where this makes sense? Close a user friendly board because TMF doesn't want to be associated with it, but open a secret board in the basement where we can hide in shame.

Well now AKAM is trading above $5.00 and TMF sees fit to reinstate the old board. Except for a couple of posts explaining that the board is reopened, there hasn't been one post of record in over a month. The regular posters have decided to stay in the basement and continue discussions without the fear of more ridiculous restrictions.

One day TMF will realize that all members of the community should be able to contribute without restrictions or the members will drift from the community altogether.

Time to enter the 21st century, folks. $5 is ARBITRARY, particularly in the computer age...though I believe TMFs rules were written before most of us had PCs on our desks, maybe?

JP, more precisely, we don't open boards for stocks below $5 with < 200m cap, but we don't close existing boards until the price gets below $3. The LSBC board had just one message posted in 19 months, and it was yours. I don't see how you are being deprived of quality discussion there.

Richard

Time to enter the 21st century, folks. $5 is ARBITRARY

It's not arbitrary at all. It's how the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 defines "penny stock."

http://www.law.uc.edu/CCL/34ActRls/rule3a51-1.html
http://pennystockinsider.com/pennystocks.htm

It's as if TMF feels they know what's best for the community and must protect them even if it means censorship.

Smay, this isn't about protecting any individuals in the community, but rather protecting our brand. We made a business decision that we don't want penny stock discussion in our forums. Judging by how the other financial forums have reacted, it seems like we made the right call. After getting pounded by lawsuits for penny hype, both Yahoo! and Silicon Investor stopped allowing penny stock discussions.

Twitty wrote: but we don't close existing boards until the price gets below $3.

The reason we do allow the stock to drift below $3 before closing the board is because we're cognizant of the underlying communities and want to give them a chance to stay together. It's only once they pass below $3 (not $5), that we close them. As hard as it is to believe, we do this for the existing communities.

Thank you,

Bogey

Smay, this isn't about protecting any individuals in the community, but rather protecting our brand. We made a business decision that we don't want penny stock discussion in our forums.

Bogey,

I would fully understand TMF's decision not to promote or be associated with OTC bulletin board issues, especially with the lax restrictions on earnings and revenue reporting. What happened with AKAM and many other stocks through the worst market downturn in history was to many inconceivable and beyond shocking. I would have preferred TMF keep the boards open so the many shareholders in these companies had a forum to discuss the future possibilities of their investments. The arbitrary nature of the closings was also another sticking point. Companies like NT and LU with large market caps were given the benefit of a doubt when they traded well below a buck, while newer companies were met with the ax. Now that LU has posted its 13th losing quarter in a row and continue to layoff numerous employees, the stock may once again break that barrier.

While this seems like a minor issue to some, the posters who pay their membership fees should be able to discuss their views on particular stocks regardless of the current financial situation and share price. I'm not sure I follow you with the situation regarding the yahoo message boards. TMF is a paid subscription based model where each of its members are obligated to share personal information, such as credit card numbers, while any hack on any computer can post to the other boards. I would think this fact alone would keep 100% of the stock scam artists away.

Bogey, I always appreciate your responses and we'll never agree on this issue, but I always liked the fact that you and the other fools are hear listening and taking notes. I promise this will be the last time I'll mention this issue. Thanks for listening.

The arbitrary nature of the closings was also another sticking point. Companies like NT and LU with large market caps were given the benefit of a doubt when they traded well below a buck, while newer companies were met with the ax.

Hey Smay,

You make a decent point about having all the information on people, but there are certainly ways around that and moral hazard dictates that the people most likely to try and hype pennies are the people who would go out of their way to provide fake info to us.

As for the quote above, it wasn't arbitrary and we didn't cut people off. The market cap fail safe of $200mm has been in place for years here and we set up Speaker's Corner's boards to serve those communities.

I always appreciate your responses

We do our best, Smay. Thank you for saying that, even while disagreeing fundamentally with our position.

Best,

Bogey

the messageboards and the lively discussions and sometimes quite informed comments including serious "homework" of numberscrunchers that were posted lured me into the fool-community in 1997.
The sorry state of these same messageboards two years after we started paying a fee just to message each other will soon cause the end of my regular visits to this financial site.
Well, it´s been nice reading You

The LSBC board had just one message posted in 19 months, and it was yours. I don't see how you are being deprived of quality discussion there.



He enjoys talking to himself.

Still looking for some clarification:

Does a stock have to be above $5 AND market cap > $200M to get a board, or is it either qualification?

How often do you screen the markets to set up stock boards?

I'm interested because I was doing research on promising stock Bankrate (RATE). It's listed as a Foolish 8 stock

(http://www.quicken.com/investments/strategyexperts/?strongpi...)

and the financials are promising. The price of the stock has been over $5 since May and hasn't looked back; it's currently trading around $15. The market cap is just over $200M, and I'm assuming that this is the reason it doesn't have a board yet, but I'm looking for clarification. I also thought it was odd that a publicly traded company that sponsors TMF wouldn't have a stock board, but that's really beside the point.

And who do you talk to reopen a closed board?

gnos
<EvenIfTheBoardWillOnlyHaveToBeClosedAgain>

And who do you talk to reopen a closed board?

I suspect you could click the "Start a New Board" link above this post and suggest re-opening one.

dsbrady