twilight, what has absolutely amazed me about the reaction on these boards to the fact that agoracom promoted, or did anything that some would consider "unsavory" is that most on the boards claim to be some type of business person or BOD somewhere....what a crock! if folks actually thought that a service of this magnitude could be provided for free without someone using the information for profit then they have zero experience in business/economics and for that matter human nature...

all companies need promotion, always have, the game has never changed, only the forum in which it is played....personally, i have recieved some good insight on message boards over the years but i realize that in the end the stock market is always the same...if a fund manager tells you to buy then he has already bought and is probably looking to unload. if a big house says "gold is going to drop like a stone" then they are probably looking to buy...we are all guilty of this to some level even if it's unconciously. you might tell an aquantice to buy a stock because you actually believe he'll make money (but you still get something out of that. recognition, "he'll owe you one", you name it)...the important question is, will you tell the same guy to sell before you put yours up for sell?

what agoracom did imo is simply a way to gauge investor sentiment with a little bit of "boiler room" thrown in...the boiler room part is why they should get thier hand slapped, nothing else...and anyone who thinks every board out there does'nt do the same thing is deluding themselves...eventially the regulations put into place that prevent these types of forums from making money will cause all forums to charge a fee for service....and people will still use them...but i gaurantee that someone somewhere will still use the information to make a profit..in the end is'nt that what we all do?