iHUB infested with bashers
It is much easier to destroy than it is to create, especially when it is a start up business and the odds are already stacked against them.
I primarily trade the big boards but got involved with a penny stock called TECO and began to track activity on iHub last year. Over time I noticed a great deal of trading irregularities in the form of consistent end of day paint jobs, bidwhacks against my trades, and opening bell market sell orders to paint the stock down. In addition I saw a crew of roughly a half dozen posters repeatedly taking every possible angle to make a negative remark on the stock.
It got so bad that towards December 2011/January 2012 there were users who were creating fictitious websites, making ups negative stories about the firm, and then posting it on iHub. TECO filed a lawsuit to stop that user but other users began to doctor pictures of job sites claiming that they had been abandoned.
Even though users post factually incorrect information, not to mention the plethora of half truths, leading questions, etc., they do not seem to violate terms of use and therefore are allowed to thrive.
I noticed that was the case in multiple pennies, and when users try to call out the basher, they end up violating a terms of use, even if it is a mild infraction, which results over time in reduced message board privileges.
When a user has nothing but a non stop stream of repeat posts calling someone a fraud, a company scam, linking to out dated information, that severely derails the discussion, which is the aim of every basher.
I understand the need for balance, and in fact there were some very good DD posts by users in other pennies that I saw, but they were well thought out, reasoned, and supported with the intention of finding truth.
However, the vast majority of negative posts are from people who have nothing but a post stream of negativity towards a company. As a trader, my time is precious, and I don't have time throughout the day to write 15 posts on one stock on why I think it is terrible. Same thing if it was a good stock, I don't have time to update the positives of a stock 15 times a day. However, certain people are clearly compensated for bashing a company and they thrive on the iHub message board as I have dealt with it and witnessed it over the last year since I have been involved on that site.
In my conversation with the admins today they showed that they absolutely don't care what the customer thinks, and I can only presume that this is because they are complicity with the basher behavior.
I hope that Hangout evolves into a useful tool for investors who seek to have real discussions on a stock and not a complete gong show run by anonymous bashers living out of their mother's basement like iHub.
