A Few Notes about the Operation of Our Site

I imagine that you have a few questions about Market Mad House. Well, I’ll attempt to answer some of them right here.

The biggest question will probably concern comments—many people will wonder why we’re not taking comments. The simple truth is that we cannot afford to at this time. The amount of spam and malware in comment streams these days simply makes them a liability. That may change at some point in the future, please watch to see.

Large sites like Seeking Alpha can afford to take comments because they have a staff of security people who can protect them from the malware and clean up the damage. A one-man site like this one, being set up on a shoestring, cannot.

I would like to be able to take comments, but the risk to my site and my readers is just too great right now. If you wish to provide feedback, you can do that on Seeking Alpha.

The next question you probably have is about advertising. Well, it’s a necessary evil. Advertising is how I pay the bills; I have to eat like everybody else. So please visit some of my advertisers to show your support.

I imagine that you’re probably wondering about the categories and why I would choose some unusual names for them.

Well, some of them, such as long ideas, crazy stocks, short ideas, and good stocks, are pretty self-explanatory. Politics is simply my opportunity to rant and rave about various political issues, some of which are market-related and some which are not.

Some of the other categories might be a little confusing, so here they are:

• The Death Spiral is named for a term that simply refers to a company that is dying or in the process of destroying itself. The term usually refers to a company, such as a retailer, that no longer has enough revenues to cover the cost of its operations. I’ll try to expose companies in this state and point out why.

 

• Market Insanity. I’m a huge fan of the great 20^th Century investment analyst Benjamin Graham, who often described the stock market as a mad man named Mr. Market. In this corner, I’ll expose stocks, usually overpriced, that demonstrate proof of Mr. Graham’s hypothesis.

 

• In Value Ideas and Long Ideas, I’ll try to point out stocks that I might invest in. I consider a value investment with a contrarian view. That means I try to find good money-making stocks that run contrary to popular trends. I suppose this approach is a lot like Warren Buffett’s; some of these stocks will be interesting, and some will be dull.

 

• In You Missed It, I’ll try to cover stuff that the other websites are ignoring by including important news stories that are not being covered. It might also include intriguing developments that are being ignored. Examples of this might include recent developments in energy, such as fuel cells and fusion research—real game-changing technologies that are being ignored.

 

I hope you find this and my site useful. Most importantly, I hope that you start thinking for yourself, which is the key to success in investment and everything else in this world.