We Need Your Help
Tuesday, January 8, 2008 | Wayne Mulligan
Before I get into the meat of today's TickerHound Weekly article, I just wanted to say...
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Now that it's officially 2008, I want to wish you, your family and your friends much success, health and happiness in the New Year.
By the way, have you made any New Year's resolutions?
I, for one, am resolving to be more patient this year. One of my early mentors on Wall Street once told me that the difference between an amateur and a professional (in any field) is patience. I didn't quite know what he meant by that back then, but over the years, I've come to appreciate and value that advice as I move further along in my career.
This has become especially true since we launched TickerHound a few weeks ago.
When I originally pushed the "big red button" over here and launched the site, I wanted it to be perfect! I wanted everybody to fall in love with it right away.
Well, that obviously isn't the case, especially with respect to the site being "perfect". We think we've created something special here, but without constant feedback and improvements, it'll never become the best site that it could be.
That's why we know we have to relax and be patient. We have to slow things down and really listen to you and the other TickerHounds in order to find out exactly what it is you want in a service like this.
In fact, I want to take this opportunity to thank you and everyone else who has already submitted feedback on the site - your suggestions have helped the site out dramatically. Better yet, let me take a moment to name a few of those people whose suggestions have already made TickerHound a better place:
EthanR - Ethan's been e-mailing us at least once a week for the last three weeks screaming at us for not allowing people to include paragraphs in their answers.
Ethan, we've heard you loud and clear, buddy! Now when you go to ask a question or submit an answer, you can use regular paragraph spacing - everything will be much more organized and easier to read.
Slick - Slick's been making this next suggestion since we first started testing TickerHound over a month ago. He's wanted a "visual tour" of the site so new users can quickly figure out how everything works without reading through our entire FAQ/Help file.
So, Slick, this one's for you! Now you and all the new TickerHounds out there can take a tour through the TickerHound site with our "Getting Started" video:
http://www.tickerhound.com/info/tour
Enjoy!
We've made many other small "tweaks" to the site based on the valuable feedback from you and other community members... and for that we're very thankful.
With that in mind, we have a very important request to make of you today - in fact, consider it a favor. Because we're about to undergo a massive redevelopment of our software on the site (this is the stuff you don't see, sort of like the engine in a car), we want to slow things down a bit. We want to be patient and make sure we're including everything that the TickerHound community wants and thinks is important.
So what we'd like you to do is take a short TickerHound Survey - it's only five questions long and should only take a few minutes of your time today.
But please, put some real thought into your responses because it'll guide the progress of the site - and most importantly, your overall happiness and satisfaction with the site - for the next several months.
Click here to take the TickerHound Survey now and help us make the site perfect for you!
Thank you in advance.
Also, if you want to see the winners of last week's TickerHound Challenge, then click here -- we have this week's questions posted, as well. Good luck!

Wayne Mulligan
Chief Investment Officer
<>