Handbook

Welcome to the Investors Hub User Handbook! The Community Guidelines will help Users get a feel for the vibe we’re looking for when participating on InvestorsHub ("iHub"). It is not an all encompassing checklist of what is/isn’t allowed here, but rather to help people understand the community and how to easily participate here. These Guidelines are applicable to Stock Specific Boards - i.e., boards that have (or once had) a trading ticker associated with them. Less stringent enforcement of many of these rules is allowed on general topic boards. When it comes to investment discussions, iHub welcomes all opinions irrespective of investment sentiment. To do otherwise would be a disservice to the public interest. Other Useful Links: Moderators' Guidelines Site Options Frequently Asked Questions

Communicating with iHub Admins

For contact information regarding Login Assistance, Legal Matters, Copyright Infringement or Advertising, please refer to the Contact Us page which is linked at the bottom of every page on the website.

It's highly recommended that Users add The Question and Answer Board to the list of Favorites and follow the discussion there. In addition to Site Admins, there are many knowledgeable & helpful Members who offer timely answers to questions that Users and Moderators have about the site. In many ways, it is the "hub" of iHub.

Private Messages sent to IH Admin appear in all Site Admins inboxes. This allows the first available Admin to assist you. Choosing this route (instead of PMs to specific Admins) will likely elicit a more timely response as each Admin does not work 24/7. Please include related links to expedite this process further. If Admins have to search for what you're talking about it is very time consuming and slows the entire process. Many times if a PM is received without links you'll receive a reply asking for them. Your PMs to IH Admin will eventually appear in your Outbox as having been sent to the Admin who actually handled it, or in some cases the Admin to whom it has been specifically redirected for disposition. That way any further discussion of that particular matter can be directed to the Admin who originally handled it.

The Report TOS Violation link found on every public post is another way of communicating with Site Admins. Clicking this link will provide a form for the member to advise Site Admins of alleged violations of the Terms of Service. In addition to a list of possible violations, a comment section is provided that can be used to address your concerns with the specific post, or Member if appropriate. (Note: Admin are the only people who see or have access to TOS Reports and the comments).

If you wish to inquire about a post that has been removed, the means to do so are described on your My Removed Posts page.

How to include links in posts and PMs:

Go to the top of your screen where you see "address". Highlight (hold the left mouse button down as you move your cursor across the text) the entire line beginning with "http". Right click and move the arrow down to "copy". Then place your cursor where you want this information to be copied, right click and select "paste" and Voila!

Please refer to FAQ:Reporting Violations for more information.

As described above, iHub provides numerous means for Members to contact site Admins and support staff both privately and in designated public forums. In addition to your communications regarding specific support issues, we routinely solicit Member feedback on site design, functionality, and operating policies and procedures. We encourage and welcome constructive input from our user community and routinely implement changes suggested by Members. However; we do not welcome disruptive or non-constructive communications, or attacks on iHub itself or our staff. Persons who find themselves unable to refrain from attacking iHub and/or its staff, including but not limited to 1) threats of reporting us to [insert list of the usual "name dropped" agencies here], 2) threats of litigation, 3) promises of ensuring our demise, 4) accusations of criminality, conspiracy, or any other alleged violation of law, or 5) vulgar or abusive PMs, should avail themselves of their prerogative to cease using the site immediately as we have no interest in hearing it. Those unwilling or unable to respect those guidelines will be asked to refrain and, failing that, will be shown to the exit.

Site Features

Premium versus Free Zone Boards

Boards in the Premium Zone simply mean that Moderators have more flexibility in managing the content by removing messages and banning specific users from the board although rare, Admin reserves the right to overturn any Moderator action on any board for any reason. Posting on these boards is also restricted to Members with Premium account features.

Premium status does not give a board license to blatantly violate the rules of the site. Any concerns with Mods or deletions on other boards still needs to be addressed with Site Admins. More latitude is offered to Moderators on Premium boards. For example, if two posters are having a heated debate that includes what might be considered a personal attack on Free Zone boards, the Mod has some flexibility to allow this. However; one sided deletions in this example are inappropriate. Additionally, using these boards as a place to launch personal attacks on other Users of the site is not allowed and should be deleted. Premium boards are also not a haven to "archive posts in case they are deleted" and/or in the event they are removed. If a User feels a post has been inappropriately removed then their recourse is to request a review either through the automated system or by sending a PM to IH Admin.

If many of the messages on a Premium board fall into the above categories, the Moderators need to take immediate steps to rectify the situation and return the board to it's original intended purpose. Failure to do so will at a minimum result in moderators being removed and/or replaced as well as possible administrative sanctions.

Member Profiles

When other Users click on your alias it takes them to your Profile. This is the place that you can tell people a little about your personality and trading/investing philosophies, if you so choose. From your profile, you can click on Edit My Profile to make changes.

Please keep in mind any information in your profile must adhere to the TOS.

We highly recommend that you not disclose any personally identifying information here (email address, etc). Remember all Members have access to this information.

Please refer to FAQ:Member Profiles and FAQ:Signatures for more information.

Composing Posts

Please refer to FAQ:Composing Posts for more information including adding bold, italics and images to your posts.

Use of Automation - iHub discourages the use of automation to refresh, crawl or post to the website. If a automated refresh is used, the minimum permissible frequency is once per minute. Scripted posting should be throttled to no more than once every 30 seconds, and may be disallowed if found to be excessive or abusive. Users found to be manipulating site content and/or metrics through any means, including but not limited to automation, are subject to administrative sanctions up to and including account termination.

Member Signatures

The comments above where the signature is added are pretty self explanatory:

• Please do not put sounds in signatures and keep images as small as possible.
• No racy/sexual/scantily-clad pictures.
• No mention of specific stocks/tickers or links to stock specific boards.
• No links off the site.
• No solicitation.
• No political or religious images/text.
• No comments about ihub members or ex-members.

Note new signatures will not be attached to your posts until being selected as your default in My Signatures

If you see a violation, please send a private message to IH Admin

Please refer to FAQ:Signatures for additional information.

Member Profile and Images

• Status Messages and Images are subject to the terms of the Terms of Service (TOS).
• No racy/sexual/scantily-clad pictures.
• No mention of specific stocks or links to stock-specific boards.
• No links off the site.
• No political or religious images/text.

Ignore Feature

How to Ignore Another User

Image Upload Feature

Available on the "Other" navigation button on the Image Upload tab.

Related Pages

Frequently Asked Questions

Site Admins

Stuff pending review:

Message Board Subscriptions

Deletion Review

Definitions of Terms Used in This Handbook