Mathew did you take the number of followers information off of a signals homepage?
Last Trade info has not been changed. We have removed Number of Followers from the main system page because it was causing a classic chicken-and-egg problem, causing clustering of subscribers into older systems and hurting newer systems. I’ll revisit this decision later, because there are good arguments both for removing and leaving the information.
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I have to say that I miss this information both as a vendor and as a subscriber. As a vendor, the page views would give good information as to the level of interest my system was generating. As a subscriber, a high followers count would help confirm the merit of a system I am considering (but too high could also indicate the potential for slippage).
As far as the chicken-and-egg problem, I think the “Popular Systems” lists should instead be “Top-Performing Systems” lists and they be generated from a well-designed screen based solely on performance and not include followers or page views.
Being able to see the number of subscribers is certainly an incentive for those that may be considering publishing a signal.
We think that removing this information is best.
I have seen good system without subscriber, and sufficient system with many subscriber and i don’t have understand the cause.
I Think this is not a important information for subscriber.
For Example, a crowded bar attracts most people, an empty bar no.
I think that this parameter should not be on the front page, but possibly visible only after a trial period, in this way does not change the psychology of judgment of the system before or during a free test.
I cannot see why suppressing information one may feel valuable could be good. Maybe it could be based on signal producers choice. Just because you believe it to be nonsense does not indicate it is.
MK must be reading this thread – the Followers info magically re-appeared…
Um… sorry. That reappearance was caused by a temporary code-merging problem between two C2 software developers. Now we’re in sync, and now the info is re-disappeared, for now.
…and now it magically disappeared.
Guess I should have kept my mouth shut…
Yes, good idea Richard Haines.
This is correct: Maybe it could be based on signal producers choice.
I miss this information too, for a trader is quite important to know that, IMO. Please, restore it, it should be of public domain.
I agree that the “Followers” metric is best done away with.
If one finds a system that suits them, AND it has plenty of followers, then that would seem like a great endorsement. But, what if one finds a great system, and there are 0, or 3, or 10 followers? Are you going to get that same good feeling about that system? Is the system any less good?
The bar analogy posted is a good one. Or, consider a restaurant: it might have a great chef, but when you walk by and it’s empty, how are you going to feel about eating there?
C2 is fantastic in that it provides all the information that people could need to know if a system is worth following, or is a good match for them. If a system is a good system and a good match, then it does not matter how many followers it has. Is it making money? Does it meet my risk tolerance? Those are the questions that matter, not popularity.
The “Followers” metric is not going to convince you to follow a system, but it might help you decide NOT to follow that is otherwise a fine system. No one would join a system solely because it has 50 followers, would they? But they might pass on a system that is otherwise perfect because it has 0 followers. So, the “Followers” metric is not going to get you into any systems to which you would not already be ready to subscribe. But, it might keep you out of many good systems.
I went through the top 20 systems over 1 and 2-year time frames when the “Followers” was displayed, and very few had many followers. Many were 0 or single digits. These are systems that are outperforming most, if not all, diversified Mutual Funds and Hedge Funds: are they not good systems because they have few followers?
I agree that Page Views is a metric that is useful to the publisher of a system. “Followers” is not.
@ Richard:
Why is seeing the number of subscribers an incentive for signal publishers?
Do you mean, so you can see if signal publishers that perform well have a lot of subscribers, and therefore it is worth it to sell a system on C2?
That is exactly what I mean. Publishing a signal on C2 is time consuming. Something you have to stay on top of everyday. It makes it worth it if you can help others attain wealth.
