Agoracom

AGORACOM has been blessed with great success thanks to an incredible team of people, great clients and fantastic members. I define success as a 50/50 combination of bottom line profit and client/member satisfaction.

Despite the fact I weigh them equally, I have to tell you that I receive greater personal satisfaction when clients/members tell me how AGORACOM has impacted their lives. At the end of the day, adding more zero’s to the bank account has a diminishing return because one can only spend so much. Look no further than Warren Buffet as the ultimate example.

On the other hand, you can never have enough bottom line happiness and satisfaction. The more you have, the more you can utilize through smiles, laughter, pride and spirit. That’s why we keep track of client and member testimonials. This morning, I received an amazing shot of pride and joy thanks to one of our members that sent me the following private message:

I really like your thoughts and joint collaboration with the ARU small retailers here.
Even if on the background you are just trying to get through the day, make a ‘profit’,
get this great site running, empowering us and yourself, which sometimes may seem
like a corporate body on itself, in the greater scope of things you are the angel fighting
for us to stay above the waterline.

I think all small shareholders should worship this site and its administration, for in the
future lots of collaborations could stem from this site.

You truely are the seed of what the future will bring. I wish the best of times and luck
in the future, you deserve it. Lets hope integrity sticks around, this is paramount to your
success. Be hard on people who don’t stick to the rules. This may sound like a dictating
role, maybe this is necessary to get a structured empowering body to work in this world.
Later we can relax a little hopefully, once you get a name for instance and a respected
stance. I hope you continue to look for more administrators to help out functioning
just like you do, helping out, bringing in the connections and press and knowlegde.

Stay honest…

kind regards
Bernhard

ps. I hope I set the right tone in my message, I really support your work and entrepreneuriL spirit, I am certain you will be one of my great examples in the future for my own endeavors…

Made my day. I wish this kind of success upon all of you.

Regards,
George

I am very pleased to announce that AGORACOM has hit a major milestone this month, our 1 millionth visitor! If a picture is worth a thousand words, this snapshot from our Google analytics is worth 1,000,000 words:

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGE, CLEAR GRAPH]

As you can see, the actual number of visitors is 1,109,628. We surpassed the 1,000,000 mark on July 25. With respect to dates, we started counting on October 5, 2007, when we we announced the launch of our wiki-powered “Investor Controlled Discussion Forums”.

When we made first made the announcement, we set out to destroy the stock discussion forum status quo that we have all come to hate over the past 10 years thanks to unrelenting spam, profanity, stock bashing, stock hyping and assorted noise. Many thought it could not be done because we could neither change habits nor unseat the incumbents. We not only knew we could, we knew that we would. Now, more than lip service, the following numbers speak for themselves:

THE TALE OF THE TAPE

(Figures for October 5, 2007 - August 27, 2008. All figures reported by Google Analytics)

• Unique Visitors 1,109, 628
• Visits 6,764,163
• Page Views 90,633,470
• Pages Per Visit 13.40
• Avg Time On Site 10:04
• Number Of Countries/Territories 205
• Top 10 (Canada, USA, Germany, Netherlands, UK, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Mexico)

The numbers look even better when you consider

• We built our model on quality vs quantity. As such, this is pure discussion. No spam, flaming and bickering traffic.
• We are only focusing on small-cap and micro-cap stocks …for now.

THE STATUS QUO IS CRUMBLING

We are very happy to see the data back up our theory that investors deeply desire the ability to amalgamate and discuss individual stock investments in a civilized community. investors are no longer willing to accept the unacceptable.

Until now, the trash has ruled the day, forcing the masses to abandon discussion forums and conduct due diligence either on their own, or in small groups. It is inefficient but it is the best option we’ve had for nearly a decade.

Eventually, the market corrects inefficiencies and AGORACOM has set its sights on correcting this one.

By refusing to sacrifice quality for quantity, AGORACOM is attracting and will continue to attract smart and conscientious investors that understand the wisdom of crowds. Eventually, quality begets quality and a massive community that both generates its own content and moderates itself will replace the status quo.

HAPPY TO SEE A HAPPY COMMUNITY

Despite the plethora of great data illustrating our success, nothing makes us happier than reading the reaction of our members. Here are just some of the raving testimonials we’ve been able to pull from the site so far.

While we’re talking about our members, I want to take this moment to thank each and every one of them for believing in our model, spreading the word and breathing life into it. Without them, this would be one hell of an application with no users. A special thanks goes out to all HUB Leaders that abandoned their former communities at Stockhouse, Raging Bull, Yahoo Finance and others in hopes of a better experience. I’m glad our promises to you have been fulfilled.

BLOGS CAN NOT REPLACE DISCUSSION FORUMS

With the advent of financial blogs - and some pretty great ones that include Paul Kedrosky, Barry Ritholtz and Mark McQueen to name but a few - some might argue discussion forums are no longer necessary, even outdated. Don’t make that mistake. Blogs are great for insight into the most important economic issues from a wide array of great minds. However, they rarely stay focused on a particular topic for more than a day.

Stock discussion forums, on the other hand, provide investors with an ability to exchange ideas and analyze one particular stock 24/7/365. You might read about macro events (i.e. sub-prime or Apple earnings) on a blog but figuring out the ongoing impact on your specific stock investments requires an extended micro discussion that blogs can not provide.

CONCLUSION

This is Wiki meets IGC (investor generated content) at its finest. There are bigger communities to be sure - but can you find another vertical in which the need for a drastically more efficient model is needed more? Trillions of dollars are at stake. People’s futures are at stake. The implications of inefficient or imperfect information are severe.

Stock discussion forums are vital to the lives of so many people. I believe we are about to witness a paradigm shift that makes them valuable once again. Stay tuned for more.

Regards,
George

AGORACOM is very proud to announce that our story covering the Aurelian Resources Online Shareholder Revolt has taken the top spot on Yahoo buzz today.

As of 7:40 PM EST the story is ranking as follows:

#1 in Business Category with 118 votes (#2 = 60 votes)

#9 in All Category with 118 votes (Only 164 needed to get to pass Obama/McCain story in spot #6)

This is an incredible achievement and full credit goes to the entire Aurelian Resources self named “Crew” on AGORACOM. After posting the story this morning at 6:50 AM, the Crew mobilized, spread the word and began to the story.

This also serves as another example of the power of community. Specifically, a properly fun financial community in which investors are given the opportunity to amalgamate and communicate the pro’s and con’s of a company within a moderated environment free of spam, profanity, bashing and hyping.

Finally, this achievement is truly special because it took place on the very first day that Yahoo buzz was opened to all publishers. We’re going to relish this one!

Regards,
George

p.s. For those of you wishing to vote on the story and buzz it up on Yahoo, please find enclosed the following instructions that we posted to the Aurelian HUB:

================================

Good evening to you all. Yahoo Buzz! is a brand new feature released by Yahoo (just last night) in which users are able to submit stories.

The power behind the system is that the most popular stories are promoted to the FRONT PAGE of Yahoo, bringing millions of eyeballs to the story. If everyone votes up the story, it could provide greater attention than anything we’ve done to date.

I submitted the Aurelian story this morning and it is now the #1 “Business” story on Yahoo Buzz with more than 120 votes. It has graduated to the actual “Top Buzz” page as editors at Yahoo authenticated the story.

As such, I ask that each and every one of you (that have not yet already done so) to vote for the story. If you already have a Yahoo ID, it is as simple as the green thumb votes here on AGORACOM. If you don’t have a Yahoo ID, please take 2-3 minutes to create one and vote on the story.

Look for this button when viewing the Aurelian story and click on it to register your vote.

Spread the word!

Regards,
George

Good afternoon to you all. I just finished up listening to the SEC’s News Conference this morning and the quote of the day is “Financial Disclosure Meets The Matrix”. Quite frankly, this wasn’t an overstatement. You can watch the archive at the link above, read the Twitter entries, or review my notes as follows:

• EDGAR will be replaced by IDEA (Interactive Data Electronic Applications), an XBRL-based platform.
• EDGAR is dependable as a Model-T but you don’t want to be driving one today with all new car technology now available to drivers.
• EDGAR was a system based on mainframe computing.
• IDEA is now the next step, web-based system of 21st Century Disclsoure.
• IDEA will provide faster, easier, cheaper and better data analysis.
• IDEA is global, with 40 languages to be supported within data tags.
• IDEA is good for small companies because it will make filing cheaper and easier.
• The 21st Century Disclosure Initiative will host a round table discussion on October 8th
• IDEA will allow investors to use search and search engines to gather and analyze data
• SEC recognizes that it is simply easier for investors to get data via the web.
• EDGAR is form-based, making data extraction extremely cumbersome. Requires searching through documents and cutting and pasting data 1-by-1, making mass comparisons difficult, expensive and only possible to experts or highly-paid third parties.
• EDGAR doesn’t even allow investors to export data to Excel or other spreadsheets.
• SEC expects third-party developers to write data extracting programs (AGORACOM will !)
• There will no longer be an intermediary provider such as EDGAR. Investors will simply grab information and data.
• Excellent example are sites that allow travelers to compare prices on hotels, air fares, rental cars, etc.
• SEC Chairman Cox also appeared to bring up a screen shot of Zillow, the real estate comparison site.
• IDEA will operate side-by-side with EDGAR for a while.
• SEC is looking for ways to better communicate with retail investors using Web 2.0 tools such as Twitter. All Web 2.0 tools are available, including those that will come in the future.
• WEB WEB WEB WEB WEB WEB!!

“Hold on to your seat Dorothy because Kansas is about to go bye-bye.”

Financial Disclosure Has Met The Matrix.

Regards,
George

The Web 2.0 Aurelian Resources shareholder revolt against a “friendly” takeover bid by Kinross Gold has generated more than 580,000 page views over the past 30 days on the company’s HUB on AGORACOM.

Shareholders, led by these 6 HUB Leaders, have used the HUB to amalgamate, discuss and execute a strategy to vote down the bid, including submitting thousands of e-mail messages, telephone calls and letters to management, directors, media, analysts, bloggers, securities regulators and even other potential suitors.

The campaign has been a massive success and perhaps the best example of Web 2.0 Canadian shareholder activism with coverage from the likes of The Financial Post, Calgary Herald and Montreal Gazette.

Now, in response to this piece of advice from yours truly, Aurelian shareholders have taken their message to YouTube. A shareholder by the name of Bob and better known as HUB Leader Heloboy2005, posted what I can only describe as a fantastic 9-minute video statement on behalf of the activist group.

As further evidence this revolt is far beyond a mere fringe group of investors, the video has been viewed 728 times in less than 2 days. Add that to the 580,000 + page views on the Aurelian HUB over the past 30 days and you have a serious group of motivated investors.

The video first outlines all shareholder concerns relating to the deal, including a strong argument for its weak valuation. More importantly, however, it calls out management and the board for what appears to be major potential improprieties, including the granting of more than 2.4 million options to board members only 5 days before JV discussions with Kinross began.

Bob ends the video by challenging President and CEO, Patrick Anderson, to visit the Aurelian HUB on AGORACOM and answer a list of more than 22 questions compiled and posted by the entire group of shareholders.

Will he take up the challenge? There is no doubt in my mind that he now needs to. He doesn’t have to do it on AGORACOM but he definitely needs to address these concerns via a statement of some kind.

In the meantime Mr. Anderson, if you haven’t seen the video, enjoy the following:

Regards,
George

The shareholder revolt at Aurelian Resources continues to gain momentum, with the Calgary Herald picking up the story today.

Hats off to Aurelian shareholders for showing the world how a stock discussion community can be used in a powerful and constructive manner.

Regards,
George

The shareholder revolt at Aurelian Resources is picking up an incredible amount of steam, with Peter Koven at the Financial Post covering the story today. Here is a snapshot of the story, which is a great read:

…….continue reading full story here.

Hats off to Peter and FP for covering the importance of this story and the important role of online shareholder communities. Until AGORACOM came along, online stock discussion forums were overrun by spam, profanity, bashing, hyping and flaming. Our Web 2.0 model of combining a reputation system with Wiki and IGC tools (Investor Generated Content) has eliminated 95% of the noise while maximizing constructive and informative discussion.

Hats off to Aurelian shareholders for showing the world how a stock discussion community can be used to enrich investors.

Regards,
George

On September 7th 2007, I posted a story on this blog titled “The Empowerment Of Online Investors - It’s Here For Good”. In that story, I stated the following:

“What does this mean for small-cap and micro-cap CEO’s?

Online investors have almost as much power as you do when it comes to the future
of your company. Unhappy investors are no longer relegated to the vacuum of “harsh”
e-mail and letters to express their discontent. Today, investors can rally in short order
via video, blogs and online forums to challenge you at your next AGM, oust you from
your position or even elect their own slate of directors.

In fact, not only is this possible, I’ll go as far as predict it will actually happen in the
next 12-24 months as investors make Web 2.0 a part of their daily investing lives.
I’m the biggest proponent of great small-cap and micro-companies but we all know
there are still many companies out there deserving of being the first target of an online
shareholder revolt - and I’ll be the first to applaud it.”

APPLAUDING SHAREHOLDERS OF AURELIAN RESOURCES

Well, here we are just 11 months later and the first real small-cap revolt is on courtesy of the shareholders of Aurelian Resources. Moreover, AGORACOM is the vehicle allowing shareholders to unite. A proud moment for us indeed.

I said I would be the first to applaud it, so bravo to all of you for your efforts. True to my word, I want to congratulate “The Informed, Educated Aurelian Resource Investors” group for its activism efforts.

By amalgamating all shareholders for the purpose of educating, communicating, sharing and analyzing all aspects of this potential acquisition, you have given yourself the opportunity to generate greater shareholder value through:

* Rejection of this offer
* Sweetening of the current offer
* Attracting a better offer

This ordeal is long from over, so don’t give up. Continue to push for a better deal if the majority of you truly believe the Kinross offer is insufficient ….and let AGORACOM know if there is anything further we can do to help the cause.

Best Regards,
George, Paul and the AGORACOM Team

Good afternoon to you all. The good folks at IR Web Report have posted a report titled SEC OK’s Websites and Blogs For Regulation FD. The report stems from new guidance unanimously approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission today. I am in Europe and unable to review the SEC Staff Statement in detail for several hours but I trust the analysis of Dominic Jones and his team at IR Web Report implicitly.

GREAT NEWS FOR AGORACOM, OUR CLIENTS AND THE INDUSTRY

How big and important is today’s news? I can best summarize it by referring to the opening remarks of SEC Chairman Christopher Cox where he stated:

“The use of electronic media is arguably superior to providing company information the old way.
It’s a better way to provide information to most investors since today it can be presented in
interactive format that allows each individual to click through or drill down to the level of detail
that’s appropriate to him or her.”

Chairman Cox went on to add:

“Technological advances and the reduced costs associated with the implementation of technologies over time, now allow the inclusion of more interactive and current information on company websites than was the case previously. That’s moved websites beyond being just electronic filing cabinets
for electronic documents. Today, company websites are being shaped by the market’s desire for
highly current and interactive information.”

Where have we heard all of this before!

Suffice it to say this is excellent news for AGORACOM and the entire small-cap space given the fact we strictly use the web to help clients market and communicate faster, better and more cost-efficiently than “traditional” IR has ever provided.

We still need to review the full interpretive release from the SEC, which is expected within the next couple of weeks but it is clear that online investor relations has made a massive leap forward today.

HIGHLIGHTS

I will have more to say later but here are some of the highlights reported by IR Web Report:

• Previously, the SEC held that corporate websites could only be used as part of the disclosure process, but with the new guidance corporate websites or blogs can now be the sole means of disclosure.
• SEC Chairman Chris Cox called the new guidance “a big step forward for investors.”
• While the new guidance says that companies and their employees remain liable for information they post on blogs and discussion forums (not really news), they have NO DUTY to correct inaccurate information posted in comments on their sites by third-parties.
• John White, director of the SEC’s division of corporation finance, said the new guidance was intended to promote “more innovation, more creativity, more use of interactive technology on company websites and that they become more user-friendly for investors.”

AGORACOM welcomes and applauds the SEC’s official position on the use of web technologies to communicate with investors. The entire world now lives in a Web 2.0 world of online communities, webcasts, blogs, RSS Feeds and “Investor Generated Content”.

The SEC has just proven that it is not only unafraid of Web 2.0, it is actually embracing it. For this we say, thank-you and congratulations! Investor Relations is never going to be the same.

Regards,
George

I am happy to announce that for the 3rd time this month, AGORACOM has been voted/named to a Top 10 list. This honor comes by way of the members of CommandShift3, who ranked AGORACOM the #7 best designed stock site.

Earlier this month, we had the privilege of being named to the following Top10 lists:

• One of Canada’s Top 10 Web Startups.
• One of The Web’s Top 10 Financial Analysis Tools.

As with the other Top10 lists, the CommandShift3 list includes some great companies that we are proud to be named amongst including:

• Morgan Stanley
• Bloomberg
• CNN Money
• ING Direct
• TD Ameritrade

What is perhaps even more impressive are the list of other great nominees that did not make the Top10 list including:

• Motley Fool
• Nasdaq
• NYSE
• Wall Street Journal
• Seeking Alpha
• Marketwatch
• CNBC

Wow…have to admit a great deal of pride on this one. Thanks to everyone at CommandShift3 for recognizing our design efforts. Naturally, we have to give big credit to Dom and his development/design team at The Working Group.

Regards,
George