I often wonder what the motivations are for people saying the things they do time and again. Sticking with what the crowd does will always be more popular but not necessarily expedient for you finances. For instance, "wouldn't want to be out at this time" or "Long is the only way to play this" are common phrases that are touted whether appropriate or not and the longs love you for it when you chime in (by the way I am also long with my core holding). Long is certainly a great approach especially for NOT and some others, but not the only one and not necessarily the most profitable. I sold a number of my non core NOT at around 6.64 some days ago and lets see.... I watched it at 5.55 today and thought I could buy back in now for almost a 20% increase. Truth is I put it in other area plays which will likely double and more, sooner than NOT will. That's just me and my mindset. The point is that people keep on saying don't sell your shares, and if you are new to NOT, you probably shouldn't until you get a feel for how it moves within the market. Again this is only my personal opinion.
It is possible to get caught out but today shows you one of the 9.99999 times out of ten that you wouldn't have. Yes I know, "but what if you did?". I can hear it already. This is where personal preference comes in. However, if you add up the number of times that NOT or any other stock rockets up after a halt it's not that impressive. Are we in a very intense time for pending news? We sure are! But it also seems that we have been since we took off in the Fall (and we have tanked a few times since). The posts on this site certainly make you think that we could hit the moon any time and most experienced players will respond with "Nothing goes straight up". Could we cruise to $20 in a few days? With the right news .... I believe so. But for me personally I think our climb in the future will be similar to the climb of the past. Both ups and downs. Times to buy some and times to sell some. Taking profits along the way is a wise and respected thing to do. Do not mistake my position though. I am only playing with shares that are not part of my core. My core stays.
Generally people are affraid or don't like the fact that you choose to do something that differs from their approach. It is usually accompanied by criticism, sarcasm, feigning concern with veiled or not so veiled insults. Newbies should watch for this but not necessarily discount the solid thoughts that often accompany such posts. Just be aware that everyone has an agenda, some pure, some not so pure. And then there are some that are pure but misguided. There are also careless comments that have more to do with the posters needs than the desire to facilitate others. One might also ask the question, if these people are longs, then why are they here posting everyday? Shouldn't they be just checking in every week, month or few months? To be fair there are a lot of answers to this question but it raises some interesting thoughts.
The gist of all of this is that we have our own little world in microcosm here. We have a great stock that we will do very well with and a large variety of personalities to glean from on this board. Just be sure to think for yourself and make decisions based on your own personality and needs. There is a lot of great info. on this site and much I have learned from it.
