I first heard about penny stocks in late 1999 just before the turn of the millennium. At the time, my complete knowledge of stocks consisted of I knew there was a NASDAQ and a DOW, other than this I was completely ignorant of the equity markets. I had recently bought my first computer and had just discovered this brave new world people were raving about called the Internet. A friend of mine mentioned to me that a co-worker traded penny stocks and was making a killing. Little did I know that over eight years later, I would be obsessed with these nasty little devils that take you to every level of the emotional spectrum. Even the most severe of bi-polar people cannot compare to the emotional swings of hardcore penny stock addicts.

After this very brief discussion with my friend, I went home and began a search that continues to this day, finding the holy grail of penny stocks. The one that turns into the next Yahoo or Google. Unfortunately, I've yet to find this elusive penny stock but I have traded some winners that have taken me for unforgettable rides, however brief. I've also experienced major heart breaks on what I thought at the time was the ONE, only to turn out to be the uncle no one ever mentions. Oh the rollercoaster rides we take as penny stock traders.

Anyway, back to my story. I quickly became obsessed with these stocks and if you know me, you quickly learn that if I'm interested in something, I will devour any information I can find on the subject. As is with all new penny stock traders, you rapidly find yourself caught up in the soap operas that rage everyday on financial message boards. Not so much anymore for me since I have long outgrown my need for affirmation from fellow longs to make me feel better about the dog that I'm currently invested in. Now, I just dump the dog and move on to the next "winner". Back in early 2000, I found the Mecca of financial message boards, Raging Bull. It should be noted that I began my penny stack trading career in March of 2000, exactly one month before the market crashed, never to return.

I'm one of those poor saps that has never known a good penny market, unlike some of my trader buddies that were lucky enough to trade pennies in the late 90's when pigs could and would fly. Raging Bull was THE place to be at this time and I still believe Raging Bull to be the most honest venue for penny stock discussion bar none. Although it is no longer popular, Raging Bull did offer something that current financial message boards do not. Pure, unadulterated honesty! Raging Bull and their moderators adhered to the Terms of Service not unlike the Sanhedrin adhered to the Torah. This was the beauty of Raging Bull. People that were invested in a penny stock could count on naysayer's being there to counter every glowing post they gave touting their current investment. It was a constant tug o war between bashers and rabid longs, oh how I miss those days!!

Bashers and rabid longs could have an all out war, as long as they obeyed the TOS. No flaming, no personal attacks, no stalking on other boards, all three of which took place. The perpetrators soon found themselves with a suspended account thanks to the no BS Raging Bull moderators. There isn't any honest discourse on financial message boards today. The boards have sold out and allow only the rabid long side of the issue, no longer giving the honest naysayer a venue to speak. Individual stock boards are now moderated by the rabid longs themselves and not the venue owners for the most part.

Raging Bull became a non-issue in financial message board circles around late 2003 or early 2004. Rabid longs, pumpers and touts eventually realized that they were fighting a battle that they could not win on Raging Bull given the nature of penny stocks. Bashers are almost always going to get the last laugh when it comes to penny stocks. Primarily because most of them are pieces of dung and will eventually fade away and die anyway. Raging Bull allowed bashers to post cold hard facts about individual stocks which is anathema to a emotionally attached rabid long. Rabid longs and touts soon found other venues that dealt harshly with the cold hearted basher and soon exited Raging Bull en mass.

I miss those days on Raging Bull. There were times that I wished I could have reached through my bandwidth and strangle a basher with his words, no matter how "right" he was. Those days are long gone now and seldom do I venture to financial message boards anymore since they are so boring. I hated bashers but in hindsight, I look back on them now with a bit of respect. Being a good basher takes talent and Raging Bull had some of the best world class bashers.