Silicon Investor's StockTalk Section, for example, has a PeopleMarks function that lets subscribers search by screen name. If posters use their real names, that implies an intent to stand behind their words, says Kansas. Unless, of course, they're lying about their names. If a poster brings something to the table beyond an opinion, that's a good sign the posts are worth reading, according to Kansas. Something from the trade press or a peer-reviewed journal might be news to 99 percent of the world, giving it some potential predictive value.
Several boards offer participants the chance to rate the quality of posts, concludes Kansas.
These are cooked down into a score for each screen name, which gives a reliable indication of the poster's credibility among his or her peers. Investor's Notebook appears Wednesdays and Fridays and reflects the opinions of professionals. It does not recommend any specific investments, and no endorsement is implied or should be inferred. For more information, contact the individual firms cited.