Friends & Traders was founded in May 2000 with a mission and philosophy that met the needs of traders to exchange ideas, and to be in an environment that they wanted. The founder and other carefully selected traders constitute the board of Friends & Traders.

Friends and Traders would never have come into existence if there were not a need. Our society has changed a lot as I look back more than sixty years. Today, people feel that may say anything they want to anybody. When I was growing up, there was a word “etiquette” that is fast becoming lost in our vocabularies and our understanding – even worse, in the manner with which people treat one another.

So, what needs to be said here is related to our commitment to our membership. Every member is important. Every applicant must be considered carefully. Most people come to a forum to get additional information or to discuss trading futures and options as well as equities. Reasonable people expect to be able to do that and not have to tolerate disruptive people with unpleasant attitudes and egos.

We welcome members and visitors who can respect an opposing opinion and not assume that it is incorrect. Everyone’s viewpoint is of value, and we all need to respect the opinions of others. Newbies who have just been lurking elsewhere are welcome and we hope they will participate rather than continue to lurk. The questions they ask help other traders review the basics. When you arrived you did not feel the negativity that you have experienced elsewhere. When each member understands our philosophy and enters a site secured by a password, the atmosphere should remain as we planned it.

If anyone becomes a problem at this site, they can be removed easily. This is not a commercial site so nobody has a “right” to stay. It is a group of friends willing to increase their numbers.

Not everyone who visits our forum is automatically a member. The basis for membership is that a board member must sponsor each member. The sponsorship must continue throughout the life of the membership. If a board member chooses to discontinue sponsoring an individual, that act terminates
membership. When controversial personal issues come up, members are expected to communicate with their sponsor rather than posting personal or forum management issues to the forum.

I ask that you recognize the importance of these principles in maintaining the friendliest commodities trading site on the internet. Our forum needs to be a place where every member feels comfortable to read and post regardless of their experience. There was a reason for creating this site, and we must keep in mind that if we fail to defend the basic principles upon which Friends & Traders was founded, we will degenerate and not be any different from any other site. If that were to happen, we would lose our purpose for existing. Please, share this vision with me…

Charles