As I think most of you know, I’ve been maintaining the FAQ/Knowledgebase for this board. To assist me, I built some software tools to make it really easy for me to save and organize board posts, and I mentioned before that I’d ultimately make those tools available to everyone.
I personally have found it really valuable being able to easily save great posts across the various TMF boards – whether timeless investing advice from Saul, or a great analysis, or a valuable insight into a company I own. It’s nice to be able to quickly review everything, see it all in context, and evaluate the progress of my thesis (or sometimes just remind myself of why I’m invested). To that end, I’ve also added the ability to easily save certain articles, such as the coverage updates from the TMF newsletters and premium services, earnings transcripts and articles from Seeking Alpha, and articles from the Wall Street Journal (if you’re a subscriber, of course). And I’ve added the ability to store personal notes, which I especially like for recording my reasoning and thoughts whenever I make a trade. So now I have everything in one place, organized, and easily searchable.
Anyway, if anyone else is interested, I’ve set it up as web app called BoardKeep (www.boardkeep.com). It works via installation of a “bookmarklet” in your browser — it looks like a bookmark, but when you click on it it will scan the web page you’re on looking for compatible board posts or articles and will save them to your BoardKeep account. It automatically adds tags to keep things organized based on the board, author, service, and any stock tickers it finds. You can also add your own custom tags too, if you like. If you’re using Chrome or Firefox, there are also browser extensions that make it even easier: they literally add a “Keep It” button next to each post or article as you browse, so you can just click the button whenever you want to save something to your account.
All of your saved content can be accessed on the website, where you can browse by tag or quickly search for specific documents.
It’s all still a work in progress, but I’ve been using it for myself and welcome anybody else who’s interested to give it a try. Feedback is always appreciated, of course.
That is an amazing amount of programming. I just tried it, and it seems to work great. I like where it adds the “Keep It” button inside the web page, just above the post. Really impressed.
Neil,
Thank you very much for sharing this.
I have the hardest time finding stuff and catch myself searching and go back and scroll through all the old posts.
Thank you, Erik
I would love to use what you have offered here but can you advise me if it is strong enough to not allow malware to slip in?
I ask because recently I ran into a irritating malware problem and had to purchase a cleaning service to eliminate it. They advised me to dump all extensions (I had 2-4 different ones like Ginger and Addit that I used all the time and loved).
Thanks and, of course, every program has a weakness. I’m just trying to understand the probability of allowing something in that is unwanted and a big pain in the a## to get rid of.
Mykie
Mykie, nothing is for certain of course, but everything that comes in to BoardKeep is automatically sanitized. Also, you’ll only be pulling in posts and articles from a handful of pretty trusted web sites in this case, so that also acts as a kind of first line of defense.
So I think the odds of getting infected by something are pretty slim.
HI Neil,
Thanks a lot for sharing your great work! I set up the account (not sure if I have the chrome version or the regular one), but I don’t see the bookmarklet on the webpage I was viewing. Also, how to set up the browser extensions? Thanks a lot in advance!
This is brilliant! Do you plan to/want to share it more widely? I could see this going viral on TMF.
I installed on my iMac with no problem. Should I expect to be able to install it on my iPad or is it only for desktop browsers? When I follow the link to the Chrome Web Store on the iPad, it shows a message ‘To download to your desktop, send yourself a reminder’.
Thanks, John. Feel free to share it as wide as you want. I’ll do my best to keep up with the storm
I don’t think the browser extensions will work on mobile devices, but the bookmarklet should (though it’s a little bit more of a pain to install than the simple drag-and-drop of a desktop browser – but you only have to do it once). Just open up boardkeep.com on your iPad, login if needed, and click on the Account link on the top-right and choose Settings. If you scroll down you’ll see an “Install or Reinstall Bookmarklet” button that you can tap: the site will walk you through the steps.
Feel free to email me off boards if you have any trouble – I’m happy to help.
I just installed your program, gave it a quick try, and find it easy to use.
Can only imagine the time it took to put Boardkeep together. Many thanks for sharing this very useful tool!
Since Neil is not tooting his own horn, I’ll do it for him. He’s now added support for articles from The Economist, The Financial Times, IBD, Bloomberg and Forbes as well as improved support for MF One and basic support for Stock Advisor Canada. Get your copy soon before he decides to start charging what it’s really worth!
I noticed that the “Keep It” button has vanished from Motley Fool posts. I am still logged in at boardkeep.com, and the posts that I have saved before are still there. I’m not sure where the button went.
Assuming you’re using one of the browser extensions (for Chrome or Firefox), I’m not sure why the Keep It buttons would have stopped appearing next to board posts.
If you’re using the bookmarklet instead, it’s a little more limited and can’t add any buttons – you just have to click on it whenever you want to save a post you’re reading.
I’ll email you off boards so we can get it figured out.
I think because Neil added the ability to work with the additional news sites, the permissions for the Chrome extension have to be re-confirmed and it is disabled until you do that.
go to the Chrome Settings, choose Extensions and re-enable BoardKeep.
