Motley Fool makes most of its revenue selling subscription newsletters. If you read the articles blasted across various places (Google News, etc.) they nearly always end with something like “You think this is good? Get a load of Tom’s latest 5 picks for growth…” or similar. However those articles are not the only way in to their investment garden. They have podcasts, a newspaper column, radio show and others. One marketing tool is the “free boards”, which allow newbies to get their feet wet and see what “investing” is all about.
Specifically the free boards carry banner ads (or did in the old incarnation, probably will again in the future). Google tells me that banner ads now net from 3¢ to 8¢ per impression. (That sounds high to me but I’ve been out of the ad business for 30 years, so…) You’ll get the low end of the scale for generic, bucketful ads for whatever, advertisers will pay more for “directed audiences”. A realtor pays more for Zillow, DeWalt pays more for an ad on a home improvement site, and so on. So there are some “natural” advertisers for the Fool, although the “don’t work with investment advisors” kind of works against them there.
Anyway I have been told on multiple occasions that the free boards lose money or at best break even. But as a marketing tool they’re probably worth keeping around if they don’t cost too much or if they make a nickel…They’re not a business into and of itself, but as an adjunct to the great mission they probably make sense.
Yes I agree it’s got customer acquisition value. It’s of course not easy to tell what the economics are of continuing to provide these boards for free to people who may never become a paying customer. The BRK board in particular seems to be full of active users who will never become paying customers. I myself have tried out the services not because of the boards, but because of their marketing. And then found the boards after being a member.
I very much agree with Goofyhoofy. I bet it works out in the end for MF as a marketing/branding investment. But I was mainly replying to the comment that the community is what makes the MF tick. It seems to be what makes it tick for active users of the free board but I doubt it’s what enables MF to exist. The paid services are really what makes the MF tick. So mainly I am grateful that someone is willing to make the boards available for free.
But that’s the problem—or I should say those are the problems. There is rarely a user icon on the top right. And when one finally appears, or there’s another option for clicking on “preferences,” there isn’t much there. And certainly no “interface” option. Which is what I had said initially.
I would happily pay a very decent fee for using the boards if I can get back the old board design and Jim’s posts, preferably of course I’d pay the authors for intelligent posts.
TMF tried that back in 2002. That lasted 2-3 years before it was reverted. Some of the highest recommended posts of all time were complaints about the subscription.
All I normally have at the upper right of my screen is the search/magnifying glass. I’ve tried typing in ‘profile’ or ‘preferences’ in the search window, but that didn’t get me anywhere.
If you are using Mobile, the Users screen in controlled by dropdowns, where as on desktop, it’s all visible. That might be the issue. you can choose the drop down for preferences on the left and then Interface on the right and choose your preferred text size.
Try opening this link, which is a direct one to your preferences and the interface screen specifically and toggling the Text Size to Normal or Small
At the bottom of the hamburger drop down are two links. One gives keyboard shortcuts.
The other moves the hamburger from the upper right to the upper left.
Here is the screen after clicking the hamburger, and then at the area below the left side, the little comouter screen icon.
Note the hamburger is now on thebleft side.
Looks like the profile button is just off the bottom of your screen. I’ve marked it below where it should be. There is a tiny scroll bar to the right, you might be able to scroll down and see the profile button.
Also, it appears your phone is in landscape mode. If you rotate to portrait, you might be able to see it.
Thanks!
Landscape kept the profile head/shoulders icon hidden.
Rotating to portrait, revealed it.
From there, I found the preferences, and then the interface.
And some other stuff.
Thank you for your time, and explanations!
ralph
It looks like our experiences are all a tad different, I don’t even try on my iPhone, rarely use any browsers unless I’m stuck in the boonies, Where my prefs show up (on my Safari/Mac) is after the icon, there is a down caret, takes me to the variety pack, including prefs… Yet another mind blower… Why, why, why?
