Metal Augmentor

eForum User Instructions and Frequently Asked Questions

The Metal Augmentor eForum is based on a blog format that makes it easy to catch up with new content, discuss topics, ask questions and search the past archives of our Metal Augmentor commentaries. The eForum is the first of several features being implemented by the Metal Augmentor editorial team to deliver world-class investment analysis to subscribers. In the future, the main site will also contain many useful features and research tools. So the eForum is really a “site-within-a-site” representing our editorials and commentaries. Future Metal Augmentor service offerings will include databases for subscribers to research company valuations and make peer comparisons, company navigation pages containing the critical need-to-know factors about stocks (our test page can be found here), interactive charts displaying the gold and silver basis in near-real time, and many other exciting features and tools. Frequently asked questions can be found lower on the page.

Subscribing and Managing Your Account

(1) Content in the eForum intended for Metal Augmentor subscribers is labeled “Member Only” and requires an active subscription in order to view. Please register with your choice of the renewal term that is most convenient to you. If you are registering while our Founding Member enrollment period is still open, you will be entitled to maintain the same low renewal rate for as long as you remain an active subscriber. This is a special thank you for being among the first several hundred members to join our online community. Once our roster of Founding Members has been filled, the special lifetime rate and other exclusive Founding Member benefits will no longer be available to new subscribers.

(2) After successful registration, you will receive an email confirming the user name and password.

(3) Please click the submit button on the registration page only once. Multiple clicks will void the transaction to prevent duplicate credit card charges and will require that we manually activate your account. If you suspect you might have accidentally clicked the submit button on the registration page multiple times, please e-mail us so that we can activate your account.

(4) Subscriber account details including password and other account details can be accessed on the Account Management page on the main site. This page can also be accessed from the “Manage Account” link on the top right corner of any page on the main site.

(5) A limited menu of account features is available on a special page located within the eForum area at eForum Member Home. This page can also be reached by clicking the “Member Home” link at the top of any eForum page. This page contains a Logout link as well as a link to the Account Management page on the main site containing the full account management menu.

(6) You can easily change your password and other account details on the Account Management page including updating your credit card information. For example, the My Payment Method tab is where you would update the expiration date of your credit card at the time of subscription renewal.

Logging In and Out

(7) A subscriber can log in either from the main web page login screen or from the eForum login screen. The Eforum page can always be accessed from the main page by clicking the “Subscribers” link found near the top right corner of the main page and then selecting “eForum”. The Subscribers page will eventually contain a central navigation menu of all subscription related features and tools available to Metal Augmentor subscribers. Once our full set of site features and tools are implemented, this will be the first page subscribers will want to visit to find out what’s new at Metal Augmentor. Subscribers can also access the eForum page directly by bookmarking it in their browsers.

(8) If not logged in, commentaries intended for Members Only will contain a link to log in and view the full entry. You will be automatically redirected to the right page after you have entered your user name and password. If instead you are sent to another page such as the Account Management page, please email us because that might indicate we need to tweek our system to work with your browser settings.

(9) You will be automatically logged out after a period of inactivity. If you wish to remain logged in throughout the day, you should periodically click on a link to reset the session clock.

(10) You should log out when you leave your computer for a long period of time, when using a public computer such as at a library, or when you would like to access Metal Augmentor member content from a different computer such as at work. If you do not log out, not only are you potentially compromising your personal information (such as login credentials and email/home address — credit card details will remain secure) but you will need to wait until the system automatically logs you out from your active session before you can log in from the second location. A log out button is located near the top right of the screen on each main page and in the eForum Member Home as well.

Reading eForum Commentary Entries

(11) All commentaries posted to eForum appear in chronological order from most recent at the top to the next most recent entry. Ten entries are displayed per page and navigation buttons to cycle through newer  or older entries are located at the bottom of the page. Longer commentaries are typically excerpted. Click either the title of the entry of the “Read More” link to see the full entry. Full entries can also be accessed in right side menu by clicking on a “Recent Post” (will take you to the top of the entry) or “Recent Comment” (will take you to the bottom of the entry where the most recent comment is located).

(12) In addition to reading through the eForum entries in chronological sequence, there are a multitude of ways to search for particular entries. For example, the right side bar contains links for entries by month or by category. The top of the page contains a search box that will pull up all entries with the key word(s) you enter. Clicking on a tag or category within an entry will bring up all other entries with the same tag or category. Entries with recent comments can be viewed by clicking on Recent Comments in the right side bar or Recent Comment Archive at the top of the screen.

(13) Unfortunately it is not possible at the moment to search through the 3,000+ comments that have been added to the eForum at this point but we hope to add this feature shortly.

Reading eForum Comments

(14) Comments on a particular entry can be viewed by scrolling to the bottom of the page when viewing the entry in full page mode. As already discussed, one way to view the full entry is to simply click on its title. Comments can also be accessed by clicking on the comment links located at the top of the entry below the title, by clicking on Recent Comments in the right side bar, or via the Recent Comment Archive at the top of the screen.

(15) The 15 most recent comments appear in the side bar and typically represent a few hours to a day’s worth of comments at the current time. In the future, more subscriber participation will probably mean the recent comments only represent an hour or two of comments.

(16) The Recent Comment Archive contains the most recent 100 comments and typically represents at least one day’s worth of comments so that subscribers visiting once a day will have an opportunity to catch up.  If the pace of comments increases to more than 100 per day, we’ll increase the number of comments show on the archive page to keep pace.

(17) Comments under an entry appear in chronological order with the most recent at the bottom.

Making eForum Comments and Asking Questions

(18) Only registered Founding Members are permitted to comment on eForum entries. The email address entered in the comment box must be the same as used to register as a Founding Member. Otherwise, the comment will be deleted. When making a comment for the first time, the system will automatically hold it for review and moderation to make sure it is from a Founding Member and not spam. After the first comment is approved, future comments should appear immediately. If they do not, please email us because our system may need to be adjusted to work with y0ur browser settings.

(19) Comments are to be used to discuss topics germane to the entry. Off topic discussions should be conducted in open threads that we will try to post daily. We are going to try to include some entertaining off topic material in these daily open thread but comments need not be limited to such material. If an open thread has not been posted for a particular day, please use the most recent open thread to conduct off topic discussion.

(20) We probably will not be answering direct questions in open threads so please try to put your on-topic comments under a particular entry that is the most related to your question. We are willing to consider questions of almost any nature including questions about companies and why we might or might not like them. Please do not abuse this feature as we are human beings and there are only 24 hours in a day. If the questions get overwhelming, we reserve the right to pick and choose the ones we answer. If your question is not answered, you can ask again in a few days when hopefully we will have more time.

(21) Please do not use the eForum comment section to ask questions or make observations about things of an administrative nature such as accessing your account, trouble logging in, etc. Such questions or concerns should instead be directed to us by email where they will receive top priority.

How to Get Updates and Alerts by Email or Instant Message

(22) You can sign up for email or instant messaging to be alerted when we post an urgent entry by clicking on the below link and entering your email or account name. You can unsubscribe at any time if you find it is not for you.

(23) We will also soon have an option where you can receive a daily summary of that day’s entries by email or instant message. Again, you can subscribe and unsubscribe at any time. Look for it soon.

(24) If you are familiar with RSS feeds, you can design your own custom feed to be alerted based on criteria you select such as only entries tagged with a specific company name or symbol or only entries under a specific category. Later on we will have a tutorial for how to do this.

Frequently Asked Questions

Coming soon.