It’s Friday. Although cooler, the weather is beautiful, the economy is moving in the correct direction, and my hand has improved so much in just the last few days that I am hopeful soon it may stop hanging around in the back of my mind.
Today, my subject is you and this column, and the inspiration for this is an email exchange I had with one of the readers. Essentially, it went down like this …
You see, I now get so many questions that I have a backlog of questions. I answer them in order for the most part (some are so timely I have to bump them up). Some, however, are not appropriate for what I am trying to do in this column. For example, someone writes in and asks me, what will the dollar do next week? My bio clearly states I don’t predict, nor do I offer investment advice. So when I can, I write a personal response to those whose questions don’t make the column.
In any case, a gentleman wrote me a question back in August, and I just got around to sending him a personal response. He responded to me that he wrote that question in August, so I wrote back apologizing for the tardiness of my response, telling him that the column had become popular enough that I had a backlog of questions. He responded to me, “I can’t imagine why.”
His response inspired this thought … I only have two ways to know if I am doing good or not doing good by my readers. The first way is the comments I receive, and the second is the “thumbs up or thumbs down” box that follows each article. I have encouraged you to use these to let me know how I am doing, and some of you have followed through and used these features to let me know your thoughts. I thank you, truly.
Yet, I suspect there are more of you out there who are reading but not communicating to me. I suspect that some readers do not like what I have to say. You might find it too general, lacking in depth, not helpful, or simply incorrect. Based on the email I received from that gentleman I mentioned earlier, at least one person might feel this way.
So here is my plea. All of us who contribute on this site do so to help others, but we all need to know when what we have to say is helpful or not, and the only way we can know is if you tell us through a comment or through the thumbs up or down box. Using one, the other, or both will help us all improve what we do for your benefit. As well, if you want to respond to me personally, submit your comment with “Ask Trader Ed” button, and I will keep your thoughts confidential, unless you tell me otherwise.
So let us know your thoughts. Make an effort to communicate with us. We want to know what you think, what you want, and if we are lacking, or not. Agree or disagree, it doesn’t matter. We all just want to know you are out there; we all just want to know we are reaching you; we all just want to know you hear our voices. We really want to hear your voice.
Trade in the day; invest in your life …
Trader Ed
