This has been bugging me for a while and I keep meaning to make a post about it but not had the time, so here goes...
FI is very much like poker in its business model AND its customer base.
Some players win, some lose and the site takes commission (rake), paying some back in dividends (rakeback/freerolls).
And for you to win, it is essential that others lose. In poker, weak players are called fish. I will use the same terminology here for sake of ease.
First consider, that the people who make the most profit are the people who engage in the site the most. That includes social media etc. Those who don't engage are much more likely to have losing accounts, or at best a lower profit margin than those who seek every avenue for knowledge.
So how many players?
On the site itself, going by usernames, I think we can assume we are over 300k accounts. Now let's also assume there are only 50k active accounts (in reality it is likely much more) and base our numbers on this.
On twitter it looks like there are roughly 30k accounts linked to FI, but you can probably discount well over half to bring it down to 15k. Infact, those actively engaging in twitter is probably less than 2k but lets keep it at 15k.
There are about 4k on facebook, you can safely assume at least half are on twitter so lets say 2k.
Then there is this forum. I would be shocked if you could find more than 200 active accounts, and another 800 lurkers to give 1k, but let's double that to 2k too.
50k accounts - 15k twitter - 2k fb - 2k here = 31k players who are NOT actively engaged in seeking our information from others. Lets add another 6k who will look for own info but are not engaged here that would bring it down to 25k players not engaged.
That is 50% of players. That is a huge % and most likely, so much higher. 50% of accounts are fish accounts. (And personally I would say it is closer to 5% of all players actively engaging in forums etc).
So when you are ranting on here about people IS'ing etc, you are wrong. You WANT and NEED people making bad decisions to be able to make your profit margins.
By all means point out why it is wrong, because your thoughts will only reach a tiny minority of people.
But don't laugh and take the mick. We have a saying in poker when you find a fish. "Don't tap the glass."
When you are looking at drops, they aren't even that bad.
When you see someone say 'omg he dropped 50p, it is disaster' consider that is only 45000 shares being sold. That is less than 1 share per account. It is a tiny amount.
FI talk about big numbers being traded, such as 35million. You can instantly half that because you can bet they include both buyer and seller. Then there is all the movement in play etc. It is quite a small amount being traded, most people will be sitting tight.
ISing and losing players are good for us. It pays dividends. It pays for the bonus. It pays for advertising.
IPD's drive this, again, this is good for us, not bad.
Fish = good.
Now, I have seen the argument that everyone wins here. That is bull and not even close to true. So why would people stay if they are losing?
Consider:
Poker has approx. 2% of players winning. That is 98% of players losing and the number of players keeps growing.
Betting has approx. 5% of players winning. That is 95% of players losing and the number of players keeps growing.
And the numbers grow because people are dumb, or have different reasons for playing.
I win at poker and betting because I put in the extra effort needed. The same will happen here.
Losing players will continue to play here and keep depositing because they are gamblers, or they have convinced themselves they are winners, or simply because it is entertainment.
Buy low when others make mistakes and sell too much.
Sell high when others make mistakes and buy too much.
But keep the fish coming and the profits will follow.