Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

SlopeTalk Tweaks

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There have been a lot of small but helpful improvements in SlopeTalk recently.

  • SlopeTV which gives us the ability to have live “watch parties” together (watching The State of the Union last night was a kick)
  • Page Up/Page Down now works on the keyboard, so you can blast through comments
  • We’ve made it work and look better for iPad users
  • Users can now copy text from any comment for pasting elsewhere
  • You can now control the volume of sounds in Preferences
  • We’ve made notifications better, because it used to be that you and the sender of a message had to both be online; now it doesn’t matter anymore.

SlopeTalk has already exceeded my vision for it, and we’re going to be winding down development in a day or two and turning our attention to other matters. I hope it continues to be an increasingly popular part of the Slope of Hope!

Roger! Copy That!

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During the creation of SlopeTalk, I’ve learn about certain features and functions that Slopers consider invaluable which never even occurred to me. For instance, in SlopeTalk, one cannot simply copy the text for use elsewhere, such as pasting into a Word document to preserve it. Well, not until now. I’ve heard your cries and lamentations, and we’ve taken on the rather substantial task of making this work. Now you and copy and paste until your heart is content!

You Won’t Believe Your Ears

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We’ve added sounds to SlopeTalk. Of course, I know some of the more curmudgeonly types won’t want these newfangled gee-jaws what with their a’beepin’ and a’boopin’, so you can turn any sounds on or off in Preferences. By default, only New Posts and Notifications to You will make sounds; the others you can turn on manually. Anyway, having sounds in he product now is something fun and, occasionally, useful. Also, if you think of other “events” that deserve a sound, please “@” me with your idea! Remember to Shift-F5 to get the latest ‘n’ greatest version of SlopeTalk!

What You’re Paying For

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Moments ago, I mailed off, as I do every year, a very large check to Wall Street Horizon. It’s by FAR the most expensive data Slope pays for, and it gets us one thing and one thing only: the earnings dates for companies.

It may seem odd to pay so much for such a niche tidbit of data. The cruel irony is that I could get similar data for FREE, but the quality wouldn’t be as good. You know the worst part? You wouldn’t even notice. Not a single person would recognize the difference. But in such an instance, I would know that I’m pushing crap data on you, and I simply cannot do that, even though most websites can.

Thus, understand I am paying top dollar for something that no one even realizes is there, merely because I want to trust the information I am providing is of the highest possible quality. There are many pages that rely on the earnings date information (particularly for Platinum users), and even though I don’t like writing big checks, I can at least know that I’m doing my best for you. So there ya go.