One of my favorite books of the last year was Malcolm Gladwell's, "The Tipping Point."
Written in an accessible, straightforward manner, it described the way that small grassroots movements developed into huge mainstream trends, seemingly spontaneously, and of their own accord.
One of the most important takeaways was that there were three tiers in Gladwell's "viral" model of the way information, and trends (really also information - ways of doing things, or viewing things, or wearing things) disseminate. First, there were the pioneers, those who set the trend by doing something different. Next were the networkers, the communicators, who broadcast to their networks the "new new thing," popularizing the trend from those at ground level to the larger communicators. And finally there were the popular communicators who transmitted the info to the mainstream. That is the simplified model - trend-setters, those of influence who note the trend and communicate the importance of the new thing to their networks, and finally the mainstream communicators.
My description for the groups of folks that have noticed a problem in the stock market and are calling attention to it, are "Market Reform" advocates. They want to reform the markets and make them safer and fairer. They recognize problems that threaten the structural integrity of the system, and are willing to devote tremendous amounts of time and effort to calling attention to the issues, and proposing solutions to correct them.
This site was created to gather the braintrust of this loose affiliation of individuals, and to create a movement. The Market Reform Movement, for lack of a better moniker. We now are at stage two of our development, in my opinion, wherein the pioneers have paved the way, and we need to communicate the existence of this movement's efforts to the dissemination networks - the message boards, the chat rooms, local radio, other blogs, PBS, even CNBC and the mainstream financial system's communication machine. I would propose that this is something that we can all participate in, by broadcasting this website's existence to every outlet we know of, repeatedly, so that new folks discover it, and hopefully, begin to ask the right questions.
If we are successful in our efforts, at some point we will hit critical mass, and achieve "The Tipping Point" - that moment where the momentum is such that the movement breaks into the mainstream. One could argue that we are close, with Time Magazine covering the issue in December, and the NASAA forum's fallout, and an increasing number of talking heads devoting more time to denying that any problem exists.
I believe that this is the movement's opportunity to kick it up a notch and to take it to the next level, and would encourage everyone to do what they can to popularize TheSanityCheck.com. From here, any interested reader can access a host of resources that will educate them as to the actual lay of the land. Get them here, get them to read and to listen and to look, namely open their eyes, and get them to tell their contact base, and we go "viral".
Not in the negative sense of a viral infection, but in the exponential growth curve of a viral information epidemic. One group of pioneers provides information to the carriers, who distribute the info to ever larger circles of influence, who become information disseminators themselves.
This is something everyone can help with, and can spend a little time doing, with huge long term results. Tell a friend, post on some boards, send some emails, post on some blogs. The information is available now, the viewpoints are available, the data to support the conclusions are available - to anyone that wants to see. A one stop shop is here to make it easy, one URL to direct folks to, one hub from which to embark on the information journey.
Any suggestions as to how to spread the word are appreciated. 2006 will be the year that the mainstream woke up and discovered the crisis. And you will be a part of that.
Happy New Year.