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Frequently Asked Questions

Finding Stuff on The Motley Fool discussion boards

  1. How can I find a discussion board for a particular company's shares?
  2. Is there a quicker way to find a discussion board for a particular company's shares?
  3. How can I find a discussion board for a particular sector?
  4. How can I find a discussion board for a particular subject?
  5. I am trying to find a message that I remember on a particular board. How can I find it?
  6. I posted a message on a discussion board. How can I find it again?
  7. I have posted a message. How do I find out if anyone has replied?

Q1. How can I find a discussion board for a particular company's shares?

The shareholder discussion boards are organised into folders depending on the name of the company. There is a folder for all companies with names beginning with a particular letter. There is a list of alphabetical links at the bottom of every boards page.

So if you were looking for Better Build plc you would:

  1. Click on the letter B
  2. ...and be taken to the folder for all the companies whose name begins with B.
  3. Click on the name of the company whose discussion board you want.

Easy, huh?

Q2. Is there a quicker way to find a discussion board for a particular company's shares?

At the bottom of each discussion board page you will see three fields. They are called "EPIC", "Board" and "Author". So if you know the EPIC code for your company then you can just enter it and click the button called "Find". If you don't know the EPIC you could enter a fragment of the company's name in the field called "Board" and again click "Find".

Q3. How can I find a discussion board for a particular sector?

In the same folder as the A-Z shareholder discussion boards folders, there is a folder called General UK Shares, where you will find the boards for sectors. Also in there is the All UK Shares board, which is a place for messages about any share which does not have a dedicated board.

The old trick of putting a fragment of the name into the field called "Board" and hitting "Find" works for sectors too!

Q4. How can I find a discussion board for a particular subject?

A quick answer is to try putting a fragment of the likely name into the field called "Board" and hit "Find". If that doesn't work, then you might find the board that you want by browsing the discussion board folders. It all starts at the Boards front page; down the left of that page are folder names. Each folder has a bunch of boards which we reckon belong together. There is also an article called Find the Discussion Board You Want which elaborates on the theme of each folder.

Q5. I am trying to find a message that I remember on a particular board. How can I find it?

If you remember the name of the author and it was a recent message you can use the method described in question six below. If you remember which board it was on. It is probably best to start there. You have various options when you get there:

  1. Browse the subject headers on the board.
  2. If you remember the author of the message do this:
    1. read any message by that author
    2. click the board title to go back to the subject headers with this message at the top of the list
    3. click on the word "author" at the top of the column. The subjects lines will be rearranged by author.
    4. use previous and next to go through the author's messages.
  3. To search the board go to "Search" field at the top left of the board, enter a relevant string and click "Go".
  4. If none of that works, post a message on the board saying "Does anyone remember a message..."

Q6. I posted a message on a discussion board. How can I find it again?

Easy. Go to your Personal Profile and view your recent messages. Here is how to do that.

  1. From any page on our website click the words "Discussion Boards" in the tab at the top. This will take you to the front page of the discussion board area.
  2. Scroll right to the bottom.
  3. Enter your username in the "Author" field.
  4. Click "Find" - this will take you to your personal profile page.
  5. Now click the Button called "Go".
  6. You'll see a page with the start of each of the last 10 messages you have posted.
  7. Click "Continue" on the appropriate message.

Q7. I have posted a message. How do I find out if anyone has replied?

There is a page where you can review answers to your recent messages. If you glance around that page you will see that coming from the top "Discussion Boards", "Favourites & Replies" and "Replies to Your Posts" are all highlighted, so those are the things you would have needed to have clicked on in that order to get to the page.

Of course if no one has directly replied to your message the page above would effectively be blank. So to be sure of checking your messages an alternative is to follow the method in question six above. Then make sure that you are viewing the messages in threaded mode. If the discussion continued after your message the "Next" link will take you to the subsequent messages. That will take you to a page which lists your recent messages.

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