Announcements: New Forum and Profiles

This is a quick post to let you know about two new things here at OneMint.

Forum

First one is that I’ve got the OneMint forum re-instated. OneMint used to have a forum in late 2008, and early 2009, but I got rid of it because of low traffic, and other hassles.

These days I see that many people call the comments section a “forum” and I also noticed that people were using the Suggest a Topic page to ask questions, and that is clearly an indication that there is now a need for a forum on the website.

I was resisting the idea to re-install the forum primarily because of the extra over-head, but my close friend Robin convinced me to give it a try.

The link to the forum can be found at the top, and I’ll be actively engaging in the forum discussions the way I do in the comments section.

This should also be a good place for others who are keen to share their knowledge, and interact with fellow readers. There are quite a few active commenters who are much more knowledgeable than me on the site now, and I am sure they will take initiative and continue helping other readers.

I’ve just posted one thread to test out the forum, so feel free to register and create a knowledge base there. Here is the link.

Profiles for financial advisers

I get a lot of emails from people who want to buy bonds, mutual funds, or life insurance but I don’t sell these myself, so have to disappoint people who ask this.

At the same time, there are several financial advisers who comment on the site, and who can help out such people.

The natural thing for OneMint is to bridge the gap between the two, and I’ve decided to give that a shot as well. Financial advisers will be allowed to create profiles on the site where they can create their CV, and allow readers to ask them questions.

The profiles are by invitation only, and the only way to get an invite is to help other readers by answering their questions honestly and sincerely in comments and at the forum. If I feel that this is being done then I’ll invite you, else not.

There is no other way to get a profile.

As of now, I’ve invited just 2 people, and I expect the number to remain small in the future as well. I’d like this feature to be of value to readers, and not expose them to scammy agents. In case you’re curious – I’ll not take any commission from anyone for this.

You will see profiles made on the site shortly, and the forum is already live.

As always, any feedback you have on the profiles or forum is welcome.