Does the Fool keep a faithful flock?
Critics have said the Fool draws more beginner investors, who are more vulnerable to potential manipulation in the Fool’s community message boards. “That is always a risk, but we have 20 people full time who oversee the boards,” Rydholm said. “We certainly don’t cater to day traders–never have and never will.” The same critics note that beginner investors are likely to move on to sites that offer more complex information and services once they have outgrown the Fool. “It’s true that people say we are sort of a ‘stock market on training wheels,’ if you will,” Rydholm said. “But those are the same accusations that AOL faced all these years, and we are still waiting to see people move away from AOL. “We see the same thing at our site. People don’t tend to leave; they tend to use us along with other sites, because what we offer is something fundamentally different,” he added. The Fool also has a syndicated column that appears weekly in 150 newspapers, a radio program in 55 markets, and re
