Webring

Financial Webring
Where DIY Investors Meet for Financial Education and Empowerment

Read carefully before proceeding to the application. Applications that have clearly not read this FAQ will be ignored.

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Webmaster FAQ

1. What is the purpose of the Webring?

Our goal is to educate individual investors so that they can make their own financial decisions in a knowledgeable way.

2. Who manages the ring?

The ring is managed by a team of four investors:

Mike Higgs (Ringlord) - A retired investment professional and now full-time private investor.

"Bylo Selhi" - Mutual fund gadfly.

Keith Betty - Amateur do-it-yourself investor and author of "Shakespeare's Investment Primer".

Norbert Schlenker - A fee-for-service financial planner who wishes to educate and encourage others to look after their own finances.

3. How are ring memberships decided?

By consensus amongst the four individuals listed above.

4. What criteria are used for ring entry?

The site must emphasize education and individual empowerment in financial decision making. It must show evidence of ongoing maintenance, i.e, an active and interested webmaster.

There are many, many financially oriented blogs. Many are similar. Many have a short life. For a blog to be considered for membership in the Webring, it usually must have been in existence for 12 months. That will also allow us to assess the content.

We are not interested in trading diaries that don't clearly indicate the trading premise and explain individual trades. We are not interested in being Blog Central; we are not interested in "my quest for financial freedom" personal finance blogs. We are interested in blogs that have a very clearly stated theme that is followed and contains unique material and orientation. Please examine the current member sites to determine if your site contains educational material and orientation that is distinctive from existing ring members' sites.

5. Are commercial sites allowed?

We are willing to consider commercial sites. However, they must focus on education and individual financial empowerment, not product, and must not use their education component as part of a sales pitch. The amount of educational content must greatly outweigh the amount of commercial content. Any advertising should be low-key and unobtrusive. Sites with a 'hard sell' approach will not be considered.

6. What is the relationship between the ring and the individual member websites?

Individual sites are still individual sites; they surrender none of their independence to the ring. A site can choose to leave the ring at any time. Similarly a site may be dropped from the ring if it seems to be departing from criteria that made it acceptable in the first place. It is a very loose association that may or may not evolve over time.

The content of each site is the sole responsibility of its owner and no one else. The Webring is not responsible for that content.

Webmaster Information

1. What is needed to join the ring?

First, send in an e-mail with your application. If it is approved, we will provide you with some script to insert on your web page that looks like this:

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"></SCRIPT>

where *********1.js will be replaced with the appropriate code. When the script is inserted into your home page everything from document.write through <\/SCRIPT>'); must be on one line in order for the Navigation Bar to appear on your home page.

2. Why do you use script?

It simplifies ring maintenance and makes it simple to add new members.

3. What does the script do?

It draws the link table and sets 'Forward' and 'Back' references that match your site's position in the ring.

4. What does the link table look like?

It looks like this

5. Where does the code go on my page?

You can place the code so that the link table is displayed wherever you feel it fits your page layout. If the nav bar won't "fit" on your home page, using a re-direct (a button or a link) would be acceptable.

6. How do I insert the code?

The easiest way is to use a text editor like Notepad to place the code where you wish. It must be between the HTML <body> and </body> tags.

7. I don't know anything about this "HTML" stuff. Can you provide more help?

If you e-mail the page on which you want the link placed to us, we will try to modify it for you.

8. I don't run other-people's scripts on my site as a matter of principle. Can you provide me with direct HTML code?

We would prefer that you use the script, but are willing to consider other options.

9. Why does the background color for the table keep changing?

Some colors might clash with the backgrounds of particular sites, so a random selection from a predefined array is made.

10. How many colors are there?

Fourteen.

11. Can I specify a fixed background color for my site?

Yes, we can modify the code so that your site always has the same background.

12. Does the variable background work on all sites?

If you make extensive use of CSS, your site may display a fixed table background color. If necessary, we will modify the title and menu colors for your site to suit the background color that is displayed.

13. Why is my link table background black? I didn't ask it to be set as black.

If the URL of your source code is incorrectly specified, the background will change to black. Contact and ask for the source code URL to be corrected.

If you still have questions, feel free to us.