When will Microsoft announce its intent to buy Yahoo?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070504/ap_on_hi_te/microsoft_yahoo;ylt=ArHEavfPyw6BE0_z5VS.hvMWM0F?

So you closed this market out based on an article with this quote:

“Yahoo spokeswoman Joanna Stevens also declined comment, saying ‘We don’t discuss rumors and speculation.’”

Nice.

We contacted the market maker and agreed this market should be opened back up because of the non-comments from both companies; nothing official was ever stated, just rumors. -Inkling Management

The decision to reopen this market, after it had been CASHED OUT was a terrible decision. It is analogous to having an umpire reverse a decision at home base AFTER the game has finished.

cygnusx:

According to the market title, this market will be cashed out based on Microsoft announcing intent.

You posted some hearsay, presumably after buying a great deal of stock. Then the market manager made a mistake, didn’t read the article I guess, and closed on the basis of rumors that Microsoft refused to even comment on.

Now, I’ve screwed up admining markets a couple times, so I’m not trying to ostracize the Market manager, but that kind of mistake isn’t akin to an umpire reversing a decision at home base after the game is over. It’s something closer to the umpire calling the game after the 4th inning because somebody told him one team had forfeit, and then letting the game go on when he found out that wasn’t actually the case.

If there is no means to overrule mistakes made by market managers, Inkling looses credibility. I can’t make large risky investments if I feel like I could loose it all because one random market manager hits the wrong button or doesn’t read an article thoroughly.

If there’s no oversight, then for all I know the guy managing the Republican Nomination market (no offense to whoever that is, example only) could turn out to be an immature Ron Paul fanboy who closes the market out as if Ron Paul wins, and looses me thousands of Inklings.

Incidentally, there’s more hearsay out today suggesting that Microsoft has dropped talks with Yahoo and the entire deal is completely off the table. This is no more confirmed than your link, but it demonstrates that the market closure was rather premature.

Zakarria, I don’t take issue with your point that there should be some method of appeal. What I objected to was that after the market was cashed out, there was no way to know that it was reopened without specifically going back to look for it – which I had no occassion to do. I am guessing from your comment that you placed the appeal. So you knew something was up. I didn’t because once I deleted the results of the market which I did immediately, I had nothing in the dashboard to indicate the transaction was nullified and that some were selling a market that I thought did not exist.

This also trickled on to other position in other markets. All of a sudden I could not cover a short because there were insufficent funds – not just in this market but any in which I had sold short. Normally, as you know, that can’t happen because a sufficient amount of money is set aside to cover a short sale. It was almost by accident that I came across the market again.

But, to your original assertion that I published hearsay. I left a link to a published article and no comment on my part whatsoever. If someone notified the market-marker asking for a decision, it was not me. I would have been content not to have had the market close at the time it did. It was much a surprise to me as anyone else when it closed.

As for the implicit condemnation that I bought a lot of stock when I thought I knew where the market was going; you did not get to where you are on the top traders list by not doing the same many times yourself. If there is some unwritten rule prohibiting such a thing I am unaware of it.

Anyway, I really do appreciate your viewpoint and your extensive response.

That makes a lot of sense. There was definitely something messed up with how the computer handled it, I had some issues trying to buy back in (they fixed it). And notification of stuff like this needs some work.

Sorry if I came off a little harsh, I didn’t mean to be condemning about buying the stocks or linking to your rationale, that’s definitely how the game’s played. I just meant to point out that your view of which part of the mess was terrible might be a bit different than others. :-P

Anyway, sounds like we were arguing two different points and don’t really disagree on much of anything. Correct closures are good, notification of adjustments are good, the software is imperfect. Ah well. Cheers!

You’re both right… there was definitely a mistake here, and we can all acknowledge that, but reopening was ridiculous. I lost a lot of money from the exact effect Cygnus describes below, which is really lame.

At this point, I would support comprehensive refunds.

Ok, that’s two of us but I don’t know what can be done.

Postscript: Finally, the position for this market appeared on my dashboard last night and I was able to close it out – so someone did something about it since it did not magically happen by itself. [Thanks, Adam]. But after just short of a week of my account being frozen, I lost about 70% of the total value across the board. I had something similiar to this happen to me in the platinum markets years ago. It is good that this is just a game!

wow, nothing so dire over here. that’s a tough break. thank goodness for play money