STS122

Is there a good reason why I can't perform any transactions with the STS122 stock despite it being before the deadline? I'm trying to sell the shares I have but it says that transactions on this stock are currently halted.

Never mind. Should've read earlier posts first...

STS-122 has launched at 2:45 PM EST today

Carrying the PopSci staffers who would normally be maintaining PPX

-erick99
http://www.ppxchat.com/

I shorted this back when it said January and didn't really look at it again until after it was halted. Then I've sat for weeks to see if the shuttle launched. Now the shuttle launched and I've still not seen an official statement from the admins here as to how they are going to handle this.

This lack of a position or statement bothers me more than them telling me that they're screwing me out of the profits by changing the date after I'd done my transaction. This lack of a position or statement communicates that they just don't give a damn about PPX or those who participate. To see the PPX listings in the PopSci magazine is starting to turn my stomach.

PPX was a great idea, but an inability to make a decisions has many repercussions including emboldening cheaters who don't have to worry about strong admins stopping them, as well as turning away those of us who are using PPX for the purpose of showing public opinion on the proposals as it was designed.

I truly hope this decision gets made before another day passes.

I bought this long after the wording was changed. Then I sat on it, until trading was halted. Then I watched as the weather situation put the launch in question... and then I watched the launch.

I know there are a lot of people with gripes about this prop, but I staked my position and stayed with it even when I could have changed.

Not to be a pollyanna, but I should get paid.

And I don't think I'm the only one.

Yes, I agree you should get paid... however there are some of us that shorted it when the IPO originally said the end of January was the date for the shuttle launch (the 26th, I believe...)

Honestly, I don't care a whole lot about the whole ordeal... just give those who shorted and got screwed their money back, and those who bought long their winnings. I'm now stuck with 300+ short shares... sitting there doing nothing, and I can't use the money that I used to short because it's frozen.

It's now been over 2 weeks since they halted the account... just repay everyone what they bought at, and let it be... how hard is that?

I don't know of an equitable solution to this problem. Halting the stock actually made the problem worse.

People who held it short weren't able to adjust their position after it was halted, and those who were away from the game for about a day may not have realized the wording was changed until after the halt.

I bought it long at 50.25. While I originally felt it was a certain short, I wasn't going to buy it until it actually moved.

Paying anyone who held it either way $100 might be equitable, but it doesn't allow for people who might have planned to buy in closer to the deadline. On the other hand, those players benefited by not having their PPX$ tied up.

Reversing any and all transactions involving the stock might make sense, but I suspect the software isn't set up to do this.

As long as there is the intent to be fair to all involved, I'm OK with any solution they can implement "soon".

I initially shorted the stock when the date was the original date. Then when they changed the date rather then halting the wrong one, refunding the money and then reissuing one with the right date, I changed mine to buy with at that time about 5 or 6 thousand in loss, but since the shuttle was successful launched before the deadline of the stock it will pay out at $100 so I don't really care that I lost a few thousand. I lose and gain that everyday on stocks.

By the way Admin's when are you going to pay out the STS122?

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Du ska få en dag i mårå som rein og ubrukt står,og med blanke ark og farjestifter tel
(You shall get another day tomorrow that clean and unused stands, and with blank paper and crayons too)
- Alf Prøysen
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Why even try to get the admins to reply? Just expect more of the same silence. COME ON, admins, the hopelessly addicted PPX players are people too! Talk to us!

Tomorrow will be one week after the launch. This is getting ridiculous, and by the way the game is a lot more fun when claim pay promptly after completion.

Pay the claim, then figure out how you're going to adjust things for those who lost on the pre-change claim later...if you are.

Just my $.02.

HI All
I'm pasting the relevant STS information from a different thread, apologies to those reading it twice.

First, my apologies for not responding sooner. You're right that there has been a dearth of responses; the relaunch of both PPX and PopSci and the subsequent cleanup, and debugging has taken up a considerable chunk of time and has impacted our level of response. Rest assured, we read the forums constantly and do address problems you bring up, but we haven't been communicating much of that to you, and that's half the issue.

As for STS122, I didn't want to address it without having an update to present, and unfortunately that is still the case. The administration and the programming is separated enough that I cannot note specifics of what is happening with it, except to say that everyone is aware of the problem, we are actively trying to figure out how best to refund money (something we've never had to do before and is proving more complicated than expected), and we're hoping it won't be much longer.

Again, my sincere apologies about both the lack of communication and the vague information on STS122. I hope to have a further update later today.

Rabbit,

I appreciate your response. I hope you're not planning on 'refunding' my money, but instead paying out the claim as it sits today. All of us who went long after the claim was changed deserve $100/share.

My strong recommendation is to never 'freeze' a stock before its completion date. It causes far more problems than it solves.

Regardless of your decision(s), this additional delay isn't helping a thing.

CarpeDiem,

I disagree wholeheartedly. This proposition needs to be refunded because of the inability to trade on it.

I shorted the day before it halted, but I would have had ample time to switch my position if trading was open. Should I lose my position because I had no control over the stock? Absolutely not.

I do agree wholeheartedly that stocks should NEVER be frozen prior to the completion date. To do otherwise always ends up with a problem.

NARC,

I agree with you and everyone else that this stock was poorly handled from day one. I myself lost about 14k when the prop changed dates. I did, however, have plenty of time to change my position before the prop was halted. Everyone fusses about losing money while away from the computer, and to some degree I can sympathize and understand. But at some point, if the reason you play this game is make make some fake money, and you don't want to sustain huge losses then you need to check in more often. If you were trading on the NYSE I bet you'd keep a close eye on it. I myself rarely, if ever, log onto PPX on the weekends and sometimes it costs me some fake cash by missing new info, etc. But that's okay. If I was that worried about it, I'd check more often. But since I don't I accept that there will be consequences. My point is markets, any markets, real or fake, are subject to sudden flucuations and if you don't have your finger on the pulse when they happen, you're going to suffer some losses. I'd say that there was a pretty narrow window between changing the prop and halting the prop, but there was a window nevertheless. At the very least, payout to those of us who were holding in the right direction when it halted. Those caught holding short, give them their 50k back and let's move on.

The problem is not that people should have been more observant, the problem is that the terms were changed without warning and then the stock was frozen. This not only disadvantages people who bought the stock in good faith under the original terms but then prevented them from attempting to recover their losses by changing their position. Since the stock has been frozen for the majority of the time since its introduction even those who bought after the date change haven't had the opportunity to buy and sell as market forces affected the price of the stock. Therefore the only way to fairly compensate the holders of this stock, short or long, regardless of purchase date, is to refund their initial investment.

Some might argue that this is unfair because it doesn't compensate investors for the time that their funds were frozen when that money could have been used on the open market. However trying to determine adequate and fair compensation based on when they bought, if they sold, if they repurchased under the new terms, etc., etc. would only mean further delays and would only elicit complaints from those who feel the compensation is inadequate. It also simplifies the process of figuring out what everyone is "owed" since the number of transaction per person is probably fairly low and I assume in many cases there was only one transaction placed per person.

Well said Diesel.

However, I had 2 transactions placed.

I shorted the stock when it was originally released, as I knew it would never happen. Once they changed the proposition, it shot up over $7 and I lost $8K.

I looked at it again and thought that it was worth shorting again, so I am shorted 1000 at $59.25.

So there's 2 transactions for me, and I don't think that is necessarily unusual for other players as well.

NARC,

So are you saying you shorted the stock, then the date on the prop was changed at which point you covered, and then at a later date shorted it again and at that point the stock was frozen?

If I am understanding that correctly then the answer is simple. You should get back the money you have tied up in the stock now plus a refund of money lost on the initial sale of the stock. Considering that this stock was a surefire short when it was introduced I have a feeling that a lot of people never gave it much thought after their initial investment. So my guess would be that people like you with multiple transactions would be in the minority.

You've got it exactly right - which is part of the reason why I think it is difficult for PPX to figure out how to fix it.

Hi All
Refunds should be through for all traders by Friday. Here is how they will work:

Traders will get back initial investment and any and all gains or losses. If you shorted and then covered, you'll get back the initial investment and the loss incurred after covering.

Thanks, rabbit.

Thanks for fixing everything. The money's back in my account.

Thank you!!!!

Thanks, I'm really glad to see that you guys did this in a fair and equatable manner.

So those of us who had the correct position are just screwed in the whole deal?
Explain how that's "fair"!

It's not. But that's life. (realize that most of use the word "life" as a synonym for "PPX")

The decision was fair in the sense that everyone was treated in the same manner. It was as if the stock had never existed in the first place.

If you wanted to pay out based upon who purchased "correctly" you would first have to solve the problem of figuring out what was the correct position. With the date of the prop being changed there would be multiple groups who could claim that they were in the correct position when they bought. Do they all get the full payout? What about those who shorted when the stock was a sure-fire winner as a short and then changed their position, do they just get the $100 or is there some sort of compensation for there losses on the transition from short to long?

To try and figure out multiple compensation strategies based upon when someone bought, if they went short or long, and if they had changed their position before the stock was frozen would have been overly complex and probably just held our money up for an even longer period of time. Even then the idea that that would have satisfied everyone is laughable.

I still have not gotten a payout on this. It has yet to show up on my transactions. It just disappeared from my portfolio. I was short with the orginale wording, and then went long when the date was extended.

Dakota, you probably just missed it. It showed up as an offset to your original transaction in your Bank Account history, there was no transaction made in the Trade History (IIRC).

NARC, I am going to assume you are correct.