This exactly. Whoever volunteers to take care on this order book is welcome to step up. I refused to continue for a simple reason: maintaining the order book also implies arbitration responsibility, which in this case is not possible. We can't dispute rules that were not specified but have been assumed to be common sense.
As lessons learned, whoever decides to continue the orderbook should
- start a new thread
- specify the exact rules (including those we forgot/missed here)
- import existing quotes from this thread
for a clean and fresh start.
Good Luck
Acknowledged and those interested in collaborating, please reply here. I have a few ideas but will need the input of others for it to be successful.
First let me say, I have no time to run the orderbook or moderate, but I feel I have a pretty good sense of how this should work. If acting moderator needs a second opinion, if I am available, I am willing to give one.
Proposed first draft of rules (please do read and comment):
0) Thread needs to stay on topic. Topic being an ASICMINER orderbook, and any rules clarifications. Nothing else.
1) This orderbook is only for actual ASICMINER shares, not PT shares. Any PT share bids/asks are invalid, and person doing so is in violation of thread rules.
2) The "current orderbook" consists of the last consolidated orderbook summary and any posts since then.
3) If moderator misses a bid/ask when summarizing we need to set a rule deciding whether or not that bid/ask stays valid. I would propose for simplicity's sake, that if a moderator misses a bid/ask, it is invalidated and needs to be reposted. (Hopefully this won't happen too often, and if it does, we should probably get a new moderator.)
4) If there is a matching bid and ask on the order book, they move to "execution" state and become binding immediately. This is true even before the trade is summarized as in execution. However, when the next summary is done the moderator should list those trades in the "execution" section. Zefir did a great job with this, and we can go back and look at his examples.
5) Bids and asks will be parsed by the moderator in chronological order.
6) A bidder or seller may retract their bid or ask if it is not in "execution" yet.
7) Lots need to be a minimum of 50 shares and should be in even multiples of 50 shares. (Wondering if we want to make this 100 shares instead of 50?)
What do we want to do if someone breaks the rules? IE: quits out of binding trade? My sense is offending party should be barred from thread.
9) Two parties in execution may back out of a trade in execution, only if both parties agree, and post so publicly. (I would say this should be discouraged though.)
10) After a trade has been executed both parties need to say so publicly.
11) Escrow is not required, but encouraged for new traders who are selling. (buyer beware.)
Anything else? (Please note there was some questions in there that we as a group should answer.)