Alberta, Canada (May 21, 1999) -- Change is afoot in the Foolish Workshop! As many of you have noticed and commented, the Workshop needs a tighter focus. Here is what we plan to do:
1) We are going to concentrate on mechanical models exclusively and provide more in-depth discussion of various aspects of mechanical model investing with emphasis on tested models.
2) We are moving Beating the S&P to the Foolish Four area. This column will still run on Wednesdays.
3) We'll be dropping the rising margins screen.
4) Alas, my regularly scheduled column on Friday afternoons will also be a thing of the past. I will be writing one column a month, however, to go over special situations and to update the Most Appearances model portfolio.
5) Finally, we've hired a data research monster here at Fool HQ. One of the responsibilities of this data monster will be to backtest. We're pretty happy about this.
Initially, we will be running columns twice a week as we tighten the focus and develop writers who are able to share some of the exciting work that goes on in the Workshop with a larger audience. Which brings me to...
Perhaps most exciting of all is that we'll be having guest columnists from our community share their Workshop thoughts on a regular basis. If there's anything we've learned over time, it's that the most knowledgeable voices in this forum are your voices. We have smart folks from the community as guests on our radio show, we quote people in our columns, and we share stories of your genius with our family and friends. We're hoping that many of you will want to share your thoughts more formally in our columns. If you're at all interested in guest hosting one of the columns, please contact TMFAnnC@aol.com.
As always, thanks to everyone who has given us feedback and helped us shape the future of the Workshop. This is an evolutionary process, and I have no doubt that we'll continue to change and innovate based on your needs.
