A self-assembling posse in the Investments subdomain encouraged tens of thousands of users to buy small lots of a failing stock. The price skyrocketed, putting a squeeze on hedge fund short sellers, who ended up losing billions. The press billed that as grassroots Davids beating capitalism’s Goliaths. I knew it wasn’t that, but I didn’t have an account and wasn’t posting my opinions. This was the first time that a lot of people realized that the stock market had become a variant on Texas Hold ’Em with no relation to fundamentals.
