More people are becoming comfortable with user generated online content. Exactly the reason behind the phenomenal success of Wikipedia. But it‘s one thing to refer an online source of information on your favorite movie or a particular mobile model and quite another to trust a user-generated website for stock information.

Wikinvest is building a database of user-generated investment information on popular stocks. A senior at Yale writes about the energy industry, for example and a mother in Arizona tracks children’s retail chains. Users annotate stock charts with notes explaining peaks and valleys, edit company profiles and opine about whether to buy or sell.

“Our philosophy as a site is that there are a lot of things added when humans participate,” said Michael Sha, who started the company with Parker Conrad in 2006.

But the Wikimodel has its shortcomings. The absence of a single arbiter of accuracy could result in manipulators spreading misleading information to try and move stocks. To prevent this, Wikinvest requires contributions to be factual and to cite evidence, and it depends on users to quickly remove those that are not. It covers companies only with a market value of at least $100 million because they are more actively traded and less susceptible to price manipulation. And if someone lies about a company, they are subject to prosecution for securities fraud.

Of course, people “have to understand that whenever you use a wiki, you get what you pay for.” And take more responsibility for their investment decisions.

Via : International Herald Tribune