I don't think anyone should ever 'recommend' that anyone purchase anything - and I generally think people steer clear of that sort of language.
There are loads of threads on there about potential shares, they seem to go perfectly fine - and as this has not been raised as a problem at all I'm confused as to why it keeps being brought up.
Here's a perfectly good recent and ongoing thread that talks of potential shares, and starts with the phrase: "I was wondering if anybody had spotted a share that had drifted into the HYP selection criteria recently that isn't one of the usual suspects."
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=12785This is all perfectly normal and happens all the time with no problem at all.
itsallaguess wrote:Just to be clear then Mel, is someone allowed to discuss a 'potential' share that *doesn't* meet the current HYP Practical 'criteria', but the rule is that it cannot be promoted as an option to *purchase* it for a HYP, as it currently does not *meet* the criteria?
Well, I didn't say anything about 'promoted' so I don't really understand your question. I don't think we want the board to suddenly be discussing foreign shares, for example, as we agreed years ago that it was UK shares only - these are the criteria I mean, they cannot suddenly NOT be foreign shares, can they? I suppose if they did (a reverse Unilever) then yes, that would be fine to discuss how they might fare as an HYP pick when they get into the Ftse. But we might as well count hens' teeth as discuss that!
The vast majority of the posters seem to do fine on there and seem able to understand it, just some people want to pick the rules apart until they are totally meaningless.
The line in the rules is: "Discussion of potential shares, and of shares which have been selected in the past, is acceptable on the HYP Practical Board." - seems really simple to me.
If a share is an IT, or foreign, or an ETF - then it, by definition, can never be a potential HYP share. If it pays no divi, then it's not an HYP share unless it was in the past (Tesco, Lloyds....though I know they are paying out again now) but can be discussed (there is no 'promoted' nor 'recommendations to buy' etc) .
For potential then it needs to meet, or potentially be about to meet, the other criteria: "a portfolio comprised exclusively of ordinary shares. If selected, such shares should have a dividend yield above the average for the FTSE100 index and be drawn from the constituents of the FTSE 350 index."
If it doesn't do any of that then it's not a potential HYP share at all. Course, it might not be obvious whether it will and I would say discussing if a share looks like it might come into the criteria is a valid discussion (as long as it doesn't veer off into discussions about what the criteria should be, what the strategy is and whether it works in the first place etc etc - that can go on the other board).
Mel