Marketcents.com

Marketcents Sides with Agoracom on OSC Dispute

The Ontario Securities Commission – the guardian at the gates. The living embodiment Dudley Do- right, on guard for thee or them as the case may be…. Such valiance (valiance as in powerful or vigilance as in ever watchful to protect your safety? Or both valiance and vigilance – sounds more detailed about what who we are dealing with) and a picture of integrity amongst the heathen, philistine (means have no faith or religion, believe in nothing are ignorant and no boundaries of decency) stock promoters.

Our heroes have targeted another villain. Agoracom has been fingered by the long arm of Do-right and Co as vultures preying off uninformed and gullible penny widowed and orphaned stock players. The immediate results to the accused who are guilty until proven innocent were a huge drop in traffic, loss of income and loss of integrity within the business and investment communities.

The rest of the investment community has attacked George Tsiolis and his management team without due process, or using any common sense. Marketcents believes that Agoracom has only fulfilled their obligations to their clients, in a fashion which has crossed no legal or moral boundaries.  Who would know better……the Trading Chief boss who has seen his rankings dwindle to the environs of nowhere? Or a contemporary and enlightening chatboard system that has left the other big three…Investor Village, Stockhouse and themselves clearly sucking the wrong end of the hose? Do right was quick to pounce on them and the desperado tactic brings me to question who was really behind the complaints fielded by the OSC??? From this 33 year veteran’s point of view, well away from the corporate hustle with his free, independent website, Agoracom provides leadership in renewing chatboards to where they ought to have evolved to years ago. The old guard doesn’t like the refreshing breeze that has swept away a huge portion of their viewers bringing Agoracom into mainstream stock promotion ….and, most importantly to them…eroding profits….Oh me oh my……..As we know, profit is the only thing that matters to the old guard.

Agoracom is accused of using multiple IDs to influence investors’ decisions in particular issues. George Tsiolis has made it clear the OSC is in for a fight and will defend any accusations of illegal conduct with vigor. I have come to know Mr. Tsiolis a little. When he states “with vigor” he means it. Here’s a heads up to the OSC investigation squad….Expect to be shaken not stirred….and keep the ice handy for the giant headache you are creating for yourselves whilst you defend us idiots from evil.

I ask you, the reader….when a company hires you to do a job, in this case shed a light favorably on their company’s merits: is it not the fiduciary duty of Agoracom to fulfill this obligation? Of course it is, and to do it in the best way they can, to the full extent of their ability as long as it is not illegal and as long as they don’t make false statements? I for one, cannot believe Agoracom would go beyond what has been done by every single legitimate promoter since the inception of a stock market: Tell the story from a slanted and true perspective.

Should the OSC claim victory and find the accused guilty at the kangaroo court level, here’s the rub IV, SH.TC – we will all be out of business for the crime of promoting a stock.

Now, in the more likely event of acquittal on all counts, lest we forget our glorious ex prime minister, Brian Mulroney – even though a $300,000 bribe was directly traced through his income tax, Canadian courts awarded him $2.1million in damages without batting an eyelash or even being requested. I foresee much larger damages to a growing business’ reputation and direct loss of ability to go public attainable to this action. I sincerely hope victory on all counts for the subject of this unwarranted witch hunt and a suitable settlement.

In closing and in the interests of full, true and plain disclosure, before anyone states or assumes I was paid or asked to write this as a competitor: I have volunteered and was in fact the one who initiated contact with Agoracom.  My roots as a ‘writer’ are directly due to the influence and impressions Agoracom’s chat boards have made upon me. This was my sole motivation in the exercise. With my 33 years experience in the business, I have also offered testimony as an expert witness should they request it.

Comments and feedback are welcome, and will be presented in the same form as received, with the exception of anything that may cause me legal problem, which has always been the standard at marketcents.com.

Bob Gilbert

aka royrogers

www.marketcents.com

Following is a transmission that George Tsiolis has allowed me to reprint for this article.It should be noted that  he wrote this text  prior to mine and had no editorial input whatsever in this blog. It is the only public statement made by Agoracom and MarketCents feels privileged to have him speak through our medium. That’s all I have to say about that!!

“Though we regret our current involvement with the OSC, we have been carried by the outpouring of support received from clients, the small-cap industry and investors.  Each have gone out of their way to contact us via e-mail, telephone and in person to tell us how much AGORACOM means to them and to pledge their support. As one executive stated via e-mail from Mexico “You are one of the good guys”.  The support is indicative of the fact that our track record has built up so much credit in the AGORACOM goodwill account.

Yes, it is unfortunate that some will treat you as guilty before even hearing both sides. As you point out, the shots are primarily being taken by competitors. We are not going to respond to them directly – at this time – as most investors are smart enough to see the obvious conflicts.  Rather, we’d like to point out that people should carefully consider the following:  Taken out of context, anybody can paint a one-sided picture about people, places and things.  For example, I can take a hard-working father and portray him as an absentee parent.  Make a hard working student look over ambitious and portray a battle field General as a blood-thirsty killer. Taken out of context, we can paint a one-sided picture out of just about anything.  Only a fool or an opportunist makes a decision without hearing both sides.

To this end, we have a lot to say and look forward to any potential hearing with great anticipation.  We hope that day doesn’t come and that a sensible resolution will prevail.  If that day comes, however, we want our members, clients and partners to be in full attendance.  We want you to hear it all.  We know that we have not only not done anything illegal, AGORACOM has, in fact, gone above and beyond in its efforts to help both small-cap companies and investors.  For more than a decade, small-cap investors and their companies were taken advantage of by brutal online attacks. Until AGORACOM came along, there was no way for companies to defend themselves. No way to put their best foot forward, no way to repel the endless waves of anonymous attacks. Incumbents not only stood by, they actually profited from the situation.  Discussion forum sites sold banner ads to the blood baths, while trading sites used the swings to trade to their portfolios’ content.  Nobody cared. Everybody took the easy, friction-free route to profits.

AGORACOM changed all of that.  We created friction.  Against bashers, against predators.  We stood up to fight for companies and their shareholders when nobody else would – and we are extremely proud of the fact that small-cap investors and companies joined our platform to create a powerful community, the likes of which had never been seen in the small-cap world.  For the first time ever, an online platform, investors and companies banded together to beat back predatory Hedge Funds and mega-cap companies from stealing our companies.  We made history together – and that scared some people in the process.

I have every confidence that we will continue to make history together for years to come. Until then, all we ask for is the benefit of the doubt as you uphold our presumption of innocence.

Thanks for the opportunity to contribute to your article.

Regards,

George Tsiolis, LL.B

Founder

“AGORACOM”