Glorieux,

Depends how one defines "pumper." To me, there is a spectrum of pumping, starting with those that deliberately hype, irrespective of their true feelings, with the intention of moving the stock price. These people are basically dishonest. The other end of the pumping spectrum are those who can't see any (or enough) blemishes on the company and its prospects, but are 100% honest, and post only what they believe. In the middle of that spectrum are those that believe 100% in the company, but consciously emphasize the positive and downplay or ignore the negative when posting.

For those on the honest end of the spectrum, almost no matter what happens, or what they hear or read, their translation of same is always positive. Once in a while, people falling into this category happen to be correct, but the odds are against them. For these basically good folk, there is always some way to rationalize results that were not as good as hoped for, or a share price that moves in the wrong direction.

I think many posters are such big NOT/ROF fans, that objectivity is difficult, if not impossible, to maintain (not an evil thing, just human nature). Thus, I think that those who read their posts who are not experienced in investing or mining or stock message boards or any combination of the foregoing, come away "pumped" regarding the prospects for the stock. As a result, some of those readers may end up investing more than they should, and can get seriously burned (if you believe their stories, some posters borrowed significant funds to buy NOT and/or other ROF companies, and that was when the prices were a lot higher). It can be an expensive education.

Not to put words in his mouth, but I think that's Franz's position. I've long been in that camp, and many of my posts, especially earlier ones, have been consistent with that feeling.

Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoy reading many of what I characterize as "pump" posts, because, being a skeptic by nature, I need to read some positive stuff; it provides a little balance for me. And, if I just think about the progress of the company and the ROF (and not focus on the share price), it's very exciting, and I continue to believe that investment in NOT represents a very positive risk/reward.

Calling someone a "pumper" is certainly considered pejoritive, but it's just a word and to me; many pumpers are just very or maybe unrealistically optimistic people. Maybe I'm just jealous, cuz I've never been hugely optimistic, and life might be better that way. That's why I rooted for Greg Norman yesterday, but figured Harrington would win!