What is common among most trading systems posted here?

One thing that is common about most trading systems posted here is the following:

1) Someone opens a thread saying something like this "I made 300 pips with this easy to trade system last month"

2) Then he explains his system. "Use these following indicators on the 4hr time frame only. Wait for this indicator to cross that indicator and/or this indicator must be above this level heading towards this direction. Once this happens you enter. Easy as that."

3) Then the posts start rolling in. The first 10 postings are all very positive and everyone reading it is impressed with it. And everyone is making pips. And there is always someone who want to create an expert advisor for this system. He is coding like a mad dog. In the mean time there is one dedicated follower who loves this system and he then "hijacks" the system from the owner and starts responding on behalf of the owner to all questions.

4) Then the trending market turns into a ranging market and now the postings are not so positive anymore. Everyone wants to know what is happening now cause the signals are not coming and those signals that are coming are all unreliable. The owner of the trading system now adds additional filters and indicators that was never part of this easy to trade system. He even switches to a lower time frame. So now we are not trading the 4hr charts anymore but the 15mins. With some help from all his followers he they even come up with a version 2. (Or in TEB's case 3 different versions.)

5) In the end most of the followers are now so confused that they lose interest in the system.

6) Oh yeah and there is always someone who sends postings as to why this particular system is a waste of time and will not work in the long run. Then this turn into a personal battle with one or more people banned from the site.

7) In the end everyone is mad at each other so they close the tread. Only to meet up when the next trading system gets posted.

So what is the point of this story? All these systems will be profitable in a trending market. None of them will be profitable in a ranging market. End of story

Hahahah that was one good post mate

I would say there is a variation on the possible path like:

4) the dedicated followers want to improve the system because even if it is good it is not 100% accurate. So they add more indicators to filter false trades, making the original system much more complicated.
The original system still works but nobody remembers it because everybody is looking for the best filter. Of course at the end no filter is good enough.

then we are back on your point 5)

So sometimes the original system is still profitable in average but people want so much to add their personal touch that it gets messy and then nothing works anymore.