Ridiculous suspend dates!

I would have preferred the Chinese Democracy question to have a slightly shorter end date since very few people will keep their money in for the whole life of the question and it would have had some validity as a question closing at the end of next year.

It has always been our intention to have long-running questions such as these though, where people are able to buy and sell predictions based on the story as it develops, much like the financial markets in long-lifed bonds, where the original purchaser is very unlikely to be the owner at payout time. In this case for example there isn't really much chance of the release happening in the next year but I might like to take a bet at a low percentage on the basis that many bands end up reforming and putting out disappointing new material. An announcement of a tour might then encourage other people to make a prediction, moving the market so that I can sell my original prediction at a profit without having to wait for the close.

The fact that the odds cannot easily be guessed is what makes prediction markets valuable - effectively our percentage should factor in the considered views of a lot of people on the basis of all the information available at the time.

I don't understand what your objection to them is. As with all markets which don't interest me, I simply don't play them

The more pressing problem is questions that have suspend dates way before the settlement is possible. Once a question suspends there is no market until settlement.