[Justin]

The spreadsheet is throwing errors because MSN has been making a lot of minor adjustments to the layout of their website. The spreadsheet uses web queries to extrapolate the financial data from specific tables as they would appear on MSN's Money's website. The spreadsheet uses dozens of complex calculations that are based on the data that it assumes is correct. This means that if MSN Money decides to shift the placement of their data even one cell to the left, right, up or down, the spreadsheet will be acting on inaccurate data, and in many cases, no data at all.

This is the primary reason for the recurring errors on the spreadsheet, and the primary reason that we can not rely on any one piece of data or software to be our sole means of research and analysis. Even at 100% functionality, the spreadsheet is nothing more than a tool. A means to facilitate but not replace the research that ultimately we must be willing to perform on our own.

This seems like an appropriate time to mention the "Get Quotes" tab. You may have noticed that we've added some additional links to the navigation bar at the top of the page. This is our money folks we've got to be willing to check and re-check the data - no matter where it comes from. The "Get Quotes" tab is a search tool that will let you check the financial background of any given company with some 5 or 6 major data sites. This is a great way to help verify that the data you are using is accurate so definately take advantage of it.

Please remember guys, this spreadsheet is the result of a volunteer effort. It's difficult to allocate the time needed to maintain this as though it is professionally developed commercial software. We are working on a fix that will reflect the latest changes to the data site and will post that as soon as it becomes available. We are also exploring a few more long term solutions to the spreadsheet that should help simplify the tool and alleviate the almost constant need for these updates.

Thanks,
Justin