SubscribeWallStreetOasis.com - Winter 2008 Newsletter
Dear Fellow Primates,
We have officially passed 10,000 MEMBERS!!! (actually right around 10,500 now). So we have hit the magical 10,000 member mark. What makes it so magical? I’m not sure, but probably more important than the number of registered users in our community is that it is more active than ever before. With new features, active discussions, job postings, and a strong push on the web development front, the site has made significant improvements over the last 3 months. I plan to continue reinvesting the ad revenue back into the site to make it even better and provide even more new features. Please keep the great suggestions coming in the Site Suggestions forum. I hope all of you have had a great holiday season and are enjoying 2008.
Don’t forget to apply to or post finance jobs here:
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/jobs
Profiled Jobs:
- Pre-MBA PE Associate - Greenwich, CT http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/node/12120
- Senior IB Analyst - Plantation, FL http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/node/12536
I’ve been busy over the past month getting some new features installed. These include:
- Certified User designation for members that prove they are working in the industry (through email verification) and/or provide knowledgeable advice in a mature manner in the forums. Now any time a Certified User posts a Forum topic or Comment in the forums, he/she will have a star next to their name so that other users and newbies know that the source is more reputable
- My Blog – I am now writing a blog about the progress of the site and other random musings at my account at WallStreetOasis.com if you want to follow along more frequently than these quarterly newsletters. I also strongly encourage all of you to start your own blog about your job search, years as an analyst or anything you wish (just log in and click “My Blog” in your userbox and post away). There are over 5,000 visits to the site each day so you would have an immediate audience for your material…and assuming I like what you write, I would promote your posts to the front page from time to time to increase your exposure.
- Ad Revenue – I am experimenting with various ad services to try and monetize the traffic better. Early indications with installing Kontera (those links within the text) could add a decent amount of ad revenue which will help me finish a lot of other initiatives including the tasks below...or at least cover part of the monthly server costs
- Donations - I've also made it possible for users to donate to the site here: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/donations If you feel the site has helped you, I would appreciate the donation so we can keep cranking out the improvements and growing the community.
Initiatives to Come:
- User generated polls – I will be installing a new advanced polling module soon that allows users to create their own polls within threads. Should provide for some interesting polls.
- Better content – I am on the prowl for some good writers that can write for the Oasis to provide us with good daily material for the home page. The forums are great, but professional writers with a good sense of humor would make the site even more entertaining and useful.
- RSS Feeds - there are a few RSS feeds that allow you to subscribe to certain areas of the site including the home page and this Quarterly newsletter. BUT, I would really like to make it so users can subscribe to other users and individual threads (instead of just full forum topics like it is now) -- coming soon!
- Chimp Chat Rooms are IM-style chat rooms that registered users
can create to talk with someone 1 on 1 or in a large group. Easy to set
up and instant communication for those looking to network or just chat
with others working late into the night...unfortunately i had to temporarily disable this feature as chat seemed to cause internet explorer to freeze. - Voting/Ranking Threads and Links – We will soon have ranked
threads so that registered users can rank each thread on a scale of 1-5
bananas. Note, we have also applied this ranking system to the Links
section. So within each sub-category for links you will see the highest
ranked links listed first. Please feel free to vote away to bring your
favorite finance sites to the top. You will also soon notice a new footer
area that has the Highest Ranked Links and Highest Ranked Threads for
your enjoyment. - New Compensation Database - with a lot more users in a variety of industries we have some interesting data on compensation to dig through. I have now made the compensation in the profiles anonymous. If you can help me by entering / updating your compensation data in your profile (it will remain anonymous) I will be able to release a new database by the next newsletter.
Thank you for your contributions. I will not rest until WallStreetOasis.com is the most useful and entertaining online finance community.
Please help spread the word by using the invite block on the left-hand side of your screen and/or sending out a quick email to your colleagues and friends.
Stay Strong,
Patrick
WallStreetOasis.com…Where Monkeys Come to Play
Bookmark Us
