Why is WSO so dead nowadays
Idk it just feels like shit compared to what it way even just 2-5 years ago. Good posts so rare now.
Nov 17, 2024
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From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship
“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”
Based on the highest ranked content on WSO, several users have expressed concerns about the current state of the site. Here are some key points:
Quality of Discussions: Many users feel that the quality of discussions has declined. There are complaints about the site being dominated by inside jokes, rivalries, and political debates, which detract from professional and informative content.
Moderation Issues: There have been mentions of moderation efforts that might not be addressing the core issues effectively. Some users feel that the site has become less professional and more focused on trivial matters.
Departure of Serious Professionals: It's noted that serious professionals have left the site over time, possibly due to the increase in non-professional and politically charged content.
Trolls and Low-Quality Posts: The presence of trolls and low-quality posts, such as those from inexperienced users or those making irrelevant comments, has been a significant issue. This has led to frustration among long-time users who seek valuable information and discussions.
Changes in User Engagement: Some users have mentioned that they have stopped posting or engaging with the site due to the negative changes in the community dynamics.
For more detailed updates on moderation efforts, you can refer to the WSO thread titled "New WSO Moderation Efforts [Updates Here]" https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/investment-banking/new-wso-modera…</a">link.
Sources: New WSO Moderation Efforts [Updates Here], Considering Leaving WSO, New WSO Moderation Efforts [Updates Here], WSO, It Is Time To Talk, A message to all young people/students who browse this forum
Because they don’t promote it lol. If they worked with colleges and got it into classrooms they would 1000x the number of users
You do that, and you drive the actual professionals off the site. If I see 10x more ranking posts and dumb, vapid opinions on this site from a fucking sophomore, I'm out.
Tbh after some point it does get repetitive, there's like 1 interesting troll/dumb sophmore post a week and thats usually top post. We cant have 100x target school rankings and what should I do for technicals posts now.
Because the new generation is all about whining and looking for validation on the forum, can't google, or go through a basic thought process.
nice try GPT
Underrated comment
Snowflake generation can't even roast properly
Yeah it's not as good as it once was. A lot of the OG users don't post anymore as well. Most of the threads posted are the same recycled content.
One of the issues as an old user is that I've posted all the advice with a bunch of well read posts years ago. Would be kind of strange to post again and again in different formats. Most of the issues that I'm mostly interested in discussing now are later things in career which don't seem to get a good reception on here.
Same- I see the same questions over and over again to which I gave a nice writeup a few years back.. Don't want to write it again, don't want to have to search through my history and find the thread
Also they shadowbanned the CF forum, which has more or less nuked any content there
And finally, I've hit the phase of my career where I'm not just hopping around or following a beaten path- I have to be an expert and network and politic well. Makes it harder to relate
Maybe because WSO started deleting high-quality shitposts (racism and misogyny)
I’ve purposely tried to ask a diversity related question (sign on bonuses $60k higher for diversity) multiple ways and it’s always immediately deleted.
Honestly, they don’t care about racism. It’s the so called “misogyny” or questioning of female privilege which they want to censor.
WSO is woke now. Juicy incidents get censored in the name of misogyny. We are not far from days when young men will post about successful gender transition > BB A&A > PE Partner track
It’s a combination of factors: a lot of the legends and OGs have moved on. Some of the long-time posters (10+ years here) are just in different stages of life now and don’t/can’t contribute as frequently. Some of the newer users are Reddit weirdos who post dumb shit that isn’t as engaging.
But, together, I’m convinced we can make WSO great again.
We need the return of T30 Alumnus. They banned that racist who would create entertaining beefs.
no more drama and juicy lore — filled with low/semi target (michigan, uva, berkeley) sophomores
When’s the last time we’ve seen a paradise post?
I posted one about giveadvicepls and it got deleted
I’m an anonymous poster who has many of the highest ranked comments and posts. I probably made my first post on a different account more than a decade ago. Here is what I have noticed over the years:
the quality posts come from guys like me when I’m at the airport and want to rip a little nostalgia. Others could do it too, but to write a quality post usually requires bringing up a topic many are thinking about, or doing a deep dive into a commonly experienced phenomenon. To do the former, you need to be observant, to do the latter, you need to be an experienced analyst that sits down and walks through a topic like how to deal with stress as an analyst or how to recruit or some technical thing they are seeing. Nothings stopping you from doing that—be the change you want to see in the world young blood.
I might do a long post reflecting on the last decade+ at some point as a farewell to the website, but I’m not quite there yet.
As a 30-year old, I can feel your pain. Please don't dump this website & allow giveadvicepls to win the war for its soul
Yeah, this is a good summary. There still are a few monkeys from back in the day, but their contribution is limited, abovementioned reasons. This used to be a great site for insights, humour, help. Nowadays seems the "usual stuff" rules. Still, I contribute when I can, find a topic worth to discuss and where I can chip in with my input. I'm overjoyed when I see some of the old guard tuning is as well. But yeah, the days of Braverman, Compbanker, thebrofessor etc. churning first class posts on a daily/weekly basis are pretty much gone i'm afraid.
Ignore tag, been around here for quite some time. Those names do bring back great memories. Brofessor/Compbanker advice has always been on point, and the shitposts/rants from the older users have always been fun to read.
Maybe we have all become old as we reminisce on the "good old days".
because fintwit is amazing
Why don’t you try to make some good posts?
There aren’t many thoughtful topics from people in the industry - mainly because the users consist largely of:
- students trying to break in so their posts are about interviews/recruiting or jacking off to rankings for an industry they probably won’t spend more than a few years in
- people in industry mostly discussing exits or whatever fire is happening at their competitor banks
- trolls who can sometimes be humorous but otherwise spam the same mindless stuff all day, some of these guys haven’t even worked in this industry and post here for some reason (e.g. Isaiah)
That said, this forum is mainly to help students with recruiting with some thoughtful industry discussion so maybe it’s just being shaped by this generation of students.
...and don't forget: "didn't break into internship in IB. I'm cooked and lost"
This place used to be:
A source of knowledge. Really good questions and answers
A source of encouragement, as people gave tips and hints on how to achieve
A source of joy, with clever and witty writing
Less whinning and also less "which [insert here college/bank/fund] is better"
I pine for the days of braverman, even bought his book.
I think it’s reflective of the general domestication of finance over the past two decades.
the biggest guys were the traders who banked 30-50m paydays in a year, using hardcore mathematics to come up with derivatives that ripped the face off of counterparties. where a book called “straight to hell” was actually an accurate depiction of the culture of the place.
nowadays it’s all the imaginary money “DAW”, the ibd + pe 2+2 (that was never a thing), in the context of a more social media-ized world of cancel culture (where punching someone as an MD gets you fired).
there was a certain brutal edge to the old world you can glean in some of the older guys (talking the 60/70 year olds) that was watered down in my generation and completely diluted in the current.
Is this a bad thing? I think it’s just the normalization of an industry that had a prior boom.
there’s still pockets, the math nerd smurfers went to crypto and the “rip your face off” deal types still hang around in special sits and distressed land / fringe esoterics. But they wouldn’t be posting here as they are too old.
Sorry to digress, how does a poor mathematics nerd (Olympiad-level) in a random remote random nation find his way into the seats of these quant-ish traders who make the 8 digits you talk of?
The irony of this is just hilarious.
but my friend you will need a Time Machine, those days are done.
I got his book back in the day too! He used to have great stories on here! I wonder if he’s still living in France?
Thanks you for your insights! I'm very interested in the special sits, would it be possible to DM you for some help? Much appreciated!
Entertainment is lacking. Rankings, "banking sucks, I'm quitting peace out" and "does xyz group exit to PE" is the daily rotation. I probably should look inwards and admit I don't create entertaining posts either but goddamn, even the "is paradise" bros been slacking
I have no desire to constantly be debatebro'd by "Analyst 1 in IB - Cov" or "Prospect in IB - Cov". I generally don't engage with any anon accounts. We went from having big personalities writing meaningful posts to a bunch of little soy boy keyboard warriors who need to anonymize already anon accounts. If you're that much of a coward, you didn't have anything meaningful or interesting to say in the first place and given the amount of anon posting, see my point #1
This is a reflection of online discourse today, not just WSO in particular. There are very few conversations and way too many arguments. Everyone is right and they have to prove they are right and you have to admit they are right and there is no grey area or nuance. Egos are fragile and that shit is boring
Lastly, and I think this is the big one. Bullpen culture is completely different nowadays and its reflected here. I see it with my juniors and its so fucking dry. The camaraderie just isn't there. The ride together die together against shitty VPs, post-MBA associates and unreasonable MDs just doesn't feel like its common anymore.
I come here to get advice around random/weird ideas I have. Previously I'd get at least ~3 or 5 good responses, and some very very strong DMs. Now, I don't really get any responses. I've stopped posting as much because of that. It could be because I'm also more experienced, and things obvious to me were not when I was in my early twenties posting here.
Like the poster above posted, I think it's largely b/c Gen Z didn't grow up on forums the same way other generations did. I'm 31, so not super old, but I've been posting on forums since I was ~8 (shoutout to splintercell forum lol) and a lot of my long-term friends are from forums as weird as that is.
They definitely don't seem to have the same mindset around contributing to a forum VS taking.
I think there are additional aspects not mentioned, but forgive me if I missed earlier posts.
I believe people might see the internet in a way that rewards a fundamentally different learning style. You can see the effect in how they approach questions;
There is a larger discussion to be had here about whether internet communities trend towards different consumption or creative behavioral trends over time. I don't suggest one is better or worse but this effect coupled with the rapid growth of social media has caused a shift in discourse across many online communities that predate big tech platforms.
It used to be that a good amount of mid-career professionals were lingering around here. You'd ask a question about HFs or something and at least a few people from industry would chime in (usually lead by the power users who have gotten less active) and start a discussion. Now, if you post about HFs you're gonna get forty 20 year olds posting that they're also interested and god forbid a mid-career hedgie respond, those 20 year olds will drown them in "I'm a sophomore, how can I best prepare to work at a hedge fund" and "how much do you make? Can I send you my resume?" That certainly shuts the door to a discussion.
The Arby's Boys post was peak WSO. Don't see anything like that anymore.
Link?
Original thread (OP doxxing comment got removed): https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/off-topic/help-sticky-situation-w…
OP update: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/off-topic/update-on-arbys-boys
Having been 3 years the biggest shifts in this short amount of time have been:
1. Huge influx of new users (myself included at the time I joined the site) are college students over the last few years, likely because the bulk of WSO's promotion materials are directed in breaking into IB from college, so obviously it's a lot of student advice and not a place for tenured industry professionals. Reddit /r/FinancialCareers has this same problem. Most people entrenched in the industry are likely on more niche forums
1A) Non-target / Freshman single Google search questions clogging up "New" on how to break in, or college Seniors from non-targets panicking they don't have an FT offer because they had 0 internships. Overall very redundant questions that get asked daily.
2. At least 3 posts a day of obvious LARPs of stories clearly made up, or Stern hardos fishing for validation on how talented and charismatic they are. These posts SUCK! I doubt anyone likes to sit around for these
Both of these suck and they're bothersome. There are gems here and there when I come back every couple weeks to lurk, but overall all the content coming in just seems tired out and muddy. I rarely see anything of interest on this site. The only thing WSO does better than other forums at this point is salary tracking, but that's about it
I think the biggest problem is that experienced posters don’t create topics, as you age you develop a network who you can go to for questions and you don’t need the forms. The best topics that get discussed often start with a question from a college student or junior person and more senior people will start commenting and it will get other senior people to respond.
Can't wait for Litquidity to start making, 'Make WSO Great Again Caps'
I would post more but I’m in such a niche space that relevant questions don’t always come up. Professionals aren’t going to guess at shit we don’t know. And I got bored of shitposting years ago.
I do try to add valuable commentary on the secondaries threads but there’s already about ten of the same thread now. Not gonna repeat the same view as it would likely be found if you searched.
this was entertainment, now with censorship it's not as funny
also, nothing interesting anymore. Only people complaining.
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