What the hell is wrong with this place?
I feel like over the past couple of years this site has become Neck-Beard Incel HQ. All I see are posts bashing kids who went to target schools, assuming that any minority who gets a job in finance is unqualified, and saying weird shit about women.
I don't know how much more traffic this site has gotten recently, but these types of posts have become more common.
Stop blaming others for your failures and focus on yourselves. If you went to a non target and got a shit GPA, it's not the Black guy's or lesbian's fault that you don't have an offer lined up.
I don't know what can be done about the low quality, racist, sexist posts have become very tiring. I'm a bit older but try to stick around to offer advice. Maybe I'm just too old for this
Comments (121)
Blame the anonymous posters.
"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
I get it if it's a dig at me for being anonymous. But it's not like people are anon and saying things that aren't received well. I see the same woe-is-I posts about "those minorities taking my jobs" that get 200 comments filled with support from anon and normal accounts alike.
+1
There is inevitably going to be ethnic tension and bitterness since there are only so many really nice seats in the finance industry and there is a pressure for more diversity.
But the real problem is the ones who are constantly spewing race hatred for no reason, just because they can. The most obvious would be Vaennen, who denies the Holocaust and has called me a "rabbi" spreading lies to "goyim". Add in a bunch of anonymous analysts and a certain user who I have a long running feud with with an affinity for extremely racist, sexually explicit scenarios. Why are they here? How do slurs and hatred help people with finance careers?
I don't agree with any of the things you're describing happening, but you can't in good faith say "why are they here? How do slurs and hatred help people with finance careers?" with your post history. You've been a pretty consistent troll and never pass up an opportunity to spam vaccine pleas and incite irrelevant arguments with other idiots.
You can at least admit that right?
There's a difference between holocaust denial and talking about the news
That you?
Lmaooooo. What is this?
I'm glad I have so many credits saved up to unload monkey poo on every one of your absurd posts.
the same way that posting illogical takes on political topics help people with finance careers
if there's a slur, flag it. if it's a bad take, argue with it with better logic
Ayo
Am I part of the problem? Please advise.
To be honest you are probably not helping all the time, but granted I think only about half of anyone's post are useful excluding a very select few.
Like Ben Simmons in 4th qtr. You gave an actual career story in regret thread vs letting us know what latina/asian/german failed 3some you missed in your 20s dude.
*in high-school
No. You say what every man wants to say but won't.
Pizz I can say in complete honesty that you are one of the only reasons I still come to this site. Please continue the hornyposting.
TBH I think I like you Pizz. Drumpfy pisses me off every time he posts tho.
Awww shucks ❤
Somedays it becomes painful. Almost as if the mods should just not bump some threads to the front, sure 200 comments is a super busy thread but if its utter nonsense to jump a Q&A or associate advice is rather annoying.
Off-topic was made and created for stuff to laugh and joke around, seems many people just want to debate or fisticuffs.
Does WSO have Mods? AndyLouis
I havent heard of any mods but I do think adding some would be helpful!
agree. my hatred of censorship sometimes comes at odds with the truth that if the entire frontpage of off-topic is depression/politics/dating/diversity, I just mentally check out. granted, not every day can have a gem like the arby's boys, but it is worth considering that maybe the off-topic forum ought to be changed
[WallStreetOasis.com] if you're open to it, I'd like to see a poll of how many users want to keep anonymous posting in the off-topic forum. I get the idea of it in industry forums, but off-topic makes no sense
Maybe even add a Politic forum so thing can at least get filed away there.
Spotted the butthurt non-target
Says the one from Cornell you Andy Bernard fuck
I haven't made an account until very recently for that exact reason. I think being able to post anonymously exacerbates this.
It really has been a problem since day one of the anon. Granted I think there is some use to being anon, and clearly not being anon does not deter the some users.
I honestly respect the users who say stupid shit with their chest more than people who post it anonymously. I still don't respect them, but at least they own their flaming hot takes like "diversity bad."
However, what ends up happening is that regular posters with a history go underground to be completely anon or they go partially underground. I am not going to call out anyone but I can tell based on the writing style who a few of the anon people are. I can't see how the anon thing helps this site. Does anyone really like speaking with a zombie.
Agreed, just in the year I've read the forum it's gotten weird. Lots of posts from the same guys getting political or sexual in every thread. There are still some gems of advice but those threads don't get the same traffic as "anti-diversity megathread" and "virgin advice: how to have sex"
If there was a way to flag things as truly off topic, then they just don't get pushed into the top thread count. This would probably be best. Kind of Like how Reddit is NSFW on the front page (might be wrong, don't really/have not recently used reddit).
I've noticed this as well. Almost seems like a quarter of the people here really have no interest in finance at all. I know its a lot to ask but would love to hear from the mods to see if they've noticed this. Its as if this site has been promoted on some other forum as a way to have anonymous interaction.
I really feel like some temp bans would go a long way. Receive 15-20 MS in 24 hours get a 24 hr ban from commenting and posting. (it is very clear that some users are very heavy users and just keep screaming the same things)
We don't need to be told To Vaxx 20 times a day. A number of the users referenced have never said what they do career wise or given any actionable advice or insight.
Absolutely agree there should be a solution. Its just tough to say that ms vs sb ratio is the way. It could backfire as a lot of people on here seem to coordinate on MS already (see any Drumpfy comment) so could be used as a way to keep others down. I wonder if WSO could have a community manager who monitors this stuff as it seems like a small enough community and some common sense banning could go a long way.
Why are my comments any worse than right wing takes on the same issue?
Most of the time it's me on a grievance politics/persecution fetish thread taking the unpopular opinion. I know you guys would like to be able to talk about how oppressed you are all day, but this is not a left wing college campus now is it?
I wouldn't jump to this immediately. People will use the anonymous feature or alts more often than not when it comes to specific niche advice regarding previous firm or career track (including myself) for fear of being doxxed. Figuring out who works in finance and who doesn't isn't as simple of a task as viewing comment history.
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Thank god drumfy wasn't here during the election
"Work ethic, work ethic" - Vince Vaughn
If at least we could block users or even the off-topic section...
Why block the off-topic section? Many users use this section to blow off-steam whether that be through a variety of discussions. WSO is supposed to go beyond being a finance dictionary, it's supposed to be a community as well.
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I agree with your point and understand that it's useful to drive engagement and have people comeback to the website for more than just career questions, but I feel like there has been a huge drop in the level of discussion in the off-topic section in the last year or two.
I'm someone who loves to discuss politics or any subject really, but people who are the most attracted to these threads often have gutter-level arguments. Most of the time it turns into personnal attacks and that I don't feel like I'm learning about a new viewpoints or anything which makes me feel I'm only losing my time by reading these 40+ comments.
I completely understand that some people may be attracted to that, but it would be great for me if I could just mute it.
Uhhhhh, just don't click on the Off-Topic section when you visit the website???
I browse through "recently active" so I'm not actively looking for off-topic discussion. But I agree with you that it's not the end of the world.
I appreciate all you bros, gals and everyone else who continue to guide, advise and positively contribute. Forum was a lifeline for me when I was a naive young'un breaking in.
The rest of you, stay virgins
There is a need for better/more aggressive moderation. There's a line between shitposting and being a troll and when people cross it they need to have their post deleted.
Agree with you. Even light moderation would goa long way.
Leftism can't survive without censorship.
It's not left versus right, it's either in bounds or out. This is why more experienced people don't post much any more.
Who decides where the line is?
I think Patrick would, he is the site owner after all…
in my opinion, there are two reasons:
younger generation is coming here and older is leaving:
1) younger generation is less social and thus more incel due to all the technology that substitutes social interactions
2) younger generation is facing more of forced diversity, which now may really be felt as a threat. if before a white man could laugh it off, now it's serious. so, people feel like they need to say something, which makes sense.
I've noticed this too, I've been around here for a very long time and the atmosphere seems to have gotten weirdly toxic over the past year (though I haven't read it as often over the past few years). It does seem like forums in general are just becoming much more bitter / incel / alt-right / whatever you want to call it when it comes to diversity, race, sex, etc. Your hypothesis that younger generations are less social due to coming up with social media is convincing.
No, people don't realize that what they find acceptable in terms of edgyness evolves over time. As you get older and reach the prime earning years of your career it tends to become its most strict because edgyness is seen as a threat your status quo. So it is best to just go along with the flow. This is why young people and old people tend to have the views that the "mainstream" find most objectionable.
Agreed. It has definitely taken a very strange turn in the last year or so. Off-topic used to be hilarious and now it's just straight up depressing. There's a very anti social, fuck-anyone-who-has-what-I-don't vibe around here now.
It's changed tremendously just in 10 years, and you are right on both fronts.
First generation raised entirely online and with smartphones everywhere. Easy to find echo chambers and not have experiences that develop you socially. As for your second point - ever talk to a young millennial or Gen Zer? If it's a white male they have internalized that they are pieces of shit so much that it's stunning and pathetic. College and media really has brainwashed a generation for the worse
Totally agree! Some people purely bully others in comments and throw random monkey shit for no reason. Some comments are also just sexist/racist. I try to flag what I see but I think that not enough people are doing it. Also, I wonder if [WSO Monkey Bot] monitors the content. They should send a reminder email to all subscribers to be respectful and constructive
Why? Do you not understand how the internet works? For fucks sake go visit Reddit. It is filled with racist sexist shit in the most uber left progressive subreddits. The only difference is that the brand of racism and sexism they practice is allowable. The Facebook whistleblower stated publicly what everyone already knew, that rage content drives traffic. It is pure and simple.
I agree, but we also face enough shit in our industry that we don't need WSO to be the same
Literally nobody has come here to complain about D&I as it relates to them finding employment. Legitimate grievances about D&I which are usually proven correct and demonstrably true are usually responded with "hurr durr incel/wazist" like with OP who is looking for a fringe thread because of confirmation bias.
Are you just being willfully obtuse? Every week there's some asshole blaming someone else for their not finding employment. There are anti-diversity circle-jerks filled with people, who are probably unqualified to begin with, complaining about minorities. And people trashing kids at elite colleges, trying to justify their own education by writing off these students as richer, as opposed to more impressive in high school.
Insecurity is abound, and this site is absolutely overrun by incels.
While we will never know if those kids who are complaining are qualified or not; we do have data to regarding D&I results in universities. On average URMs, with the exclusion of asians, score on average worse on their admission exams. This in of itself is not an issue. However, when combined with lower performance amongst their peers and higher drop out rates one can argue that D&I based admissions policies don't help anyone out. We should have name, race, and background blind admissions. I am 100% for this even if it likely would have meant that I wouldn't have gotten into the university I did.
Sure there are a wide range of factors that play into Ivy Admissions. But saying that most of the kids got in based not on their economic upbringing is just wrong. Most of the Ivies have a student body that is made up of ~15% from the 1% of household earners, and >60% made up from the top 20% of household earners. And in most Ivies there are as many people that come from the top 1% as the bottom 20%.
Now do not get me wrong. You cannot control how you were raised or what kind of family you were born into, but if we are being honest the argument of "more impressive in highschool" is a load of bull crap.
Scource: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/college-mobility/harvard-university
Yea this is just a flat out lie. You either just joined this site or are being willfully ignorant
In related news, we are happy to announce that our diversity hire, a non-white woman, will be now moving from trading to the green department. She never made any trade. Diversity was not our strength.
Never discuss with idiots, first they drag you at their level, then they beat you with experience.
I thought dems were the real racists bro?
Yes, since you are the one thinking we should hire based on.... genitalia and skin colour, rather than literally any other criteria.
Never discuss with idiots, first they drag you at their level, then they beat you with experience.
2 problems here. one is anonymous posting. two is that more people read this forum as prospective/incoming interns and analysts. completely agree though. Ive been on this forum for ~6 years and have been pretty open about my own career journey through finance, and its annoying to be told I don't know something by some 18-20 year old.
Feels like 4chan and parts of reddit's demographic all decided to be come IB analysts in the last ~5 years and infiltrated this site
At least the 4chan crowd is funny.
Reddit censored any remotely conservative channels so they are all flooding anywhere that leans somewhat Right and allows free speech.
Bodybuilding.com boards are undergoing same take over right now sadly
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