WSO Makes Dealbook

what kind of trail mix does he eat?

Oh man, this sucks.

My man is on Dealbook and going to INSEAD? Pretty baller.

^Dealbook not Dealbreaker

I could have edited it, but examples need to be maid.

Good for trailmix. The letter was not intended to be a news article. It was merely a post on an internet forum. It didn't say anything bad about GS, it simply explained his decision to leave, and didn't have any complaints in it.

Glad that The New York Times is giving us some attention. Hopefully people will come and visit and form their own opinions about bankers. But folks need to remember to be on their best behavior- and that this forum isn't quite as anonymous as you think. Any employer who sees Colorado, GS, and INSEAD is liable to realize that the person interviewing is that guy from the dealbook article. I've seen some really angry posts about Greg Smith, democrats, and many other issues and if OTHER posts had made the NYT, it probably would have come back to bite people.

As more college students from 2006/2007 become VPs and more established in industry, we can expect more links.

they should embed link to direct readers to this site

The issue is not people acting like cocks anonymously, the issue is other websites jacking conversations without asking for approval. They probably don't have to and that is what is frightening.

This is a community and people argue. I've been pretty open about my history and have no issue with that within this space, but if people are going to be coming onto WSO, jacking select comments and throwing it on Dealbreaker I am donzo. Absolutely not worth having an argument misconstrued on a national mag.

Completely changes the dynamics of this site. Pretty sad also.

Agree. Trailmix for example, while being very complimentary of his former employer, still could get crap because of the heightened level of awareness companies have regarding their online persona.

This blows. You cannot have a forum of pure information being given, because you won't be able to keep members past the break in stage. This site is a community where people mess around, argue, bitch, etc. To have the NYT watching us like a Predator drone and blowing people up without warning makes this site an EPIC liability.

FYI NYMag picked it up too (and linked back)

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/04/goldman-sachs-quitter-has-nice-thi…

I don't think this should be an issue. Journalists don't care about entry-level folks for the most part and most people on this site that offer good advice aren't spewing a bunch of shit or creating a bunch of troll posts.

If journalists start taking quotes out of context and hunting down individuals by the little information they've given on this site, we can always start spamming/flaming (among other methods of retribution :) ) the articles and journalists that are doing it. The internet is a far more powerful tool for us than for a journalist.

Congrats on the Db mention Pat!

@Illini - I'd also have a problem if they took stuff out of context, but that isnt what happened here at all. Trailmix resigned and shared his story AND background because he wanted to share it. DEalbook/Kevin did not distort any facts, try to hunt down his id or try to take stuff out of context. If he did, I would have called him out on it or any other journalist trying to do that.

Journalists should need permission from WSO to use what we wrote on here. And as ANT said, people will be taking things out of context, spinning things to fit their own agenda, which could distort the original message written for individual post as well as misrepresent what we stand for as a community at WSO.

This is why you boys should play nice!

@HPM - I agree 100%. I've always told people the internet makes the world VERY small. If you can't stand behind shit you say online then you shouldnt say them.

If you're giving helpful / honest advice and not bashing a former employer i don't think there is very much to report unless the journalist is grossly taking stuff out of context. and if they do that, then they are likely a shitty journalist anyways and won't be writing for a respected source.

Also, ANT, you do realize WSO has over 1 million visits/month, right? The people reading that one article on DealBook will be a fraction of the people that read the posts on WSO every day? WSO hasn't been a small insular community for a while now. We keep our users anonymous, but it is an open forum.

Official Internet Forum Rules:

Either be super anonymous and say whatever you want (within reason)

or

Put your information out there and don't say whatever you want

I've been able to be pretty active here because I try to not give away too much persona information. I just don't see much upside in it.

True. But here's the problem. On an industry website, it's just so natural to start giving your background. There will be discussions about how CDS's and corporate bonds work. Ok, so you worked in Corporate Bond Analytics for two years and decide that info is worth sharing.

Then you talk about undergrads and B-schools. Maybe that info is worth sharing.

And then we have WSO meetups. So you show up and now some of the regular posters know who you are.

Pretty soon, there's a paper trail out there that turns discovering your name into a game of clue.

Kevin won't try to dig up trailmix's identity, but Anonymous or some other organization just might for the right banker troll that makes the news. And heck, WE did it about a year back when a certain bucket shop spammed US. It's just human nature. When we spot someone anonymous who acts like a bully or is totally shameless about something, there is a human urge to figure out who they are and make them front page news.

And if one of your posts makes Dealbook, and it's nasty enough, people may try to out you. I'm not sure Kevin would do that, but the JPM 2006 interns made WSJ's heard on the street column when they created a website making fun of other firms, it happened to a certain female Citigroup intern who invited her fellow interns to a party at the Ritz and a "script" for getting in the door, it happened to a certain kid who faked a "You're Hired" email from "Bank of Ameria", and it could easily happen on an online forum. It also happened to a kid from Yale who claimed he could bench 1000 lbs.

And honestly, there may not be a lot the mods or Patrick can do when your post about being a hotshot MD at GS making douchetastic posts makes page six and you get outed as a sophomore at NYU by some hacker in the comments section. Or WORSE, you get outed as ACTUALLY being an MD at GS.

Google "Cliff Asness Dealbreaker Troll" He's the one name I'm going to use since he's a big boy, he survived, and I'm not being a bully for dropping his name. He trolled Dealbreaker, he got outed, it became an embarassment for him and his fund.

Don't be Cliff Asness. Please be nice. If you weren't aware that anyone and everyone can read your posts and possibly figure out who you are, you do now. If you want to troll, probably best to take it to a political forum and pretend to be a DMV employee with 500 motorists waiting in line for two hours while you blog. Probably best not to say stuff you wouldn't say in real life on WSO.

End of the day nothing we can do.

well im sure the above is something that most of us just say yea yea click through SIGN ME UP and we dont care about what is said or mentioned, i think all thats IP meant and not like ' ohh u noobs didnt read roflcopters!'

well im sure the above is something that most of us just say yea yea click through SIGN ME UP and we dont care about what is said or mentioned, i think all thats IP meant and not like ' ohh u noobs didnt read roflcopters!'