"50 cent army" on WSO

Looking at this forum here: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/duke-v-northwestern-v-cornell

The last two posters as I'm typing this ("particlesandmodels" & "Dictator2013") were accounts created in the past hour and both advocate Duke as the school of choice. The "50 cent army", for those who don't know, are alleged paid internet users in the Chinese military, who go to forums and promote good things about the Communist Party of China.

If you're a HS senior and browsing these forums for school advice (which you shouldn't be doing...), watch out for these fake accounts. I'm actually curious what WSO's policy is on these short-term fake accounts.

8 Comments
 

I've actually noticed this as well. It's almost like these schools are paying kids to go on these forums. I'm actually embarrassed cauz some of the kids seem to be from my school.

Patrick/Andy, what do you guys do with these fake accounts? I'm all for free speech but the intensity of this is getting high, esp around now when college decisions are out.

 
BTbankerWtf does Duke have to do with China?

Curious why a bunch of people would come to Duke's support also... I can't see someone like Duke needing to pump their school with a bunch of slob teenagers commenting on blogs about how great it is. But I definitely notice the 50 cent army out in full force on particular topics and debates. Never understood how people thought that was effective. It's very prevalent on the Yahoo message boards, but unless you're shorting a penny stock I have no idea why you'd hire a bunch of idiots to trash a stock, debate a topic, or in this case talk up a major university for you.

 
BlackHat Curious why a bunch of people would come to Duke's support also... I can't see someone like Duke needing to pump their school with a bunch of slob teenagers commenting on blogs about how great it is. But I definitely notice the 50 cent army out in full force on particular topics and debates. Never understood how people thought that was effective. It's very prevalent on the Yahoo message boards, but unless you're shorting a penny stock I have no idea why you'd hire a bunch of idiots to trash a stock, debate a topic, or in this case talk up a major university for you.

People still use Yahoo ?

 

Aut eum ipsa velit rerum. Eos quia eos deserunt nisi nulla. Ea corrupti et soluta ratione quo. Voluptatem voluptates quia fugit et quo. Consectetur deserunt distinctio mollitia et itaque. Dolor sint doloribus et nulla laborum velit mollitia quod. Fugiat iste dicta illum voluptatem facilis.

Magnam commodi omnis repellendus. Incidunt vitae quia maxime.

Optio ab et dignissimos molestiae. Asperiores sed fugiat dignissimos enim non consequatur. Eaque rerum sunt ut aliquam explicabo nihil placeat. Doloribus nobis magnam a quidem. Pariatur maxime voluptatem sit ea.

Quia autem saepe maxime sapiente at. Sint saepe atque et et. Temporibus laudantium placeat corporis sint. Laboriosam consequatur amet dicta aut non libero vero.

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 13 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (15) $434
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (80) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”