WSO Suggestion Time - Let Me Hear It.

Dearest Fellow Primates,

As we approach the 40,000 user mark, I thought I would outline what I think is going well with the community, new services and features coming up, and ask you all for advice on next steps. I just booked my apartment and flight down to Buenos Aires (Oct. 1) where I know nobody... so when I first get there I will likely have a lot of time on my hands as I acquaint myself with the city, brush up on my spanish and build a new group of friends.

What is Going Well

1. Site Speed. Since bringing on Khalid of 2bits.com as our back-end IT manager, the site has shown dramatic improvement. If you ever think we aren't fast enough with pageloads, please let me know. This is a big one and probably our biggest improvement over the past year.

2. Active Forum. Our certified users continue to come to the rescue to all the chimps joining. Remember to use the Search feature (upper right corner) if you're a newbie and check out our FAQs.

3. Content. Eddie keeps churning out entertaining blog posts and Midas, Jorge and Dr. Evil have also found their voice. We hope to add some video podcasts in the near future with Uncle Eddie and Midas debating the latest hot financial topics.

Room for Improvement

1. Search. Our search functionality is decent using Google Custom Search but it definitely could be improved. There is an option to upgrade but it's damn expensive so I want to make sure we're doing a bit better financially before making the plunge.

2. Organization + FAQs. We still could do a better job tagging content and coming up with more organized ways to answer our most frequent questions. If someone want to help me make the FAQ section much more thorough I'd be happy to pay you.

3. You tell me. What do you hate? what do you like? etc. Please give me feedback. I feel like the site has improved a lot in the past year but we can always make it better.

That's all for now....

Let me hear it,
Patrick

 

There's a couple of things on a sports forum I post on that makes the experience easier:

1) Once the user signs in, at the very top below the user name display is: "Show new replies to your posts." I know we have "track" buried in our profiles, but it's just easier having this option at the top right by the user name.

2) Next to topic titles, have a button that says "New", and have it actually jump to the last post you read in the thread. Maybe it's just my browser (Chrome), but hitting the "x New" button under the "Replies" column doesn't navigate me to the new posts (stays at the top of the thread).

These are just little things, though. This forum really looks good at this point.

 
ThaVanBurenBoyz:
2) Next to topic titles, have a button that says "New", and have it actually jump to the last post you read in the thread. Maybe it's just my browser (Chrome), but hitting the "x New" button under the "Replies" column doesn't navigate me to the new posts (stays at the top of the thread).

The "New" button works for me if the newest post is one of the first 50 posts. However, what's really annoying is when there are over 61 posts in a topic (thus, two pages of material), 10 posts are new, but the "new" button doesn't take you to the second page. Then, when you jump to the second page manually, all the "new" tags are taken off of the new posts because you've already clicked on the forum (in the first page).

Does this make sense? Does it happen to anybody else? It's a minor inconvenience, but I feel like Patrick is asking for nuanced things like this.

"If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars." - J. Paul Getty
 
San Franciscan:
ThaVanBurenBoyz:
2) Next to topic titles, have a button that says "New", and have it actually jump to the last post you read in the thread. Maybe it's just my browser (Chrome), but hitting the "x New" button under the "Replies" column doesn't navigate me to the new posts (stays at the top of the thread).

The "New" button works for me if the newest post is one of the first 50 posts. However, what's really annoying is when there are over 61 posts in a topic (thus, two pages of material), 10 posts are new, but the "new" button doesn't take you to the second page. Then, when you jump to the second page manually, all the "new" tags are taken off of the new posts because you've already clicked on the forum (in the first page).

Does this make sense? Does it happen to anybody else? It's a minor inconvenience, but I feel like Patrick is asking for nuanced things like this.

Yah, I have the same problem for any thread that is 2+ pages.

looking for that pick-me-up to power through an all-nighter?
 

Have something next to everyone's name that tells what they do--By which I mean if they are in IB already, still in undergrad, in HFs, PE, etc. I don't think that would be too much of a privacy violation.

Sick of hearing answers from people who think they know it all..except that they havent even worked in IB. I think its part of the reason there are so many conflicting/inaccurate views on the site.

Only other thing that might be good is under FAQs, cover the common questions about hours, salary, etc

That said, love the site.

 

^Agreed, and I think it would far more effective to verify one's validity by requiring them to provide their institutional (educational or professional) email address. A simple confirmation email is all thats required. Just 2c.

I win here, I win there...
 
Best Response

When I log in I go directly to the recent posts tab. There is usually a bunch of shit that I don't want to read and I'll only likely skim through the first page before I navigate away from WSO. Maybe its just me but the website is set up to favour that type of browsing.

What I suggest is to configure it so that when I click recent posts it picks the threads from the last 2-3 days that I am most likely to read based on my reading pattern. For example I'll read most posts that are real estate related, eddie's, and posts that top users make. Obviously google is just coming out with this type shit so it is probably technically very difficult and therefore very expensive to implement.

Premium stuff for certified users. I haven't fully thought this through, but offering some freebies to certified user could provide incentive for them to post a bit more. For example - an invitation only certified users network event where there is free booze. The thought behind this is to start to convert your posting online into more of a real network for people already on the Street. Most juniors on wall street have pretty small networks and certified user events could help us expand. If other certified users are somewhat like me - they'd be happy to reveal their identity to a select few other certified users - but not the masses on WSO, so a networking event could work provided there are sufficient attendees.

Apps for the iPhone/BB. Could be difficult to write out long posts on those though.

Hope this helps and keep up the good work.

 
RE_Banker:
When I log in I go directly to the recent posts tab. There is usually a bunch of shit that I don't want to read and I'll only likely skim through the first page before I navigate away from WSO. Maybe its just me but the website is set up to favour that type of browsing.

What I suggest is to configure it so that when I click recent posts it picks the threads from the last 2-3 days that I am most likely to read based on my reading pattern. For example I'll read most posts that are real estate related, eddie's, and posts that top users make. Obviously google is just coming out with this type shit so it is probably technically very difficult and therefore very expensive to implement.

This is really kind of tough to do. With our new and improved search, hopefully now you can find a bunch of great topics that are relevant to you. Additionally, when you click "recent", there is a tab called "my recent posts" that shows you all of the threads you've commented on and the latest activity on those. Maybe we can get this up into the Monkey See, Monkey Do tab, so you don't always have to go to "Recent" to browse.

Premium stuff for certified users. I haven't fully thought this through, but offering some freebies to certified user could provide incentive for them to post a bit more. For example - an invitation only certified users network event where there is free booze. The thought behind this is to start to convert your posting online into more of a real network for people already on the Street. Most juniors on wall street have pretty small networks and certified user events could help us expand. If other certified users are somewhat like me - they'd be happy to reveal their identity to a select few other certified users - but not the masses on WSO, so a networking event could work provided there are sufficient attendees.

100% agree -- the issue is our Certified User base is actually quite small (~100) even though they are some of the best members in the forums. We offer a private Certified User group which is invitation only, but kind of tough to run a networking event with those #s and the big geographic disparity. That being said, monty09+Anthony have taken a lot of initiative to start their own Energy conference down in Houston and have met many WSOers in person (helped several of them get jobs). It will be called Energy Rodeo and you can do a search to learn more about it (a few threads on it in here). I would love to have more of these types of events started by WSOers, but personally it is a huge effort, and I am clueless about event planning. I will also be out of the country for 6 months starting in a week so if people were to do this, I'd need to find people ready to lead / organize it. I am happy to pitch in some funds if it is reasonable.

Apps for the iPhone/BB. Could be difficult to write out long posts on those though.

Hope this helps and keep up the good work.

We tried to create a mobile version of the site already but it wasn't very successful. People in chrome when they weren't on their mobile devices were seeing the mobile version and the mobile version wasn't always pulled up on mobile devices. We still want to get something that works here. Not sure if the solution is an app, or to get the proper module installed on the live site here but will keep looking into it.

Thanks, Patrick

 

more inside dirt.

"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 

There are some really long threads every now and then. Some times I will read like 20 posts one night and the next day there will be 20 new posts. When you click 20 new, it should direct you to the next new post you haven't read yet. It is kind of annoying having to scroll through the old posts.

Damn someone beat me to it

Is there a way to change the color theme? It's like looking directly at a light bulb when reading from a white background.

 

WSO- I just have a little suggestion. For some reasons, my company is blocking facebook,twtitter and youtube , everytime when I come to this site, it will have gazillion facebook.com or youtube.com security alert signs that I have to click before I can actually view the article, maybe a little improvements on that? Thanks

 

as far as the search option goes. Whenever I need to search anything in this site I do it externally and never use the WSO search feature. For example if you want to search this site for info on fixed income trading go to google.com and type (for those who don't know about this): "fixed income trading site:wallstreetoasis.com"

I tend to get much better results doing it that way.

 
The "New" button works for me if the newest post is one of the first 50 posts. However, what's really annoying is when there are over 61 posts in a topic (thus, two pages of material), 10 posts are new, but the "new" button doesn't take you to the second page. Then, when you jump to the second page manually, all the "new" tags are taken off of the new posts because you've already clicked on the forum (in the first page).

Does this make sense? Does it happen to anybody else? It's a minor inconvenience, but I feel like Patrick is asking for nuanced things like this.

I have the same problem, and I'd say this is the number one thing I would fix. Once a thread goes past one page, it becomes difficult to follow, which can kill a good thread.

 
indenturedprimate:
The "New" button works for me if the newest post is one of the first 50 posts. However, what's really annoying is when there are over 61 posts in a topic (thus, two pages of material), 10 posts are new, but the "new" button doesn't take you to the second page. Then, when you jump to the second page manually, all the "new" tags are taken off of the new posts because you've already clicked on the forum (in the first page).

Does this make sense? Does it happen to anybody else? It's a minor inconvenience, but I feel like Patrick is asking for nuanced things like this.

I have the same problem, and I'd say this is the number one thing I would fix. Once a thread goes past one page, it becomes difficult to follow, which can kill a good thread.

The multipage threading issue has been fixed (finally). Now if a thread goes onto a 2nd page (50+ comments) and you click on the "New" link, it will still work if the new comments are past the first page. This seemed to be annoying a lot of people so happy we could clear it up.

Stay tuned for more improvements coming....

 

Hey Patrick - a few suggestions:

1.) As others are saying, multipage threads are kind of cumbersome right now. To me it sounds like the easiest fix is just to get rid of the pagination in threads all together. We're all reading the site on some kind of broadband, why break threads into smaller chunks? It also solves all the issues mentioned above. 2.) There must be free Drupal search modules out there that are better than whatever we're using. Agree with 1.21 gigawatts that searching on google.com with special operators works better - maybe there's just a way to hack that in? I do feel bad telling people to search for the answer to a common question when I know search sucks. 3.) For the love of god no pictures or colored fonts. 4.) Expand the certification system to show who is in undergrad, MBA school, IB, PE, HF, etc. It might take a little more work to maintain, but I think it would be a good step to legitimize the site. 5.) Agree that there needs to be a better way to bridge a WSO reputation with a real life reputation. There are certainly users on here who I would be comfortable revealing my real life identity to, networking with, even just socially grabbing beers with. There needs to be a way for me to control it though, and maybe a real life networking event is a good way. Not sure I've totally figured it out, but I know there is a missing piece here. WSO is a very valuable network. 6.) I wonder if there isn't also some way to share traffic or content with some place like Dealbreaker. Maybe feature some of Eddie's posts over at DB? Or bring in some of Bess's posts here? Would bring a lot more industry professionals to the site.

In general though, you've done a great job growing the site - it's light years better than it used to be. Nice work.

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 

Also - the weird spacing issue that sometimes happens. See my post above - I only pressed return once after the word "suggestions".

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 

awesome guys - great constructive criticism. I agree with most of the points on here. Some are easier fixes than others but this is a GREAT reminder of what is annoying people the most.

Acquia Search is $5,000 EACH year (because our DB is so big) and is really the only other possible upgrade to search. Might make the plunge later this year if I can't find a better option.

We should be able to fix that damn "new" issue with longer threads....will get on that asap.

Thanks, Patrick

 

I would also like improved search. From a value perspective the info on this site is gold mine, when you can find it. Advanced search features might help solidify WSO as the place to go.

Also would like to see the certification system expanded. I don't think there has to be an email validation system (what would be the point of lying?) but it would be nice to quickly see the poster's credentials to gauge authority on the topic.

 

captk -- I'd grab a beer with you.

I do think an expanded certification system would be useful, as long as it was visible next to a user's name / post. Having to click on someone's username to see what their position is can be cumbersome for those of us looking to scan quickly. Also, I think it helps to know what perspective someone is coming from: I.E. Hedgefund, Trading, Banker, etc.

Also, I think groups could be improved substantially -- as they are I don't pay any attention to them. I'm assuming implementation would be difficult, but what if each "group" you are a member of appears as a forum under the current list of forums. For example, if I joined the WSO Rocks Group, a new forum link would appear under "Site Suggestions." Only members of said group could view/comment in that forum.

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 
CompBanker:
captk -- I'd grab a beer with you.

I do think an expanded certification system would be useful, as long as it was visible next to a user's name / post. Having to click on someone's username to see what their position is can be cumbersome for those of us looking to scan quickly. Also, I think it helps to know what perspective someone is coming from: I.E. Hedgefund, Trading, Banker, etc.

Also, I think groups could be improved substantially -- as they are I don't pay any attention to them. I'm assuming implementation would be difficult, but what if each "group" you are a member of appears as a forum under the current list of forums. For example, if I joined the WSO Rocks Group, a new forum link would appear under "Site Suggestions." Only members of said group could view/comment in that forum.

I think a certification system is a bad idea. If I had to tell the moderators what company I work for or give them a work email address I think I would just decide to instead stop posting. I have given my work email to a couple of posters who I have become comfortable with through messaging but its not worth the risk to give it to an anonymous moderator. In fairness, I work for a notoriously secretive/paranoid firm but still I am sure it is the same for others.

 

Oh and, random disbursements of WSO Credits to encourage people to post high quality posts. The silver bananas were a great idea, but everyone seems to have run out of credits. I'm not sure how much money the site generates from them, but assuming that people aren't making purchases, consider giving every active account one credit every X days (1, 2, 3, 7?).

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 
CompBanker:
Oh and, random disbursements of WSO Credits to encourage people to post high quality posts. The silver bananas were a great idea, but everyone seems to have run out of credits. I'm not sure how much money the site generates from them, but assuming that people aren't making purchases, consider giving every active account one credit every X days (1, 2, 3, 7?).

love this idea but not sure how that code would work. We've given WSO credits away for free to many top users but you're right, not many people actually buy them.

thinking....

as for changing over to vBulletin, it would likely cost more in web development (and the inevitable nightmare scenario would happen) to get a 300k comment forum transferred and integrated properly with Banana Points, credits, etc.

 
CompBanker:
Oh and, random disbursements of WSO Credits to encourage people to post high quality posts. The silver bananas were a great idea, but everyone seems to have run out of credits. I'm not sure how much money the site generates from them, but assuming that people aren't making purchases, consider giving every active account one credit every X days (1, 2, 3, 7?).
How about one credit for every X posts, and another whenever you receive a silver banana? That way you're rewarding quality activity instead of lurking.

And CompBanker - same to you on the beer. I'll give you a shout next time I'm in Boston.

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 
CompBanker:
Oh and, random disbursements of WSO Credits to encourage people to post high quality posts. The silver bananas were a great idea, but everyone seems to have run out of credits. I'm not sure how much money the site generates from them, but assuming that people aren't making purchases, consider giving every active account one credit every X days (1, 2, 3, 7?).

Users on the Silver Banana Leaders board (//www.wallstreetoasis.com/karma/top) will soon be getting a big injection of WSO credits into their account.

Additionally, one user every day will receive 50 free WSO Credits, based on the quality of a comment or thread.

Thanks for this suggestion -- I think some added liquidity could do the system some good (This should accelerate the promotion of our best users and Soil the monkeys that add no value).

-Patrick

 
WallStreetOasis.com:
Users on the Silver Banana Leaders board (//www.wallstreetoasis.com/karma/top) will soon be getting a big injection of WSO credits into their account.

Additionally, one user every day will receive 50 free WSO Credits, based on the quality of a comment or thread.

Thanks for this suggestion -- I think some added liquidity could do the system some good (This should accelerate the promotion of our best users and Soil the monkeys that add no value).

-Patrick

Helicopter Patrick. Here comes inflation :)

Actually on a serious note, you may want to think that all the way through. 50 credits a day, even if half are awarded as silver bananas and half as monkey shit, is a net of 50 additional banana points [(25 silvers x 3) - (25 shits)] being injected into the system each day, potentially more if less shit is thrown.

After a year of that, plus once all the credits you give to top users are "monetized"/awarded, you'll probably have some significant inflation in both banana points and rankings. I don't know if that's a bad or good thing, but just something to be aware of. Agree that the system does need more liquidity, but I'm not sure what the right amount is...

Heh, I never thought monetary policy would come into effect on WSO...

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 

Bondarb, you would only need to give it to Patrick, who operates the site. Regular moderators would not need to have access -- this is the same system in place in order to get a star.

Also, you can always elect not to get certified, in which case I'm not sure why you would stop posting.

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

Although certification would be nice, I don't think everyone should necessarily have to certify what they are by email. Just make it a required answer at sign-up, and assume that no one has any reason to lie about it. Not to mention, if someone puts that they are an IB associate, and then asks some dumb question about breaking in, you could boot/expose them easily.

Whether it makes sense or not, making people give away their work emails will undoubtably keep some bankers/professionals from signing up. (And IMO, there are plenty of prospectives on here--actual bankers/PE/HF'ers are the people this site needs most)

Also, I like the random free credit idea-You could even make them redeemable for a free guide or T-shirt or something. As of now, I'm not sure why anyone would buy them.

 

Now that I think about it, a voluntary self-description (student, IB, PE, HF, etc) during signup would probably work, and it should definitely show as a little icon next to a user's name in threads (as the star does now). I don't think it should replace the stars though, since they show beyond any doubt who is full of shit and who isn't. So if you felt comfortable providing Patrick with your work email, you'd get a star. Otherwise, just self identify and prove your legitimacy by the quality of your posts.

Maybe we could even have a little troll icon for people like ricochet...

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 
CaptK:
Now that I think about it, a voluntary self-description (student, IB, PE, HF, etc) during signup would probably work, and it should definitely show as a little icon next to a user's name in threads (as the star does now). I don't think it should replace the stars though, since they show beyond any doubt who is full of shit and who isn't. So if you felt comfortable providing Patrick with your work email, you'd get a star. Otherwise, just self identify and prove your legitimacy by the quality of your posts.

Maybe we could even have a little troll icon for people like ricochet...

We already have a voluntary identification system upon sign-up, but about 50% of people don't fill it out. My main concern isn't about getting this into the "by user" line, it is the fact that we already have so much shit in that line already. rss button, star for certified users, community rank, banana points and date. Maybe after the community rank we could have a small icon like a light blue box with the letters "IB", "PE", "HF", "VC", etc. for professionals, a small green box with the letters "ST" for undergrad student, "BZ" for business school students, etc...if someone wants to know what year/level they are (1st yr analyst vs. 1st yr associate), they can click on the username and check out the profile.

In order to verify a user works in a given industry as stated in their profile and to become Certified, they still have to hit all of the criteria here: //www.wallstreetoasis.com/certified-users but at the very least in the forums you can see what the user claims to be in without jumping to a profile. (and for users that have certification AND have the professional blue box with say "IB" on it, you can probably trust their comments more)

You guys think that would help? I will talk to my developers but they are already behind on some other big tasks so this may be a few weeks / month off.

Sound good? Patrick

 

Please reduce the number of advertisements on the page. It's very difficult to read with more than half the page filled with ads. And, may be content of the ad can be better too. I saw University of Phoenix ad couple of times. I don't think ppl on this forum want to go there.

 
Serialacquirer:
Please reduce the number of advertisements on the page. It's very difficult to read with more than half the page filled with ads. And, may be content of the ad can be better too. I saw University of Phoenix ad couple of times. I don't think ppl on this forum want to go there.

Fuck that. Patrick's gotta make that $.

 

I've got another one for you: Consider having a forum that aggregate posts that may be particularly useful to the community on a recurring basis. Similar to the "Forum of Fame" but mostly for threads that address common questions or provide good insight. I'm not saying move -every- thread on each particular topic there, but maybe have Anthony or someone else that is very active in charge of selecting good discussions.

The basis of this suggestion is that people some to be unable to dig up good, useful information using the search function. I know I've spent a lot of time contributing to some threads that I frequently need to dig up when I get PMs on similar questions. For example, I'd hate to see the following threads fall into the WSO abyss:

http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/advice-for-new-analysts-seeking-p… http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/deal-discussion-in-pe-interview

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 
ThaVanBurenBoyz:
This is definitely a Chrome issue (b/c it doesn't happen when I use IE), but more than 50% of the time, something on the page causes an unresponsive prompt (after an annoying, 1 minute freeze). I'm assuming this has to do with an animated ad, or some other object. Only happens on WSO for me.

Anyone else experience this?

that's annoying...I use chrome and the site almost never gets hung up. maybe you have some old cache stuff? damn, anyone else?

Thanks for the heads up...

 
CompBanker:
Sounds good but make the boxes different colors for rapid identification.

Yup, after thinking it through, each small icon/box will have a two letter code on it. "IB", "PE", "VC", "HF", etc etc....if the icon is light green, it is a prospective monkey / student. If it is light blue, they are a professional. There will be 3 shades of the blue. Very light / pale blue (1st, 2nd and 3rd year analysts), Pale blue (1st, 2nd, 3rd yr associates), and slightly darker pale blue (VP, MD, partner, etc.). business school will be pale yellow, everything else will be a light grey, etc...

We have some other stuff in queue right now that needs to get done first but I will make this high priority because I think it would help the forums.

Also, we will be starting a new WSO Credits system (will be somewhat manual for now) that gives users with the most Silver Bananas free WSO credits (a lot of them) to inject liquidity into the system. We are also able to grant credits to the broader community but we want to make sure we monitor any abuse so I will need the help of the moderators to stay on top of this...

Thanks, Patrick

 
WallStreetOasis.com:
Yup, after thinking it through, each small icon/box will have a two letter code on it. "IB", "PE", "VC", "HF", etc etc....if the icon is light green, it is a prospective monkey / student. If it is light blue, they are a professional. There will be 3 shades of the blue. Very light / pale blue (1st, 2nd and 3rd year analysts), Pale blue (1st, 2nd, 3rd yr associates), and slightly darker pale blue (VP, MD, partner, etc.). business school will be pale yellow, everything else will be a light grey, etc...
I think that sounds like a good plan Patrick. Simply displaying each user's designation in threads will encourage people to go back through their profiles and update the field. Will also be really helpful to see what specific perspective people are coming from as you read their posts.
- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 

haha, well I think it's ok to inject a lot of credits into the system to the right people that are adding value (their ability to properly reward others for valuable contributions is likely much better than some random user that signs up -- random users still get 3 WSO credits when they sign up).

For the size of the community, # of posts / comments, etc. I think it won't be too much but we can always change it if needed.

Thanks, Patrick

 

I think the inflation is okay. To be honest, the people most likely to receive the silver bananas are those who already post a lot and post high quality posts.

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

Ok, just spoke with my web developer and we are upping the weekly hours (again) on WSO to try and get some of this stuff ironed out.

  1. Search - I am researching if we can get the Apache Solr search functionality that Acquia charges now $8k every year(!!) or Google charges $2k/yr (for advanced site search that probably isn't a big upgrade from what we have) for about $1k/year. I should have an answer on this by the end of this week. Khalid might be able to set up our own separate server for search and index the site on there so we can use the Apache Solr search modules (allows to search by date, author, content type and allows us to tweak weighting, etc - very powerful....and supposedly not slow like Drupal's core out of the box search)...this will still cost some decent money but at least it won't break the bank and could be a HUGE improvement to search. I'll keep you guys updated.

  2. New User icons as discussed above...hopefully we can get this done by mid October...

  3. "Monkey See, Monkey Do" action tab. On the right side of the navigation bar, we will be putting a tab called "monkey see, monkey do" that allows the user to easily jump to useful parts of the site and create different types of content quickly (forums, groups, blog posts, etc.)

  4. There is a lot of other stuff going on behind the scenes to bring you guys some discounts on GMAT tutors (and generate affiliate revenue for WSO), we just launched Wall Street Mentors -- a mock interview and career coaching service that we think will be super useful for the prospectives or young guys trying to transition to PE/HFs

....stay tuned, Patrick

 

Tiny suggestion that I just thought of...

On the compensation database that you keep (you actually JUST posted the most recent copies), you should post the relative sample sizes for each position polled, so that us monkey's can get a better feel for the composition of the WSO users.

I'd personally be interested to know how many senior i-bankers we have on here, as I'd venture to guess that the majority of users who are actually IN the industry are associate level and down.

 

"Monkey See, Monkey Do" action tab to help users create content is now up. If you would like anything included in that drop down that you think I left out just let me know.

As for the sample size on the comp database, will try to go back through it (actually took me several hours to get it prepared) and give % breakdown of users from the different industries and include sample sizes from each bucket. Obviously, IBD 1st yr analysts was the largest but every category had enough entries to make them meaningful and interesting.

Thanks, Patrick

 

Another big one I just thought of would be a Silver Banana/Monkey Shit tracker on one's profile. Oftentimes, if I receive an SB/MS, I have no idea what I got it for. It would be nice to have a list of what comments are better/worse than my normal posts.

"If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars." - J. Paul Getty
 
San Franciscan:
Another big one I just thought of would be a Silver Banana/Monkey Shit tracker on one's profile. Oftentimes, if I receive an SB/MS, I have no idea what I got it for. It would be nice to have a list of what comments are better/worse than my normal posts.

Hey man, you shoudl actually already be able to do this (although admittedly, it's tough to find). If you go to your account and view your profile, you shoudl see a link called "View" next to your Banana Points number. If you look at that you can see anything you got 3 bananas for was a Silver Banana reward, anything with a -1 was a shit that hit you.

I know it's not perfect and the profile area needs a HUGE improvement -- so I will start trying to get my developers to organize that better.

Thanks, Patrick

 
WallStreetOasis.com:
San Franciscan:
Another big one I just thought of would be a Silver Banana/Monkey Shit tracker on one's profile. Oftentimes, if I receive an SB/MS, I have no idea what I got it for. It would be nice to have a list of what comments are better/worse than my normal posts.

Hey man, you shoudl actually already be able to do this (although admittedly, it's tough to find). If you go to your account and view your profile, you shoudl see a link called "View" next to your Banana Points number. If you look at that you can see anything you got 3 bananas for was a Silver Banana reward, anything with a -1 was a shit that hit you.

I know it's not perfect and the profile area needs a HUGE improvement -- so I will start trying to get my developers to organize that better.

Thanks, Patrick

Oh Damn! I never even knew that was there, haha. Thanks Patrick.

"If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars." - J. Paul Getty
 

...still having a nightmare trying to find a way to get Apache Solr search for us without it costing WSO $5k+/yr....

really think Apache Solr is EXACTLY what we need, but getting another server set up, configured and managed with the proper drupal modules installed seems to be a somewhat complex and expensive proposition.

if anyone knows talented Drupal developers / server managers...please let me know.

Thanks, Patrick

 

ok, think I found a solution to get us Apache Solr search that won't break the bank.

stay tuned -this could really help get some older quality content out of the archives when we search (and better relevance, ability to search by content type, by author, by date, etc.) .

My goal is to have this up and running by next Monday.

Thanks for the patience, Patrick

 

I am sorry if this has been covered. I have been looking at this forum on and off and can't remember everything that was posted. I suggest that you fix the site so that if we go to the fourth page of a search results, click on a thread, and then hit the back button we are not taken to the first page of search results, but are taken back to the fourth page.

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 

One more thing, When we bookmark a forum can there be a text box for us to write a quick note about it. Like (great resume advice. or Beginner FX advice).

I find myself backtracking to a lot of my earlier posts when someone asks for networking advice or information on a certain type of product. This way when someone asks a question a poster can say "check my bookmarked pages for resume advice"

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 
Gekko21:
One more thing, When we bookmark a forum can there be a text box for us to write a quick note about it. Like (great resume advice. or Beginner FX advice).

I find myself backtracking to a lot of my earlier posts when someone asks for networking advice or information on a certain type of product. This way when someone asks a question a poster can say "check my bookmarked pages for resume advice"

FYI - you could do exactly this by bookmarking and tagging threads with a service like delicious.
- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 

ok, new Search server is ordered -- in the process of configuring. Might have a new and improved Search function ready by as early as this Friday.

...next on the list is probably the identification system I wrote about above so it's easier to know what industry the user is in and their experience level based on a small icon next the their name.

thanks

 

I didn't read the rest of the thread so I'm not sure if it was mentioned, but how about a news forum to post relevant articles.

It would help those of us who aren't featured users on the front page can post interesting news stories in a place other than monkeying around.

 

Hm Patrick...I'm seeing an interesting new icon next to your name - lookin good.

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 

yeah, not exactly working properly...they shoudl be color coded small boxes with 2 letter codes...

I am seeing some of the 2 letters without the colors. cache may just have to update before it's across all threads...pretty cool though.

You know what's even cooler?

Our new search: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/search/apachesolr_search/

give it a spin...not formatted properly yet and not in the upper right corner of the site yet, but functional.

Announcement will go out tomorrow and/or as soon as we get it to replace the Google Custom Search search box in the header. This should make finding content MUCH easier in the archives.

Thanks for all the great suggestions guys...really helped me refocus.

-Patrick

 

Oh wow - nice. Just tried a few searches, and the results are far better. It also actually shows relevant excerpts, so you can get a much more accurate idea of what you're clicking on before you choose a result. Well done Patrick.

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 

I've got it updated - set to Private Equity. I changed it to something else, then changed it back...still no icon it looks like.

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 

hey CaptK, just noticed the reason it never showed up for you is that you did not select your Status. You need to select Industry AND Status under your Monkey Stats in your profile for an icon to appear.

I wasnt sure what level you were so I just put 3rd year associate...as you can see you now have a blue PE icon. If you click on it, it will also now take you to a page that explains the codes.

Thanks, Patrick

 
WallStreetOasis.com:
hey CaptK, just noticed the reason it never showed up for you is that you did not select your Status. You need to select Industry AND Status under your Monkey Stats in your profile for an icon to appear.

I wasnt sure what level you were so I just put 3rd year associate...as you can see you now have a blue PE icon. If you click on it, it will also now take you to a page that explains the codes.

Thanks, Patrick

Ah ha, interesting. Very cool to see it working now. Maybe default to "other" if nothing is selected?

Also, what do you think about reversing the schema? For example - currently color denotes seniority and text denotes industry. I think it would be easier to see the color at a glance and know right away whether somebody is student, IB, PE, etc, then squint a little closer to read the text and determine their seniority. What do you think?

If possible, you should also swap the position of the star and the RSS icon. That way, we can see the star and industry icons right next to each other and determine who a user is, and whether or not that is verified.

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 

agree with the RSS / star order, not sure switching the code is a good idea. I think there are a lot more industries so having the 2 letter code for those is easiest...when you start getting over like 6 colors, it becomes much harder to distinguish between them.

That is why for professionals, I just kept it 3 shades of blue, and prospective monkeys were given a light green (because they are "green").

 

Haha "green". Love it. Fair enough, you make a good point on lots of colors.

Do you think it's a little confusing having the "Prospective Monkeys" with an "IB" in their indicator? Perhaps "PR" for prospective? There are a few combinations that don't make sense, like "Prospective Monkey" with a "PE" industry selected...

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 
CaptK:
Haha "green". Love it. Fair enough, you make a good point on lots of colors.

Do you think it's a little confusing having the "Prospective Monkeys" with an "IB" in their indicator? Perhaps "PR" for prospective? There are a few combinations that don't make sense, like "Prospective Monkey" with a "PE" industry selected...

I think it's helpful to see what industry someone is targeting...just know if you see blue, think professional, green think student.

 
<span class=keyword_link><a href=//www.wallstreetoasis.com/finance-dictionary/what-is-london-interbank-offer-rate-libor>LIBOR</a></span>:
new search is sweet... great investment

thanks man - I agree.

Once we get the upper right search bar replaced I'll make an announcement to the home page and point out a bunch of the features that make it about 10x better than our previous search.

Thanks, Patrick

 

Patrick, love the improvements.

One thing- Are hedge fund workers getting boxes next to their names with an "hf"? Looks like they don't have one now, but it seems reasonable to me. I'm sure I'm not the only hedge fund hopeful roaming the site.

Also, just a suggestion, but it might be a good idea in your announcement (or a separate one) to ask everyone to update their job/school status as I'm sure many people left it blank or have changed jobs since last update.

 
ibintx:
Patrick, love the improvements.

One thing- Are hedge fund workers getting boxes next to their names with an "hf"? Looks like they don't have one now, but it seems reasonable to me. I'm sure I'm not the only hedge fund hopeful roaming the site.

Also, just a suggestion, but it might be a good idea in your announcement (or a separate one) to ask everyone to update their job/school status as I'm sure many people left it blank or have changed jobs since last update.

hey man, any user that selects an Industry and Status under their Monkey Stats in their account will display an icon. Hedge Funds is "HF"...

You have Investment Banking and Prospective selected on your account so you are showing an "IB" and green. For a key to understand what each code means, please click on one of the icons.

We will make an announcement about this new feature to try and make sure as many users (or at least the frequent ones) update their profiles.

Thanks, Patrick

 
WallStreetOasis.com:
hey man, any user that selects an Industry and Status under their Monkey Stats in their account will display an icon. Hedge Funds is "HF"...

You have Investment Banking and Prospective selected on your account so you are showing an "IB" and green. For a key to understand what each code means, please click on one of the icons.

We will make an announcement about this new feature to try and make sure as many users (or at least the frequent ones) update their profiles.

Thanks, Patrick

Yeah, that's what I thought, but for some reason the "HF" icons aren't showing up, at least on my browser. If you go through the HF forum, there are people who have selected hedge fund if you click on their name, but do not have an icon of any kind. For example Mr. Pink Money. I haven't seen any HF icons yet.

 

Can there be an "Intern" or "Summer Analyst" option? The way I see it, prospective monkeys are going to give advice regardless of status, and I know I'd actually be willing to listen to someone still if they're a confirmed SA or equivalent. I know I don't have much credibility asking about this as a prospective monkey myself, but I wouldn't say that all prospective monkeys are equal.

"If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars." - J. Paul Getty
 

It would be great to have a new ranking of comments by rating. Sometimes I find golden info in old threads that have 5+ SBs, but there is no way of locating them systematically (that I am aware of). Might be difficult to implement though.

 
Dr Joe:
It would be great to have a new ranking of comments by rating. Sometimes I find golden info in old threads that have 5+ SBs, but there is no way of locating them systematically (that I am aware of). Might be difficult to implement though.

well as a solution, you can bookmark any thread that has useful comments / info. to go back to later. I will think about this.

thanks for the feedback. The new search should also make finding things 100x easier. Announcement of new features on new search coming soon...

 

Patrick, just a thought but maybe incorporating something other than the silver banana/monkey shit thing as ways to use credits? I like the system now but maybe expanding it would be interesting and possibly generate you some more revenue from selling the credits. Just a thought.

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 

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"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 

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CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

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"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 

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