Objection!

[seancass]

When I received notification of the competition to win a place on the combined Mr. Charts and Naz tutorial, I duly entered.

The question which caused me most difficulty was the one concerning SALOMAN Brothers. I knew of Solomon Brothers and of Salomon Brothers but my Internet research threw up only historical information about SALOMAN Brothers. It is not, from my research, a contemporary institutional firm. Warner Bothers, in its literal sense, is!! That is why I ticked Warner Brothers. I believed this to be a genuine trick question. The E Mail that I received from T2W highlighting the questions quite clearly made reference to...SALOMAN Brothers.

Now, I sent a personal communication to Sharky on this matter asking him to check the spelling. I received neither acknowledgment nor reply. I sent Naz and Mr. Charts an e mail drawing their attention to this matter. Naz, in his reply made no mention of it (my e mail included other matters.) I indicated to Naz that I had spent some five hours of study on tracking the former SALOMAN Brothers and had been in direct communication with Smith Barney on this matter.
Mr. Charts said he didn't compile the questions and that perhaps it was a spelling mistake.

I communicated my fear that this may have been a mistake, by those setting the quiz, to at least one other member of the Board.

So, who did set the questions and why has the spelling of the original question suddenly been changed in publishing the answer? Further, why was my communication to Sharky ignored? Saloman Brothers is the name of the "institution" highlighted in the original question and was, I believe, incorporated into another firm some time ago! I maintain that SALOMAN Brothers, from my research, is not an institutional firm; Warner Brothers is. The term "Financial Institutional Firm" was never mentioned.

How many others 'ticked' Warner Brothers in the light of limited information about the corporate institution that was once Saloman Brothers?

Sean

 

[Trader333]

Sean,

I am unsure how you could have got this wrong especially when using a search engine. Attached is a screenshot of a Google search for Saloman Brothers. This clearly shows they are associated with trading which if you did the same search for Warner Brothers showed that they are clearly not. Why would there be a trick question ? It was obvious that the winning entry would come from the best caption as determined by the Judge(s).


Paul

 

[Sharky]

It was a simple spelling mistake by me. Apologies to seancass as it was not my intention to confuse - however he will be pleased to know that his entry was accepted, as well as the one or two others who answered with Warner instead of Saloman. But unfortunately his tiebreaker answer wasn't deemed the best from the 140 odd entries we received.

 

[boy]

Slalomnin, salolimn..sallloninam....oh I give up!

 

[seancass]

Paul,

Yes, of course, there were lots of references to Saloman, on Google; I spent a long time researching their past, some of which is interesting, but I really am having difficulty in finding any evidence that they are a currently an independent institution in their own right. Warner Brothers is! How many of the Google results are historical?

Here is a communication from Smith Barney. If you type SALOMAN into the Google search engine it will lead you ultimately to the Homepage of Smith Barney, yet Smith Barney are adamant that their association historically is with SALOMO N.

Dear Sean ,

Thank you for contacting the Smith Barney Access Help Desk.

Salomon Smith Barney has become Citigroup Global Markets Inc. Both Smith
Barney and Salomon Brothers are a part of Citigroup Global Markets.

We look forward to your future visits on http://www.smithbarney.com.
Jeniffer Gau
Smith Barney


© 2003 Smith Barney Inc. All rights reserved. Member SIPC. Smith Barney is
a
division and registered service mark of Smith Barney Inc. CITIGROUP and the

Umbrella Device are trademarks and service marks of Citicorp and its
affiliates
and are used and registered throughout the world.



Thank you Jennifer, but are you referring to SALOMAN (the spelling is like
SALOMON) Brothers? Is SALOMAN Brothers part of Smith Barney? There seems to be huge
confusion on the web re SALOMAN, SOLOMON & SALOMON.

Best wishes,
Sean ----- Original Message -----




Of course, Warner Brothers is a not a city financial institution/brokerage but they are an Institutional firm by definition and by status and I genuinely took this to be a trick question. I pointed out the ambiguity long before the result was declared; it was ignored.

I am sorry, Sharky, but the competition is either run fairly or it is not and although I congratulate the winner I would suggest that the winning entry was not so much a tie breaker as it was an essay. Tie breakers are short and punchy and used ultimately by firms as slogans (that is why many of them run these competitions.) Beanz Meanz Heinz. Go to Work on an Egg. The car in front is a Toyota!

Having said this, Please don't come charging in with claims of 'sour grapes' or too much exposure to "Grumpy Old Men" on the television, as I have already had tutorials with both Naz and Richard. However, I am cross that so much time was wasted on a "spelling mistake" when, if someone had taken the trouble to investigate when I pointed out the possible ambiguity, time could have been saved and guidance offered.

Sean

 

[stevet]

seancass

well put, if you are not already a succesful trader, you will be

trading is about being willing to work hard work and dogged determination, and you seem to have those in bucket loads

i wonder if there would have been any mistakes if you had set the questions - perhaps this site needs a proof reader?

 

[ChartMan]

Perhaps a bit of common sense would have been useful... by way of reference to the level of difficulty of the other three questions.
I spent 10 seconds ticking the boxes and 6 hours thinking of a slogan. Quid pro Quo perhaps?

Stevet. Please use the spell checker when posting. :cheesy:

 

[stevet]

ChartMan

if i ever set any questions for a test - you can be sure i would check and double check everything i do

but not my occasional ramblings

 

[Trader333]

..........6 hours for a slogan and you still didnt win.

 

[seancass]

Good morning Chartman,

After six hours the slogan must have been a gem. Will you share it with us please?

Best wishes,
Sean

Stevet, thank you for your message.

 

[ChartMan]

Stevet, that was tongue in cheek. I'm like you, only occasionally use the checker and my spelling is appalling. I take your point though. The spell checker is US based which doesn't help.
My Slogan? I forget. If Sharky reads this, he can edit it in for you all. It was naff and took 2 minutes.

 

[stevet]

chartman

a US spell checker on a UK site - nice one - i like that!

 

[ChartMan]

Blame Sharky!

 

[Sharky]

Sean, I take on all your points - suffice to say I'll let someone else set the questions next time and stick to what I do best, running the website.

As for a UK version of the spellchecker - if there's one out there then I'll find it!

 

[seancass]

Thank you Sharky.
I look forward to the next competition.

Best wishes,
Sean

 

[stevet]

Sharky

hey - we're traders - not doing english grammar at school - lets type wrong!

 

[seancass]

Hi Stevet

"Lets" needs an apostrophe S, i.e. "Let's." Next mistake and it's detention!

Sean

 

[ChartMan]

Stevet's right again this is not a grammar school

 

[FTSE Beater]

Yes, this isn't a school. If it was, I wouldn't be here.

I do however believe that, as we are in the company of a man of letters (check out SeanCass's website ), that we should use the correct grammar where ever possible :cheesy:

 

[ChartMan]

I see Sean has "cert" after his name.....