Sometimes our readers are shocked we’d engage in radical commercial activity such as helping advertisers learn more about our readers. They demand to know why they should help us do anything so terrible as sell ads. Well, the simple reason is that you should help us because this is how we make money. The site is totally free of charge; our bills are paid by our advertisers. Without these ads—and without your help selling them by filling out these rare, brief and anonymous surveys—we would simply cease to exist. Bess Levin would have to get a real job. The other editors would simply fade away into unemployment, gin-mills and the charity of girls with too much money and poor judgment.

Today’s reader survey is particularly short. We want to know your answer to two whole questions. Go ahead and take the survey, please.

Reader Survey [DealBreaker]

So what’s wrong with social networking? Well, as The Long Tail author and Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson has explained, part of the problem is that social networking should not be a destination on the web but a feature of good websites. Flickr and YouTube, for instance, have from their beginnings used social networking in this way—turning users of other services into a social network. Especially in its early months, YouTube felt very much like a social networking community.

This leads us to something we’re been toying with for nearly a year here at DealBreaker. Our commenters and emailers are already something of a community, with many regular participants in our comments section adopting regular and instantly recognizable handles or pseudonyms such as Bulging Bracket, Random Banker, Anal_lyst, BSD and Zbignew. We’d like to take this further, allowing permanent profiles for commenters, where readers can track discussions, get in touch with each other and keep conversations going even after certain discussions have moved off the main page. Our creation of the “Recent Comments” page was the beginning of this effort but it is a mere seed for what we hope will eventually grow into a much more interesting social network, user-generated part of our pages.

[More on social networking DealBreaker-style after the jump.]

The twelfth day of October is celebrated throughout much of the Americas, particularly the Spanish speaking nations. But in the United States this year we celebrate Columbus Day on October 8th because the federal government prefers it that way. Which brings to mind Ambrose Bierce's quip that "History is an account, mostly false, of events unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools."

When it comes to holidays, at DealBreaker we usually take our instructions from the New York Stock Exchange. Except our publisher, who seems to have a special reverence for either Columbus or three-day weekends or the bond market, has declared that on this occasion we shall take our cue from Franklin Delano Roosevelt (who made Columbus Day a national holiday) and Richard Nixon (who declared that it would always fall on the second Monday in October). So last night we dutifully went down into the bowels of the Knights of Columbus hall on the far side of Prospect Park, and raised many a bottle in honor of Columbus and his great achievement, nothing less than bringing America to the attention of western civilization. In a strange twist, our drinking companions were firemen and cops who cheered for the Cleveland Indians to beat the Yankees.

We'll open up this comment thread so that our readers can comment on the financial news of the day in our absence. Another way of showing our appreciation and trust in our readership. Feel free to show our publisher that we're irrelevant and the site can keep going even without writers and editors!

Money may never sleep but on this special Monday the DealBreaker team will. Tonight we celebrate the spirit of Columbus with a good bottle of Italian red, perhaps a Fontodi. We return tomorrow for our usual mischief.

Update: It just occurred to us that today might be a great day for our newer readers to browse through our archives and see why everyone is talking about DealBreaker. Long-time readers might want to catch up on some of our classics. One year ago today, for instance, we discovered that some Yale Student improbably named Aleksey Vayner had sent a link to his video resume along with his regular, paper and ink resume. And a legend was born.

Update II: The nice folks over at TheStreet.com were kind foolish enough to invite us over for a wine tasting. We were joined by some very lovely women and everyone's favorite former hedge fund manager, Tim Sykes. Thanks TSC. And to the ladies, we're sorry we drank so much and acted that way. But the wine was terrific, you were beautiful, and we couldn't help ourselves!

Update III: More news from the mating market. The New York Times picks up the trail of the author of last week's response to the Craig's List girl who is now-known as Miss Golddigger. But they come up with nothing but denials. The hunt continues! (Oh, hey! If you are the author, or know who is, please contact us. We'd love to interview you. And, don't worry, we'll protect your identity with everything we've got!)

Update IV: It's our day off. So why are we updating so much? We miss you!

Update V: For all our Canadian reader s , happy Thanksgiving! If you are unfamiliar with this holiday, you can read here all about how it originated, was transformed by loyalists who fought against the American revolution, and later was moved by the government from its traditional date to the second Monday in October.

Market volatility taking up too much of your time to read all of DealBreaker? Locked in a conference room while closing a deal with no access to the web? Boss banned DealBreaker from the monitors at work?

We’ve got a solution. Now you don’t have to miss any of DealBreaker. As some of you already know, DealBreaker offers a daily newsletter, via email. We encourage you to subscribe.

You can sign up by entering your email address in the "Daily Newsletter" box, which appears in the grey box on the lefthand column of DealBreaker, and clicking "Subscribe." In case you're wondering, we won't sell your email address to a third party, spam you, or pepper you with questions about how your investments are doing. It's just the newsletter.

As a special thanks, if you subscribe in the next 24 hours, you'll receive a promotional code that's good for a free month of Sunday Silver. In case you're not familiar with it, Sunday provides you with the services of a personal assistant—which we’re sure the overworked traders and investment bankers and among you will appreciate in these turbulent times.

More details about the service, including the fine print for this offer, after the jump.

We’ve got a solution. Now you don’t have to miss any of DealBreaker. As some of you already know, DealBreaker offers a daily newsletter, via email. We encourage you to subscribe.

You can sign up by entering your email address in the "Daily Newsletter" box, which appears in the grey box on the lefthand column of DealBreaker, and clicking "Subscribe." In case you're wondering, we won't sell your email address to a third party, spam you, or pepper you with questions about how your investments are doing. It's just the newsletter.

As a special thanks, if you subscribe in the next 24 hours, you'll receive a promotional code that's good for a free month of Sunday Silver. In case you're not familiar with it, Sunday provides you with the services of a personal assistant—which we’re sure the overworked traders and investment bankers and among you will appreciate in these turbulent times.

More details about the service, including the fine print for this offer, after the jump.

From a meager start of mammaries to a grand finale of Rupert Murdoch, my just over eight weeks here have been a blast. From shocking secrets revealed at the Shake Shack to hoity-toity evenings at the NYPL to Dow Jones employees at the Corporate Challenge to iPhone launch coverage (by far the most fun), my photo essays have shocked millions dozens throughout the nation.

The people who work here are awesome. Bess, Keith, David, and John, thank you so much for everything including the opportunity to work with you for a short while. It has really been an excellent experience for me and I wish you all the best throughout the next months as DealBreaker undoubtedly grows to uncharted territories and new heights.

[Ed.'s note: we have released the hostage.]

• A leading investment bank needs a foreign exchange prime brokerage client service representatives. Must work well with hedge funds.

• Client services not your cup of tea? Try out for this job as a senior fixed income analyst at an investment bank.

• A hedge fund is looking for someone to get started as a trading analyst. Little or no experience necessary. Problem solving skills get you in the door.

• A private equity group is looking for a third-year analyst for its financial institutions group.

• Much more in the Career Center.

What’s worse is that no-one seems to care. Not your buddies who are tired of hearing about your job. Not the girls at the bar who think this is just one more way of bragging about what an important and lucrative job you have. Not your bartender, who only smiles at you because she wants a better tip. And not your mother…okay, maybe your mother cares.

But we’re kind of like your mom. We care. We want to hear everything. No deal is too big and no detail is too small. Every day our tipsters—often people we have never met who reach out to us through email and phone calls—help us break stories and get the insider angle on stories where everyone else is simply re-writing the press release.

There are so many ways to contact us. We’ve got our tips line for email: tips@dealbreaker.com. You can call us at the DealBreaker bunker: 212-334-1871. You can now contact via instant messaging, through our AIM screenname: TheDealBreakers. And we even have a DealBreaker tips text message account. Text your tips to 973-495-0177.

We’re interested in it all. Office gossip, the distance between your desks. The stains on the floor of your cubicle. The best and worse places to eat lunch or order dinner. Bonus rumors, misbehaving banker snap shots, true-life stories of work gone bad, deal news, trading desk follies, market movements, promotions and firings, and whatever else happens to be on your mind. As always, you can rest assured that we will keep your identity confidential.

Finally, we’d like to offer all our tipsters a heartiest thanks. You make our world tilt a little bit more each day.

But tonight Carney is stepping out from behind the screen to take part in a panel discussion on the broader subject of American history. "Should America Have More Respect for Its History?" is the official topic. Carnage will match words against Kevin Walsh, building preservation advocate and Forgotten-NY editor, L.B. Deyo, Jinx Society co-founder and prophet of the transformative cyborg future. The discussion happens at 8 PM at Lolita Bar, 266 Broome St, at the corner of Allen St. on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Free admission, cash bar, and an air conditioner.

Carney’s told us that he’s tentatively calling his talk “Only The Dead Hand Of The Past Will Set You Free.” Drop by and see him in action.

(Photo credit: Courtesy of Alli Mooney.)

We’re closing up shop early here today. A third of the staff is already halfway out the door, a third is half in the bag, and the rest of us want to “spend more time with our families.” (And one of us just wants to get out to East Egg before CNBC’s Margaret “Magic Maggie” Brennan’s job of reporting from the beach is done.) Tomorrow we’ll honor the remnants of American independence by not working at all. See you here Thursday. Until then you have our archives! (If you are one of the few, the sad, the unfortunate who are working over the weekend, please let us know. Email tips@dealbreaker.com with a the story of abuses and usurpations of your employer.)

Happy July Fourth!

So this morning we’re happy to bring you new ways to send us tips. Starting today, you can now contact via instant messaging. Our AIM screenname is TheDealBreakers. But sometimes you need that extra-measure of security—or rather, to avoid those extra measures of security from the folks who might be monitoring your computer usage. So we also have a DealBreaker tips text message account. Send your text tips to 973-495-0177.

Of course you hope you will still email us at tips@dealbreaker.com or calls us at 212-334-1871 with your office gossip, bonus rumors, misbehaving banker snap shots, true-life stories of work gone bad, deal news, trading desk follies, market movements, promotions and firings, and whatever else happens to be on your mind. As always, you can rest assured that we will keep your identity confidential.

Email tips@dealbreaker.com with a brief description of yourself and an explanation for why you want to nag around at a hedge fund conference for an afternoon.

Wall St. May Qs. We're hitting those slow summer weeks already. Much of the news that Wall Street will talk about will come from various boondoggles conferences the investment banks hold in an attempt to stay relevant during the weeks that movers and shakers do their moving and shaking out at the beach rather than the conference room. The real news will come when three big investment banks release second-quarter earnings reports. First up, tomorrow, is Lehman Brothers, which is expected to be a top performer in the sector. It may even beat out last years bountiful earnings. Thursday's reporters, Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns, may not be as lucky. Goldman's premier hedge fund has had a rough time, causing many to expect it will be down year-over-year.

Inflation less higher prices. We'll get some official inflation numbers at the end of week, with May Producer Price Index numbers on Thursday and Consumer Price Index numbers on Friday. Expect both to be up, which may kill the "every Friday is a rally day" trend we've seen for the past three months. Whatever the numbers are, we're sure someone will manage to prove that when you back out anything that has higher prices, there was no inflation at all.

Our internships fall into two categories, editorial and graphics. For editorial interns we’d like someone interested in spending their summer writing, reporting, research and performing mild administrative tasks—things like making frozen margaritas for Bess. Ideal candidates will have an interest in finance, some writing experience, a mischievous sense of humor and a history of causing trouble.

We’re also looking to improve our graphics this summer through the use of slave labor with the help of a graphics intern. The ideal candidate will have a well-developed aesthetic sense, a desire to make pretty pictures on the internet and some experience using photoshop. We’re going to be providing original video and podcatsing content in the near future, so experience in podcasting, film-making or online video is a major plus. It will probably make your summer much more pleasant if you have some interest in finance as well.

DealBreaker internships are great resume building opportunities. This is a nice way of saying they are unpaid—although you can expect to receive cocktails and food on occasion. If you are a student, we will work with you to get credit for the position. Also you should keep in mind that DealBreaker internships are not dead-end jobs. Bess Levin started as an intern, and is now a full-time contributing editor.*

And now she’s also our internship coordinator, too! Send your resumes to bess (at) dealbreaker (dot) com. Include “Editorial Intern” or “Graphics Intern” in the subject line as appropriate.

*Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. This "help wanted" item contains forward looking statements that rely on certain assumptions, projections and flat-out baloney that the management of DealBreaker believes to be reasonable or at least knows how to spell.