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Just as college students, blessed these days with email accounts, now have the temerity to email their professors, they seem equally eager to approach any publication with listed email addresses to ask for help on their term papers. (Here at Gawker, our recent requests have been from students in Prof. John Mohr's sociology class at UCSB who wish to perform content analyses on our posts, and, yes, kiddies, feel free.) But, while such requests are commonplace, one recently sent to a handful of editors at The Wall Street Journal, and now circulating within the paper, stands out:

To Whom it May Concern,

My name is [redacted] and I am doing research that involves the study of certain Wall Street Journal articles. However, I have a question that I have been unable to find an answer to: How are articles chosen to be published in the Wall Street Journal. In other words, is there someone that determines what goes in each publication, and what stays out? Is there a certain editorial process that is used by the editors at the Wall Street Journal?

Your response is appreciated,

[redacted]
xxxx@pitt.edu

Replied one editor: "I've often wondered the same thing."