Quote from Dustin:
Broke my rule on revisiting the thread...
I had the pleasure of chatting with a GS floor specialist on a recent Vegas trip. She said we as daytraders have more access to information, and the ability to trade on that information than specialists these days. The only time now a specialist is really working is the open, the close, and the handling of large orders. As far as I could tell they really aren't significant to the movement of stocks, especially thicker high volume stuff. They are no longer the "ax" on anything except maybe thin small caps.