When Dave Itzkoff quit his job as an associate editor at Maxim magazine, he was to have the usual send-off. There would be drinking – in this case, at an open-air rooftop bar. There would be a company tab opened and closed before employees could say “ad revenue.” And there would be the presentation of a mock Maxim cover bearing an unflattering picture of Mr. Itzkoff, amid cover lines making brutal jokes at his expense. (Around the office, the greatest form of flattery was the ridicule of your coworkers.)