0
Votes

Out with JuicyCampus, in with CollegeACB

By Rachel Burchfield

Friday, February 13, 2009

After advertisers pulled the juice from JuicyCampus.com, all that was left for the controversial gossip Web site to do was fizz out.

So it is out with JuicyCampus and in with CollegeACB.com, where JuicyCampus.com visitors will be redirected if they try to visit the Web site. Anonymous Confession Board is the answer to JuicyCampus regulars who still need to get their fix.

“The Anonymous Confession Board, or the ACB, is quickly becoming the central hub of college campuses around the country, giving students the freedom to voice their opinions and ask questions about any facet of college life,” a press release on CollegeACB.com said. “It is the campus center, the dorm room, the cafeteria, and the lecture hall, all combined into a single, easily accessible forum where everyone is invited to converse openly, without fear of reprisal or reprimand.”

Citing plummeting advertising revenue and dissolving venture capital funding, JuicyCampus folded on Feb. 5, despite its more than one million visitors every month.

Mark Campbell, Leawood sophomore, said he used to visit JuicyCampus about once a week and that he would miss the Web site because of the anonymity it brought. Campbell used to look for posts about his fraternity and said he would only switch his loyalties to CollegeACB if the Web site became well known.

“If it gets popular I’ll visit it, but if no one knows about it then I’m not going to waste my time,” Campbell said.

Matt Ivester, founder and CEO of JuicyCampus, said in a Feb. 4 press release he hoped the Web site — which sparked its share of lawsuits and, more commonly, hurt feelings — would be remembered fondly.

“While there are parts of JuicyCampus that none of us will miss — the mean-spirited posts and personal attacks — it has also been a place for the fun, lighthearted gossip of college life,” Ivester said. “I hope that is how it is remembered.”

CollegeACB, owned and operated by Peter Frank, a freshman at Wesleyan University in Middleton, Conn., offers new features missing from JuicyCampus, including a user-moderation button, where any post deemed by any user to be threatening, libelous or otherwise illegal is immediately brought to the webmaster’s attention.

Pam Botts, associate director of the University’s Counseling and Psychological Services, said JuicyCampus’ maliciousness seemed pointless to begin with.

“We always encourage people to treat other people with respect, and anything that interferes with that is probably negative,” Botts said. “It sounds like JuicyCampus was a negative activity that served no useful purpose.”

Ivester said the JuicyCampus faithful didn’t have to worry about having their identities exposed.

“JuicyCampus will maintain the same policy we have always enforced — IP addresses will not be released without a lawful subpoena,” Ivester said.

— — Edited by Sam Speer

Comments

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.

Advertisement