JuicyCampus.com gives forum to anonymous posters
Anyone can log on to the site and comment about campus groups or people and remain unidentified.
By Haley Jones (Contact)
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008
A Web site called JuicyCampus.com is raising concerns on college campuses across the country about where to draw the line between harmless discussion and malicious gossip.
The cyber gossip grapevine reached the University of Kansas on Sept. 2, when JuicyCampus, which allows students to post unfiltered and anonymous comments, added a page for the University. Since then, people have started 368 threads about the University.
The year-old JuicyCampus, which is owned by Los Angeles-based Lime Blue Inc., allows anyone who claims to be at least 18 years old to enter and post comments with no registration or e-mail verification required.
The site had pages for 63 campuses in the beginning of September this year and added its 500th campus Monday.
JuicyCampus allows visitors to view and discuss comments tagged with keywords such as fraternity, sorority and basketball. Users can dish freely about individual students or campus organizations while remaining completely anonymous.
The cyber bulletin board of provocative gossip has captured attention nationwide, but students such as Molly Hawthorne say it does harm without doing any good.
Hawthorne, Lenexa freshman, said her friend posted Hawthorne’s name on JuicyCampus last week tagged with the name of her sorority Delta Delta Delta and the subtitle, “Thoughts Anyone?” She said there was a reply within 30 minutes.
The first response read “total whore.” The next two defended Hawthorne’s reputation, but the subsequent replies slandered her with malicious and accusatory name-calling. As of Tuesday night, the post had 668 views, 21 replies and seven votes.
Despite this, Hawthorne said she didn’t take the site too seriously.
“It is a place where people can feel safe gossiping about other people, maybe even their best friend,” Hawthorne said. “The people that spend their time commenting on other people and what they do or who they are have nothing to do with their time.”
On Oct. 6, the official JuicyCampus blog quoted Matt Ivester, founder, president and chief executive officer of JuicyCampus, saying that nothing was more American than the right to freedom of speech. The blog also quoted Ivester as saying he hoped that JuicyCampus would overcome resistance from campus administrations so that students could be free to discuss topics that interested them most.
The site has caused an uproar at universities such as Pepperdine, Texas Christian and Villanova. The controversy has spread through student governments, university administrations, the Greek community and those labeled as “GDIs,” or goddamn independents, which refers to students who aren’t involved in the Greek community.
Kara Rowlen, Wichita junior, said she was shocked when she saw all the offensive comments people wrote on the site. She said it frustrated her because it was all based on stereotypes.
“I can’t believe people would sit and talk crap about other people online,” said Rowlen, who is a member of Kappa Delta sorority. “Yes, there’s freedom of speech, but if you’re going to say something, you should want to back it up. You shouldn’t be too scared to put your name after something you write.”
But 100 percent anonymity is the promise JuicyCampus makes to its users as it beckons them, “C’mon, give us the juice,” on its home page. And users are answering the call. On Tuesday night, the site had accumulated 71,244 posts since its launch on Oct. 24, 2007.
The topics on the site include “Best Frat on Campus,” to “Cheaters,” “Biggest Stoner” and “In The Closet.” Users give each topic a “juicy” rating ranging from 0 percent to 100 percent.
Mike Kautsch, professor of law, said federal law protected a Web site such as JuicyCampus from legal action as long as it did nothing more than post the content others had generated.
Kautsch, who teaches media law, said the law permitted people who were defamed or were the targets of malicious falsehoods to take legal action. But, he said, the site was constructed to make it extremely difficult to trace the identities of users, making it practically impossible to sue anyone.
“The operators of the Web site are taking the position that all they’re doing is offering people an opportunity to engage in humor or hyperbole and that no reasonable person would believe anything on the site anyways,” Kautsch said.
But he said that in reality, people did take it seriously and got angry.
“We could basically condemn the site as a source of utterly unethical and irresponsible communication on the Internet and say its operators are unethical for providing the opportunity, or just say it’s the fault of the users and they’re exercising freedom of speech,” Kautsch said.
In the ‘90s, congress granted Internet service providers legal immunity to encourage them to develop their content and the use of the Internet, Kautsch said.
“But here we are in 2008 and the Internet is obviously well-developed and there seems to be no restraint on further development,” he said. “It appears sites are pushing the envelope and there will be no end of imitators.”
He said that as a growing number of people found themselves defamed and unable to hold the perpetrators accountable, Congress could call for a change in the law.
Tom Volek, associate professor and graduate program director, teaches courses on ethics, media and the first amendment in the school of journalism.
Volek said when people knew their names wouldn’t be used, they tended to be more liberal with the facts and the possibility of embellishing the truth increased.
“Anonymity removes accountability,” Volek said. “People will say whatever’s on their mind if there’s no fear of recrimination. Maybe that’s good, maybe that’s bad.”
— Edited by Brenna Hawley
Discussion
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Juicycampus strikes me as a site where greeks go to write mean things about other greeks, and then complain that people are writing mean things about them.
I think that you are a GDI for suggesting that, and are unaware that the greeks are the most important demographic on this campus, nay, in the city, NAY IN THE WORLD for they do much public works and it is good. Without the greeks, would there BE a chi omega fountain? I think not. Without the greeks, would there BE United Students? I think not. Without the greeks, who would pop their collars, flip their flops, and text in your class? Could you do it alone? I think not. And I thank JESUS for the greeks, because without them I would be nothing.
I smell new trolling grounds.
Pantheon, you down?
I've been abroad this semester and just now have seen the horrible things written on Juicy Campus. I'm part of a Greek house and I don't think its just Greeks on there. However, I'm sure many of the posts ARE written by Greeks, as Greeks are often the targets of posts.
What shocks me the most is the unabashed malevolency of some posters. I can't understand how a person could feel like anything more than pond scum after writing things like "so-and-so has syphilis! what a whore!" or "My whole fraternity could run a train on _________, I'm sure!"
I'm honestly a little embarrassed to return to KU after reading this. Anyone who writes something negative on that site should be ashamed of themselves.
Anyone interested in a new way to combat the site should read the article listed below. If slanderous things are still spreading by the time I get back to the states, I might start trying to use that method.
http://www.thecolonialist.com/2008/10/how-to-defeat-juicy-campus/
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