Is College ACB getting too juicy?

Students no longer have to wonder what people are saying behind their backs, thanks to anonymous online message boards like College Anonymous Confession Board.

Matt Ivester, Founder and CEO of the Juicy Campus Web site, announced that Juicy Campus would shut down Feb. 5, 2009, due to low ad sales and revenue, according to the Juicy Campus press release. Ivester made a deal with College ACB founder Peter Frank to redirect visitors to College ACB from the former Juicy Campus site.

College ACB is different from Juicy Campus because it was not intended for students' superficial posts but for productive, anonymous discussion about college issues, according to a press release for College ACB. Yet many negative comments proliferate the site.

Mark Smith, an associate professor of communication who teaches media law at Truman, said the Web site operator is not required to take down any names posted. Privacy issues and libel are treated differently online, he said. Under section 230 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Web site owners are not considered responsible for libel.

It is legal for schools to ban College ACB, because they are in charge of the schools' Internet system, Smith said. Posts on Web sites like College ACB can be traced back to the post's author if the Web site operator releases the ISP address for the user. But the operator is not forced to release the ISP address, he said.

"I would doubt that the operator of the Web site is willing to give [them] that information," Smith said.

If schools received a certain student's ISP address proving they posted a defamatory comment, a case could possibly be made to punish the student, Smith said. Smith said each case differs based on the school's perception of what they consider disrespectful or an invasion of privacy.

"Anyone who uses anonymous posts should question their own ethics as to what they post about [people] because it's very easy to hide behind

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anonymity and make whatever claims that one wants to," Smith said. "The person reading needs to take that into account."

Individual users, like students who post on College ACB, can be traced, and a person could file a civil suit against them. A 2006 ruling from a California Supreme Court protected the Web site operator from a lawsuit and the individuals who republished defamatory comments. A student technically is republishing information if he or she posts gossip heard from someone else, Smith said. Ultimately, the California court placed the Web site users at the same level as the Web site operator.

Interim President Darrell Krueger said he had never heard of College ACB or Juicy Campus and has not seen the Web site, he said.

"When [students] get in college, they should have the judgment of what's right and wrong, and to do what they think is right," Krueger said.

Krueger said he thought one concern brought up by the anonymity of posts is that the posts on Truman's message board might be from students at other universities. Nothing will be done about the Web site unless the student body brings it to his attention and wants change, he said.

"[A post written on the Web site] might come back to haunt you," Krueger said. "The more you act and practice in life what you want to be and what you want to become, the more you become it."

Senior Nicole VanCleave wasn't aware College ACB existed, but was named the nicest girl on campus on the site.

"It was just crazy how honest people were, just putting people's names out there and saying rude things," VanCleave said.

She said some of the posts were terrible, like those that listed "trashy girls."

"People gossip enough," VanCleave said. "You don't need to do it online where everyone else can see it too."

VanCleave said the students posting comments on the site probably are just looking for entertainment, revenge or humor. She said College ACB is unlike other college message boards because College ACB doesn't provide any useful information - it just spreads rumors.

"People just miss high school too much," VanCleave said. "They miss the drama."

Sophomore Nathan McWilliams said he wasn't aware sites like College ACB existed until he found out he was called awkward on one. The post did not surprise him, but was hurtful, he said.

"When I found out I was given a vote for most awkward man on campus, I couldn't help but feel proud and ashamed at the same time," McWilliams said.

He will continue to look for his name on the site, but won't be posting anything harmful himself, he said. College ACB can be helpful because posters give advice, but harmful because of the defaming comments, he said. McWilliams said he's not sorry for the way he acts at all.

Like McWilliams, junior Ryan Mueller didn't know he was listed as one of the most awkward people on campus on the site, he said. Mueller said he's heard of sites like Juicy Campus and College ACB but has never used them. A post about being awkward is not as negative compared to the other posts on the site, he said. Mueller said he doesn't care anymore because he has an idea of who posted the comment because it was signed with initials.

"I don't feel like it's appropriate to go and post things about other people under anonymity," he said. "If you have a problem with a person, why don't you take it up in person?"

Most of the posts are immature and harmless but can cause damage to people's reputations, giving others a false impression, Mueller said.

Freshman Hayley Scheerer first saw College ACB and assumed it was just another Internet gossip or blog site, she said. Scheerer said she had mixed reactions and that the rude comments made it seem unreliable. But Scheerer said College ACB shouldn't be banned unless it truly gets out of hand and leads to problems on campus.