JuicyCampus.com, a popular gossip website in which students from various institutions can post anonymously on any subject related to their school, decided to shut down, citing a loss of ad revenue caused by the recent economic downturn.
Matt Ivester, founder and CEO of JuicyCampus, said in a message posted on the website, “In these historically difficult economic times, online ad revenue has plummeted and venture capital funding has dissolved.” He went on to explain that the website grew too fast, and the company did not have the resources to “survive this economic downturn.”
The website, which Ivester always maintained was a forum for “light-hearted college gossip,” attracted criticism from parents, school officials, and many students when it was first unveiled in August 2007. It had “the simple mission of enabling online anonymous free speech on college campuses,” according to the now defunct website.
However, under the cover of anonymity, many students took the opportunity to post hate speech, racial slurs, and derogatory comments about professors or classmates.
Harold Respass, student body president at Winston-Salem State University, was quoted by WSII12, North Carolina, as saying, “I don’t let stuff that’s not true bother me,” after he was contacted by other school presidents in the state who were concerned about the website.
Last year, New Jersey authorities subpoenaed JuicyCampus as part of an investigation into the site, and whether or not it was breaking rules aimed at curbing the posting of abusive or obscene content. The website also faced a federal lawsuit filed by a University of Delaware student from New Jersey, who wanted to know the identity of anonymous posters who spread gossip about her on the site.
Two students have been arrested due to content posted on JuicyCampus, after state subpoenas forced the site to obtain the IP addresses of anonymous posters. One was released without charge, but the other, a student at Colgate University, was charged with second-degree aggravated harassment and later released on $1,000 bail.
In September, an editorial in The Hoya, a student newspaper at Georgetown University, called JuicyCampus a “dangerous and undesired element … a cancer to our community.”
The Georgetown Independent quoted Ivester as answering a question about people getting hurt by JuicyCampus, “It’s not my fault. I don’t feel guilty. It’s a forum where we allow people to say almost whatever they want. It would be on the people who made the post. If you don’t have to look at it, you’re bringing it on yourself. No one is forcing you to look at it. If we didn’t provide this forum, some other site would.”
Despite the negative backlash, the site seemed fairly popular. The site claimed over a million unique visitors every month from over 500 campuses.
In the letter posted on the website before it shut down, Ivester said, “And I’d like to thank everyone who has engaged in meaningful discussion about online privacy and internet censorship. JuicyCampus has raised issues that have passionate advocates on both sides, and I hope that dialogue will continue.”
Our Take
JuicyCampus.com will not be sorely missed, though neither is it a time to mutter “Good riddance.” Despite the high passions the site raised in many students and officials, from free speech advocates to those who were maligned by the site’s posters, the website was not a particularly interesting one. There are other websites that offer a channel for both the light-hearted gossip and the derogatory rumors that college students seem to enjoy so much. Facebook, for example.
