JuicyCampus.com is no more, leaving students at Duke and Internet surfers afar without the inside scoop--the gossip people dared to anonymously write, regardless of whether it was true or false.
The Internet has made it easier to connect with others, calling into question whether it has also made spreading the "wrong" easier than before. But the underlying ethical issues are not different from issues that people have always faced: an individual's well-being and autonomy, or privacy, said Professor of Philosophy Wayne Norman.
"There is a normal, healthy form of social interaction," Norman said, adding that in real life, people tell different things to friends on the basis of familiarity. "When an Internet act invades a person's privacy, that can harm people."
Although JuicyCampus Founder and Chief Executive Officer Matt Ivester, Trinity '05, cited economic reasons for shutting the site down last week, there may be underlying reasons for its demise, Norman said.
Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta added that regardless of content, any business' goal is to generate revenue, and JuicyCampus was no exception.
"JuicyCampus attempted to make money on gossip, just like Gossip Girl on TV," he said. "The question is, 'How far will people go? When will ethical boundaries [stop] greed?'"
Those boundaries, in addition to a lack of advertisements, may have prevented the site from being profitable. Norman said he hoped people also felt too uncomfortable reading such pernicious gossip. If true, he said this may indicate something healthy about human nature-a basic level of respect for other people's dignity and privacy.
"There may have been a failure of the site to be sustainably amusing and entertaining," Norman said.
He added that he had heard the Web site was slow and difficult to navigate, which may have caused people to lose interest-an issue that junior Alaina Pleatman said may have been a factor.
"I just don't remember it coming up in conversation last semester compared to last year," she said. "I went on it once last Fall and it was talking about who the cool freshman boys were."
To illustrate JuicyCampus' shortcomings, Norman compared it to Facebook, a widely used social networking tool.
"The fact that a Web site like Facebook allows old friends scattered around the world to reconnect is... enriching and meaningful," he said. "We need to give them credit for a technology that makes people happier."
JuicyCampus, on the other hand, has provided a forum by which people can post content that may damage reputations without anyone's consent or any controlling mechanisms, Norman said. The ability to post specific names on the Web site probably made it more appealing, he added.
"Naming made the site edgy and dangerous," he said. "It was a sugar rush-a fairly quick buzz that died down quickly."
Norman also noted that the anonymity kept people from feeling accountable for their actions.
"JuicyCampus just wiped out the normal sanctions that keep people from spreading that type of gossip," Norman said, adding that there are normally social rules people subconsciously follow.
Like Norman, Moneta said that he does not see JuicyCampus as a novel form of changed ethical behavior, but noted that it is far more visible than typical rumors.
"It is the same as anonymous gossip written on the bathroom walls of a high school, except that [because it is on the Internet], the information spreads much further," Moneta said.
Moneta said he does not believe that another site created to emulate JuicyCampus would ever gain as much attention as the original. JuicyCampus showed that Internet fads can also have a quick demise, he added.
Even though the site has been shut down, Norman said he believes anybody harmed by JuicyCampus still has a right to take action.
"A reputation is one's most valuable asset," he said. "It can literally be stolen from you on completely false grounds-anybody would absolutely have the right to sue someone behind that."
Norman said it is possible to look at the past year, and people's varying interests in JuicyCampus, as an interesting social experiment, comparing it to "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding. In the novel, Golding explores what human instinct dictates in the absence of civilized constraints.
"This was like a social experiment on Duke's campus," Norman said. "We were like guinea pigs in a psych lab that have acted and evolved.... If you take away who said what, [gossip can spread] like a virus."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.