The spirit of Juicy Campus, the infamous online gossip site that shut down last Thursday, lives on.
In its place comes CollegeACB.com, or the College Anonymous Confession Board, which seeks to give "students the freedom to voice their opinions and ask questions about any facet of college life," according to a press release on the Web site.
For the next two months, any user visiting JuicyCampus.com will be re-directed to the CollegeACB site. Owner Peter Frank, a freshman at Wesleyan College, struck an agreement with the defunct Juicy Campus to direct traffic to his site.
Although there is a traffic deal in place with Juicy Campus, Frank insists that there is no other relationship between the two Web sites.
"I am trying to fill the void Juicy Campus previously held, but with something better," he said. "I want to contribute something positive in the wake of Juicy Campus."
He pointed to the Wesleyan board on College ACB for what he believes the site can become - a place for college students to speak openly without fear of reprisal.
While Juicy Campus founder Matt Ivester attributed his site's demise to a lack of ad revenues, Frank said he is not looking to make money off CollegeACB.
The new site shares some of the same features - and goals - as Juicy Campus, including the anonymous posting of "taboo" subjects, according to the press release. But there is at least one safeguard in place that aims to stop offensive posts from becoming rampant on the site.
Frank indicated that there is a "report" feature that will allow users to flag content they believe is offensive or inappropriate. If the post is flagged enough times, it will be removed by the webmaster.
The site, which was started by Andrew Mann of Johns Hopkins University and Aaron Larner of Wesleyan University, has already been up and running for a year.
However, shortly after graduating, the site's founders handed over the reigns to Frank. They told him they wanted to leave it in "good hands," Frank said.
Despite assertions that CollegeACB is not another Juicy Campus, many students seem skeptical of another Web site that lets college students post anonymously.
"Juicy Campus said the same thing as [CollegeACB] when it started," said College sophomore Veronica Wang. "But, eventually, it all becomes mob rule because it's an open forum," she said.
College freshman David Kim said he agreed with this notion. "You can say you are going to start off positive, but the users are in control," he said.
According to the press release, "the ACB consistently hosts a higher level of discourse - while still making room for the occasional gossip post."
Regardless, for College sophomore Estee Katcoff, any gossip is frustrating.
"It causes too much social drama," she said. "This Web site takes that and blows everything out of proportion."
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