“Jackie Kingston is the biggest s— EVER.”
“I know for a fact she got implants, she told me about them.”
“The way she dresses when she goes out make me nauseous. Honestly hunny, are you that desperate? People see you as a sex icon and nothing else. keep [sic] snorting that coke, you’ll get far. F— you, you’re worthless.”
All of these comments come from anonymous sources posted on Juicy Campus, a Web site marketed toward college students who want to gossip about their campus.
“Jackie Kingston is the biggest s— EVER.”
“I know for a fact she got implants, she told me about them.”
“The way she dresses when she goes out make me nauseous. Honestly hunny, are you that desperate? People see you as a sex icon and nothing else. keep [sic] snorting that coke, you’ll get far. F— you, you’re worthless.”
All of these comments come from anonymous sources posted on Juicy Campus, a Web site marketed toward college students who want to gossip about their campus.
The site encourages students to “spill the juice about all the crazy stuff going on at your campus,” and ensures anonymity – there is no registration, login or e-mail verification required.
Juicy Campus was created less than a year-and-a-half ago, but already supports 505 campuses. One of the most popular sections on the site is the Ohio State section, and one of the most popular topics, with more than 2,700 views, is simply titled “Jackie.” The title refers to Jackie Kingston, a sophomore in arts at OSU.
“I first heard I was on Juicy Campus from a friend,” Kingston said. “She called me and was like, ‘Hey did you see that post about you?’ And at that moment my heart dropped.”
Her heart dropped for good reason. The attacks came quickly and viciously. Occasionally someone would defend her, but the majority of the more than 100 posts criticize her character, appearance and morality.
“I find it so cowardly of these anonymous posters to sit behind their computers and write terrible things, but refuse to say a word to me when they see me,” Kingston said.
While most Internet message boards are anonymous, Kingston said Juicy Campus’ encouragement to gossip anonymously has caused most of her problems.
“It was just disappointing to know how cruel people can be when given the opportunity to say things anonymously and not have to deal with the repercussions of their words,” she said.
Vincent Cicchirillo, a graduate teaching associate in the School of Communication, has studied and researched the topic of cyber bullying. He says anonymity has helped cause the surge in online menacing.
“There is a lack of fear from retribution on the Internet. In traditional bullying, it’s been somebody who is physically stronger bullying the other person. Whereas in cyber bullying, it can be anyone, it has leveled the playing field,” he said.
The nature of the attacks bother Kingston so much that she actually prefers the rare face-to-face confrontation.
“The closest thing I have come to any sort of confrontation was having a glass of eggnog poured on my head and a pumpkin thrown at me by members of a female sports team here at OSU,” she said. “But hey, at least they made me aware they had a problem with me rather than writing about me online.”
The Internet attacks have hurt Kingston far worse than any flying pumpkin could have.
“I feel like my life is under a microscope. Everything I do is discussed, everything about me is insulted. When I walk into public places and people look at me, I feel self-conscious and automatically assume I’m being gossiped about,” she said.
After the deluge of criticism, Kingston simply wants to know why people care about what she does. It’s a question many would likely ask. Kingston is not an athlete, nor is she a student organization president; she doesn’t even belong to a sorority. But she is more talked about than any other individual or entity on Juicy Campus. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have an answer for why she has taken on a pseudo-celebrity status at OSU.
“Everyone I talk to says it’s jealousy, which sounds conceited so I don’t like to say that, but I really can’t figure out what I have done that is so horrible,” she said.
While the attacks clearly bother her, Kingston has learned to deal with them.
“Luckily I was raised to be confident, and early on learned to not let people get to me,” she said. “I know what I have done and what I have not done. I have no regrets … It’s just obnoxious reading the slander and constant defamation of my character.” While slander and defamation of character are strong terms to throw around, Cicchirillo says the claim isn’t unreasonable.
“The potential for lawsuits is definitely there. It’s just a matter of finding out the source and how our own justice system is going to regulate it in terms of laws and regulations,” he said.
When Kingston tried to contact Juicy Campus administrators about her bullying, she initially got no response. But her answer came Wednesday afternoon when CEO and Founder of Juicy Campus Matt Ivester announced in an e-mail that the site will close today.He cited decreased advertisement revenue and failed funding as primary reasons for the shut-down. He acknowledged that there are aspects of Juicy Campus that no one will miss, but insisted that his side “provided a platform that students found interesting, entertaining and fun.”
