The internet is truly a fount of opinions. Taken in the right context, these opinions, good or bad, can help people find out what they’re getting themselves into – be it a new car, a restaurant, or even a significant other.

But, as we learn today from Time, for some malicious-minded individuals, opinions are not all created equal. Just ask the thousands of students whose promiscuity, health, and even sexual orientation have been lampooned on the web’s hottest new gossip site, CollegeACB.com.

CollegeACB.com, which stands for College Anonymous Confession Board, was started as a way for students to vent about the problems on their campus. But some, like Colgate University dean of first-year students Beverly Low, believe the site is simply an “electronic bathroom wall” where students can scrawl their most vulgar rumors. Indeed, with the recent shutdown of popular gossip site JuicyCampus.com in February, it would seem that sites like CollegeACB.com are trying to fill the scandalous void.

While traditional media – newspapers, magazines, television – are held accountable for the content they produce, the Communications Decency Act of 1996 spares website owners from the same standard. In fact, Juicy Campus went offline only after they failed to find sufficient advertising, not because of any pending lawsuits.

Universities big and small are scrambling to help their students cope in a world where a between-the-sheets rumor could be plastered all over the Internet the next day. Some schools are offering workshops to counsel aggravated students, while others have blocked access to the offending sites outright.

While these are good steps for universities to take, it is important for students to know that they too can help to reduce the slanderous trends of these sites. In general, you should be very skeptical of all information you read on gossip sites, no matter how credible it may seem.  Secondly, resist the urge to visit a gossip website and look elsewhere for entertainment online. Consider taking some time to improve your own image online rather than destroying someone else’s. And, lastly, if you have a problem with a fellow student (or human, for that matter), be the bigger person and speak to them privately about the issue.

Hopefully, through these actions, students and university administrators can begin to scrub the “electronic bathroom wall” clean. Either way, it’s obvious that online defamation and slander will continue to be a problem for individuals in the foreseeable future.

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