Column:

MyGreekGossip.com a piece of trash

Most of the posts on this site are false, anyway.

By Jacob Houska

Published April 23, 2009

Imagine you are a coward.

You are sitting behind your computer, probably blabbering under your breath to nobody in particular. You probably hear rumors about nasty things people say about you all the time, but never directly -- always someone heard someone else who might or might not have said something. This causes you to be a huge fan of gossip and hearsay, the kind of fan who reads Perez Hilton.

And it gets worse. You're bitter about life, probably for a good reason, and you're too big of a coward to confront any of the people face-to-face who you blame for your sad situation. Besides, it's not like they ever confront you in person. So what do you do?

You log onto MyGreekGossip.com and write an anonymous post about how some girl is a total whore and probably got herpes from a homeless person. Then you smile, pat yourself on the back and feel better that you have now gotten even with the world.

This is just a quick fix, however, because as soon as the novelty of libeling someone wears off, you still have to live with the fact that nobody likes you.

What's sad about this is that people pay attention to this Web site, which is literally a collection of anonymous posts about things that usually have no basis on reality. They talk about it during class, saying things like, "Did you hear what it said about (insert name) on Greek Gossip?"

It takes every ounce of courage I have not to say anything rude to them. Yet at the same time, I feel obligated to say something because spreading slander by word-of-mouth is like spreading gonorrhea with a water gun.

You see, the reason I don't get pissed off at someone and then put their name on a real Internet site like themaneater.com without bothering to verify the information is because, aside from it being a passive-aggressive public display of how big of a coward I am, not to mention illegal, I would have my name and picture posted right next to my comments. Yes, imagine that, I would be held accountable for the things I said.

People take things they read on the Internet seriously, even when they are obviously a complete farce. In the case of this ridiculous Web site, it is time to stop. I don't want to hear about it in class and I'm sure people whose real names are tarnished by an anonymous person wouldn't mind if these cowards would find a new outlet for their bitterness.

Some clues as to how ridiculously brainless this Web site is are blatant and obvious, yet still ignored by its followers. Here's an example of a word-for-word post on MyGreekGossip.com under the tag "University of Missouri-Columbia":

"i like to poop. butts butts butts and big poopies. zoom zam zing ramalamazama."

I wish I were kidding.

So here is my cry to you people. Stop visiting this Web site and stop talking about it. Good things will happen when everyone has to take responsibility for what they say, and better things will happen when people stop getting their information from an anonymous blog that makes no attempt to be truthful.

And to you idiots who will probably get on there five times before the day is over, stop it. You are the gnats that keep flying into the bug zapper.

This problem is easy to fix and it is by no means too late. If nothing else, just keep in mind the odds of you reading something real are slim to none. I'd even be willing to bet my student loan debt that some idiot will write about me for saying this.

Go ahead. Just don't forget to sign your name.