February 5, 2009

What killed JuicyCampus.com?

I saw in the UW student newspaper that "The popular college gossip site JuicyCampus.com will come to an end Thursday because of its inability to support itself financially." The company says: "In these historically difficult economic times, online ad revenue has plummeted and venture capital funding has dissolved." Times are tough on line. I'd like some ads too. (Or help me and stimulate the economy by buying this spiffy new Nikon (using that link).)

But there was more going on with JuicyCampus now, I seem to remember. Here's Fox News:
A Web site that publishes anonymous, sometimes malicious gossip about college students has agreed to cease operations....

The shutdown comes nearly a year after New Jersey authorities subpoenaed the company as part of a probe to determine if the site was failing to comply with rules requiring users to agree not to post abusive or obscene content.

The site's operator, which denied any wrongdoing, was also facing a federal lawsuit filed by a University of Delaware student from New Jersey, who wanted to find out who was responsible for posting gossip about her on the site.
You don't need to win a lawsuit to defeat your antagonist.

11 comments:

David said...

"You don't need to win a lawsuit to defeat your antagonist."

Or as in this situation, destroy.

Which is why I still wonder why more "civil libertarians" are not concerned about abuse of investigation and prosecution powers by state and federal governments.

Simon said...

I suppose it's an argument in favor of a loser pays rule - if you can force someone into discovery you can really start to rack up their billed hours, and if you have deeper pockets, you can really punish them. That was the rationale lurking behind Bell Atlantic, I suspect.

Bissage said...

Their failure is God’s judgment upon them for using the word “juicy.”

KCFleming said...

Were the allegations true?

No matter. Another victory for rule by lawsuit over the rule of law.

“To put the annual social cost of the U.S. tort system in perspective, it is equivalent to an eight-percent tax on consumption, a 13-percent tax on wages, the combined annual output of all six New England states (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT), or the total annual sales of the U.S. restaurant industry." [cf Jackpot Justice]

“To sum up, runaway tort costs – costing every American some $809 a year – harm the business climate of states, enforce a kind of “tort protectionism” that isolates parts of the U.S. economy from world trade, reduce access and affordability in health care, and kill goods that promote safety and human health”. The Seven Myths of Highly Effective Plaintiffs’ Lawyers

Small businesses pay $88 billion a year to cover tort costs, money that could be used to hire more workers, improve employee benefits, or expand.


And in the coming Depression, they are going to be suing like mad.

Wince said...

Their failure is God’s judgment upon them for using the word “juicy.”

Aside, I could never figure out why anyone would want the word "Juicy" printed on the ass of their sweatpants.

It's like having the word "Swamp" printed on your ass.

former law student said...

A Web site that publishes anonymous, sometimes malicious gossip about college students has agreed to cease operations

Which vaguely reminds me: Whatever happened to the lawsuit against Autoadmit.com? That site still appears to be active.

Joe said...

Forget the legal stuff, under what financial model would this site have possibly made money?

Jason (the commenter) said...

Or help me and stimulate the economy by buying this spiffy new Nikon (using that link).

Has anyone used it? I am in the market for one.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Colonel Mustard in the billiard room with a candlestick?

Revenant said...

You don't need to win a lawsuit to defeat your antagonist.

Although the funny thing is that now the plaintiffs will never know who posted those rumors about them.

Ann Althouse said...

@Jason My current little camera is a Nikon, and I love it, so if I were in the market for a new one, I'd order that one.