Spotted Facebook Pages

[Crazyjayde]

Gossip Girl has created one of the most idiotic, perverse and cruel craze in the history of internet trends and it seems like everyone is jumping on the bandwagon like it's nothing bad. For those who didn't know (like me), those commonly named 'Spotted' pages that have been invading Facebook spaces of numerous college consists of sightings sent by anonymous users about people they see around themselves.
Now, although normally some of the comments can be described as humorous observations about their surroundings or innocent love declaration, some range from discrimination to bullying.

Now I'm just asking why in hell would people think this is socially acceptable? I mean, are we losing sense of the barrier between reality and virtuality here? Or are people becoming just more and more unsympathetic about each other, and maybe just plain condescending?

Here's a good article that summarizes the issue:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/feb/04/spotted-at-university-misogyny-and-racism

[Netjet!]

Re: Spotted Facebook Pages

My university (uOttawa) has almost 9k likes so I think it's one of the larger/largest ones. Some of the posts are absolutely dumb and stupid, and it this point it's boiled down to "You people in the library need to SHUT THE FUCK UP", or "You with the skirt, you're a slut", or just as simple as "Hey you in the blue, coffee/I want to ride you like a horse", etc.

Some are funny, but most of the posts now are discriminatory and rude, and the only reason people find it "acceptable" to post things like they do is because they do it under a supposed "veil of anonymity".

Believe me, most of the responses are negative to people who post these things, which shows that the majority of people are against such things. Well, at my school at least.

[MinaciousGrace]

Re: Spotted Facebook Pages

welcome to anonymity on the internet

you are only 2 decades late

[cedolad]

Re: Spotted Facebook Pages

welcome to anonymity on the internet

you are only 2 decades late

lol this.

[PaperclipGames]

Re: Spotted Facebook Pages

Never heard of this stuff before though.

[Xx{Midnight}xX]

Re: Spotted Facebook Pages

My school is doing a "wall of secrets"

It's pretty neat tbh. The funniest one is as follows:

"I really like ROUGH sex."

[A2P]

Re: Spotted Facebook Pages

who

gives

a

fuck

[noname219]

Re: Spotted Facebook Pages

Two simple solutions to avoid being "spotted" :

1. Don't go to Facebook
2. Don't hang around in public anymore

[FissionMailed1]

Re: Spotted Facebook Pages

2. Don't hang around in public

Be a total shut-in. Got it.

[hi19hi19]

Re: Spotted Facebook Pages

Two simple solutions to avoid being "spotted" :

1. Don't go to Facebook
2. Don't hang around in public anymore

3. Don't give a fuck and go about your business as usual


???

[igotrhythm]

Re: Spotted Facebook Pages

My school is doing a "wall of secrets"

It's pretty neat tbh. The funniest one is as follows:

"I really like ROUGH sex."

That's people admitting things about themselves, though. This Spotted page is people saying things about other people.

Big difference there.

[NekoGon]

Re: Spotted Facebook Pages

gossip what.

[Izzy]

Re: Spotted Facebook Pages

Before people would just spread rumors and gossip with eachother face to face. This doesn't really change much except it is easier to ignore.

[Nick Skyline]

Re: Spotted Facebook Pages

It's news reports like this that make me say to myself at night, "Am I ever glad I don't use Facebook." No offense to any female under the age of 17, but the reality is that some people are dumb enough to take whatever is being written there seriously. The best reaction, I find, to something like this, is no reaction at all.

Or, if you're desperate to have a reaction, you could speak out against these Spotted Pages...

As the number of angry students has grown, Stopped pages have appeared, protesting against their university Spotted pages. Since the creation of Stopped pages, the Universities of York and Exeter have both had Spotted pages closed down. Other universities have banned Spotted pages from being used in their libraries, or from using the university logo on the page. Many have even reminded their students that such posts could damage their job prospects, since employers are increasingly looking at social media sites to find out more about job applicants.

Now I have something else I can ignore when I go on there.

But there's something else that came from this.

On a more positive end-note, though, it's not all going downhill. The University of East Anglia may have got the ball rolling for a new trend: UEA Compliments is set up to "spread the joy" and give a "shout out" to anyone who makes your day brighter. The posts on there are enough to restore some of your faith in humanity.

I just went to UEA Compliments and it really made me smile. You should go here whenever you get the opportunity, and I honestly think there should have been a lot more pages like UEA Compliments instead of what the movie Cyberbu//y portrayed...now that I think about it, Cliquesters (or rather, how it's portrayed throughout that entire movie...and since that website doesn't exist I can't talk about it in detail) is an example of a Spotted Facebook Page.

[cetaka]

Re: Spotted Facebook Pages

Two complicated solutions to avoid being "spotted" :

1. Wear one of the bracelet thingys like in the movies that shuts off all electronics in a 5 mile radeius around you
2. Whenever you see someone just gouge their eyes out boom boom