The exceptionally TTT discussion board known as Autoadmit has recently come under fire for various reasons, notably their homophobic, misogynistic, anti-semitic, and vile threads immortalized by the Washington Post. In that article the co-founder of the board — defending the use of young women’s personal information on behalf of a beauty contest they’d neither entered nor wanted to participate in — made his philosophy as webmaster known rather clearly:
AutoAdmit.com, which also uses the domain name xoxohth.com and which hosts Google-served ads, was launched in 2004. Cohen and his partner, Anthony Ciolli, cite First Amendment ideals. “We are very strong believers in the freedom of expression and the marketplace of ideas . . . and almost never censor content, no matter how abhorrent it may be,” they wrote in a posting on someone else’s blog. The vast majority of chat threads, they wrote, are school-related. “The only time you’ll see 20 or so racist threads on the site is if you proactively search for them.”
Or if you browse the front page. Today’s “most prestigious law school discussion board in the world” includes threads titled Would you date any of the black girls in your law school? and just got a sloppy blow job - taking questions and I’ve known a lot of wierd KOREANS and Who is this new youtube fag that keeps posting and It seems clear that Britain should never have left Zimbabwe (which sadly merits no comments yet) and I often fantasize about being raped written by a genius that goes by “Duke Rape Accuser”. If you think discussions like these are merely juvenile, I promise you will not be disappointed by the threads’ content.
What separates this board from the rest of the usual racist and sexist tripe that litters the internet is three-fold. 1) It’s mostly made up of students from elite universities (although anyone can join and post), 2) as mentioned above, it’s widely considered acceptable to say things one interested in preserving one’s prestigious reputation would never say in public (see above), and 3) the board’s owners have pretty much resolved to do nothing about it and even go out of their way to defend legally dubious statements under the right of free speech.
To be fair, some of the grosser statements are challenged by fellow board users (like here), usually when the board is under public criticism — as it is today.
FBI Day!
Yesterday the T14 UC Hastings campus shut down because of a little joke at Autoadmit, a “copycat” threat that implicitly referenced the shootings at Virginia Tech. The following is the letter the school’s Dean sent to the law school community, along with a response from the brave warrior of free speech, Autoadmit founder Jarret Cohen. (via)
As you know, today someone posted on a law-related (sort of) bulletin board a statement that was either a sick joke or a threat related to Hastings, and someone who read the bulletin board called Hastings. Immediately after the post others also posted to the bulletin board condemning the action.
The problem for us, of course was trying to decide how to respond in light of Virginia Tech, the fact that the poster referred to Virginia Tech in the title of the post, and the frayed nerves at all schools in the country, including our own. After consulting with the local police and FBI we decided to cancel classes out of an excess of caution to protect our students, faculty, and staff.
The bulletin board, autoadmit, is controversial and, like many such fora, attracts a great deal of drivel, much of it incredibly offensive. The Washington Post ran a story on the bulletin board in March: [link]
In light of the information we have learned since this afternoon from the police, the self-serving statement below by the bulletin board’s administrator, and many other postings to autoadmit regarding the identity of the poster, I am confident that our decision to resume classes tomorrow is the right one. However, I believe it prudent to continue heightened security through the end of the week and ask that you be patient while we check ID’s during this period.
I’m fond of the jab at “self-serving” Cohen, because at Autoadmit the only speech that has consequence is litigious in nature. No harm, no foul if you’re only threatening women without recourse.
Jarret Cohen’s response:
Statement on U.C. Hastings Evacuation
by Jarret Cohen on behalf of AutoAdmit
This afternoon, the dean of the University of California, Hastings College of Law, acting on the advice of the FBI, cancelled classes and evacuated the building after becoming aware of a message posted on the AutoAdmit discussion board. An individual has come forward to claim responsibility for that message, and when the FBI special agent in charge of this matter contacted me I put him in touch with this person. My expectation is that this matter will, from this point on, be handled between the poster, the authorities, and the school.
Today someone yelled “Fire!” on AutoAdmit, and some people took his word for it. I don’t blame them, given the horrible timing of the comment. Please understand that I run this place the way I do because I believe you deserve the chance to express yourselves openly and freely. But please, don’t be stupid. Something said as a flame or a joke - as likely was the case here - may not be interpreted that way by college administrators, law enforcement, or those unfamiliar with the AutoAdmit community.
The thread that sparked the fire made it to area news outlets quoting the effect of the threat, “Hastings better watch out today and tomorrow.” Classes canceled, campus evacuated, nerves frayed, one more story on the evening news letting us know how unsafe we are in our daily lives on the tail of a horrific event that left over thirty people dead.
Someone somewhere made a two subpoena bet before the board goes down for good, but the truth is that the board is quickly becoming a professional liability for anyone who actively participates; it’s garnering a negative reputation far beyond the “social experiment” frame that its defenders purport. Further, a superficial glance over the topics on the board show it’s only peripherally related to the law school experience, as its defenders claim.
Way back when, when the site was “only” under attack for hosting threats of raping and skullfucking classmates, Cohen said:
“I want it to be a place where people can express themselves freely, just as if they were to go to a town square and say whatever brilliant or foolish thoughts they have.”
May he get what he wishes for.
UPDATE: Further analysis here.
I vaguely remember the problem with the ‘beauty contest’.
In the online world it is hard to hold folks accountable for their acts and words, since they can hide behind fairly-anonymous screen names. It is also hard to protect one’s privacy in the digital world.
This comment would be more insightful if I got the gist of the post.
What are your recommendations for solutions? Posting moderation?
Ah the internet, makes having faith in humanity tough.
Regarding AutoAdmit.com, my recommendation would be closing it down - alas, that won’t happen. It might become a bit clearer to the posters that participating in such boards might not be benificial for their future careers though.
Ah the internet, makes having faith in humanity tough.
I’m the opposite — it’s my day-to-day interactions that make me want to go live up a mountain somewhere. I gotta say that much of my faith in humanity still exists precisely because of the oases of intelligence and generosity I’ve come across online. Places like Making Light, say. Or here, or Feministe, or various other places.
Regarding AutoAdmit.com, my recommendation would be closing it down - alas, that won’t happen. It might become a bit clearer to the posters that participating in such boards might not be benificial for their future careers though.
They’ll shut down if their own anonymity is blown and names start getting connected to the vile postings on the site. That “two subpoenas” comment is more right than anyone there knows.