"It is not that I can't handle what is being written about me or that I think that others can't handle it," Sen said. "I just don't think it is necessary for people to go on to a site, type in their names, and find malicious, hurtful comments about them that could really affect them should they have low self-esteem."
Bored at Baker, an anonymous message board designed to allow students to discuss issues and ideas that they feel are important, according to its creator, is one of 11 Bored-At sites at prestigious universities across the country. Since its launch in October 2006 the site has accumulated over 79,000 posts, though the site did not gain mainstream popularity at the College until late November 2006. Dartmouth currently has the most active network of the Bored-At sites, though that could be attributed to the College's upcoming exam period.
The Bored-At trend began in February 2006 at Columbia University, when Jonathan Pappas, then a senior at Columbia, created BoredatButler.com, an anonymous message board for Columbia students named after the school's Butler Library.
"I started Bored at Butler because I was having a problem with the Internet because you can't say what you want to say without having your entire life attached to it," Pappas said.
At first, Pappas thought the Bored At sites would thrive only in a culture that he believed was "specific to Columbia." But he soon received requests to launch Bored-At sites at other universities. Bored at Lamont and Bored at Bobst, sites named after libraries at Harvard and New York University, respectively, were released in September 2006. The sites were covered in an article on a popular Ivy League blog and soon after Pappas received requests for sites from the five other Ivy League schools, as well as Stanford University and MIT.
Pappas, who has relocated to Silicon Valley, monitors the sites on a regular basis in order to respond to complaints or concerns. Each site is unique, Pappas says, in that it represents each school's individual campus culture.
"I can't really tell the difference between each site because I am not familiar with each school, but I have noticed that individual names are mentioned often on the Dartmouth site," Pappas said. "We are making an initiative to reach out to the community because I have to understand the Dartmouth community better. I would like to be informed of what the major campus issues are, to get connected to the campus."
Pappas believes that the Dartmouth Bored At site can become a viable forum for students to express ideas they might not feel comfortable expressing on networking sites like Facebook or MySpace, where personal information is attached to their opinions. Students at other universities have found this to be true of their libraries Bored At sites.
"I think that the website provides students with a place to discuss issues without being censored, or to discuss issues where they would censure themselves," Natasha Chichilinsky-Heal, a sophomore at Columbia, said. "The anonymity, combined with a community of people that all have similar concerns, makes for a very interesting discussion."
Many students at Dartmouth, however, disagree.
"I don't think that Bored at Baker is really a forum for debate, but more a place for people to gossip and talk behind each other's backs," Denton King '09 said.
Postings on Bored at Baker often refer to individuals by name. The most common topics of discussion, according to the site's Week's Best, Week's Worst, and News Worthy functions, are of a sexual nature.
"I am not on the site all the time and I am not a Dartmouth student, so I can't relate to, or understand, everything that is said," Pappas said. "The goal of Bored at Baker is to have an anonymous exchange of ideas but we need to figure out how to make the site a safe place for everyone. I am not on campus so I need help from the community to help me keep the site a place that everyone can enjoy and where everyone can feel comfortable."
Pappas stressed that he welcomes suggestions from students, both at Dartmouth and at other schools with Bored At sites. He also said that while comments made about individuals are not allowed, he cannot monitor the sites at all times. The sites do not store the IP addresses of those who post.
"Students at Dartmouth have enough on their plates to worry about, and comments on Bored at Baker should not be one of those worries," Sen said. "I think that anybody who makes personal attacks against others by means of Bored at Baker should stop being a coward and take credit for what they have to say."
