When MyUCLA online forums were introduced two years ago, they
were intended to provide students with the opportunity to exchange
ideas, ask for advice and make new friends.
But some of the postings displayed in the online forums today
would make the discussion boards seem more akin to a stall wall in
a gas station rest room.
A significant number of postings displayed on the site are
littered with obscene language and sexual references. Some even
contain derogatory remarks about race and sexual lifestyle.
With the most recent posts constantly cycled on the MyUCLA
portal page, these sometimes offensive messages are on full display
to members of the public who surf the UCLA network.
One recent and somewhat titillating posting advertised the
creation of an anonymous sex club, “The Swingers
Club.”
The poster of the message promises full STD testing for all
members before they are accepted into the club and guarantees that
members will be “responsible enough to not get
pregnant.”
Another post has one forum user referring to a fellow user as
“a whore.”
Eric Splaver, director for College Information Services, said
the forums are governed by a set of specific rules intended to weed
out postings that violate campus policy.
He said this includes posts advertising the illegal sale of
parking permits and posts containing abusive language conducive to
a hostile and intimidating environment.
But Splaver said the online services department is not
interested in policing the forums.
“We don’t feel we should be bleeping out
words,” he said. “However, when we receive notice via
e-mail that a particular post may be in violation of our policy, we
will investigate. If the post is found to be in violation, we will
remove it.”
The policy also dictates that MyUCLA staff will cooperate with
campus authorities if requested to reveal the identity of any forum
user who is suspected of abusing policy.
Splaver said very few forum posts are actually removed, with one
or two being taken off discussion boards each day on average. With
more than 1,000 new posts every day, this constitutes about 0.2
percent of all daily additions.
Postings are not filtered before they are displayed on the Web
site, Splaver said, as this would provide too much work for the
small Information Services staff.
Rather, he said MyUCLA relies on other forum users to detect and
ask for the removal of problematic postings.
“I’m not telling you the post will be caught the
second it goes online,” he said. “But when we find
problematic postings, we will block them and e-mail the poster to
inform them of its removal.”
MyUCLA forums were the center of a small dispute last summer
between current Undergraduate Students Association Council External
Vice President Christopher Neal and Bruin Republicans chair Andrew
Jones.
Jones said he posted that student voters would stick to Student
Empowerment! like “stink on a monkey” and said Neal was
“a damn liar” in reply to a posting Neal had put
up.
Although Neal dismissed the incident as unimportant, he felt the
“monkey” reference was addressed specifically to him
and was inappropriate.
“That’s traditionally a negative way to talk about
African Americans,” said Neal, who is black.
Jones’ post was not filtered out by the Online Services
staff, but was removed when Neal cancelled his posting.
Splaver said Jones’ posting could have been qualified for
removal. Phrases interpreted to contain “fighting
words” are forbidden by campus policy, Splaver said.
According to UCLA policy, “fighting words” are
personally abusive epithets which, when directly addressed to any
ordinary person, are inherently likely to provoke a violent
reaction whether or not they actually do so.
Such words include, but are not limited to, those terms
“widely recognized to be derogatory references to race,
ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability or other
personal characteristics.”
Splaver said a significant portion of postings are removed due
to “fighting words.”
“We want to promote the forums as an open place to
communicate,” he said. “The policy is there to provide
a valuable resource for our users and in so doing make our users
more likely to return to MyUCLA.”
Neal, a frequent forum user, praised the online discussion board
for its ability to shrink a large campus into a smaller
community.
“A lot of people use the forums as a way of building
community and enhancing college life,” he said. “People
should be able to post whatever they want.”
Splaver also emphasized the popularity of the forums.
“They are very popular, we believe mainly due to all the
features we have built into them,” he said. “We intend
to continue to improve them by adding new and innovative features
in an ongoing manner.”