Studies

Studies

by Joseph Weisenthal




Want Attention In Chat Rooms? Change Your Name To Jennychick1997

from the asl? dept

Here's a great example of why more research needs to be made public. A study out of the University of Maryland suggests that female screen names in chat rooms receive 25 times as many private threatening or sexually-explicit messages as men. This really shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone who has spent time in a chat room. Even in a room dedicated to a benign subject such as chess, the conversation can turn sexual when a female enters the room, or when female GM Alexandra Kosteniuk is mentioned. The scene inside chat rooms is like a bar, though anonymity helps lower inhibitions in ways that alcohol can only dream of. Still, just as you can hide your identity when privately addressing someone else, so too can they. The next person you hit on may be a professor from the University of Maryland Engineering Department.

46 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

Reader Comments

(Flattened / Threaded)

    May 9th, 2006 @ 1:45pm
  • Feel free to test the theory

    Feel free to test the theory on MocoSpace.com if you like and tell me the results. I'm not sure the results will bear out especially on a mobile community like ours.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 9th, 2006 @ 1:52pm
  • have to change my alias...

    by Anonymous Coward

    Damn... have to stop using jennychick1997 now...

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 9th, 2006 @ 1:53pm
  • Heh

    by Anonymous Coward

    The next person you hit on may also be an undercover cop. Are there really any single women cruising for men online, or are they ALL law enforcement?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 9th, 2006 @ 1:55pm
  • Like No way!!!

    by jennychick1997

    OMG! COOKIES!!!

    Shoot, gotta find a new name.

    I know, maybe jennychick1998... yeah....

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    • May 10th, 2006 @ 7:15am
    • Re: Like No way!!!

      by jennychick1998

      HEY! You better not try to steal my screenname you ho! I have been using it since... well, for a long time now. I tried to get jennychick1997 but you must have already had it. I NEVER get threatening or sexual messages.

      (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    • Sep 17th, 2007 @ 1:22am
    • Re: Like No way!!!

      by camille

      can i add you as my friend

      (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    May 9th, 2006 @ 2:07pm
  • Yep...

    My friend and I went onto an ICQ chatroom, teens, and our nick was CaliGurl18fca. Oh boy.

    If you want company, that's alllll you gotta do. Perverts galore. "hi." "cyber?" "sexxx?"

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 9th, 2006 @ 2:23pm
  • Please

    by hotchickgurlICQ95448621

    Anyone wanna cyber?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 9th, 2006 @ 2:26pm
  • Old News

    by MM

    Heheh, didn't this covered by the old axiom "on the internet, no one knows you are a dog"?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 9th, 2006 @ 2:29pm
  • by JerseyRich

    Years ago (mid 90s) when we had AOL, my wife's screenname was Female23. She innocently chose it because she was - you guessed it - female and 23.

    Well, once I logged in with her SN and got in a chat room. DAMM! I literally could not keep up with the PMs that were coming through.

    What a trip.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 9th, 2006 @ 2:32pm
  • So how'd you hear about it?

    by Posterlogo

    I like how you start off by referencing your own organization on a totally unrelated story about making research articles public (which they are...or maybe you expect all publications of anything to be free). Curious how you heard about this research into chatroom names if the research is so hidden. Curious indeed.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 9th, 2006 @ 2:34pm
  • Crazy People

    by Intergalactic Hussy

    People are crazy. I spoke to a chick a few times on IM. I thought she was cool... turns out way too materialistic (ugh label whore) and extremely psycho! I was like five years (I'm 25 now) younger and thought it would be a good idea to just stop talking to her. It's not like I really knew her anyway.

    Bad move. Crazy bitch set-up several emails just to screw with me years later... And even a year or so after I thought that was over, she finds me on myspace (I knew it!) and is trying to spread awful rumors that don't even make sense. I'm mainly bothered by the fact that she's bothering my friends with fake profiles. And I thought myspace annoyed me a year ago...

    (All I wanted was to just meet up with old friends. F@#!ing crazy people, they're all over. Always be careful. Because at the least, its annoying as hell.)

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    • Jun 5th, 2006 @ 11:07am
    • Re: Crazy People

      by unknown

      ok pt it this way you shouldnt have went on the chat rooms anyway your 25 u can do without them

      (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

      • Jun 5th, 2006 @ 11:11am
      • Re: Re: Crazy People

        by one tough cookie

        dou know what a mean though where is the point on goin on a chat room when all you want is for someone to act, now i qote "crazy" al over you get a bloodly well grip and get a life for gods sake 25!!!!! acting like a fukin teenager

        (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    May 9th, 2006 @ 2:34pm
  • by Well Hello female 23

    LOL @ female23 and the rest of the messages.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 9th, 2006 @ 2:36pm
  • careful what you ask for...

    by computer geek

    Hey, guys, this can backfire, too! One of my friends (a guy) thought that he was slick by posing as a 19 yr old lesbian on Microsoft Chat (several years ago) thinking he would get to talk to other hot lesbians... He got a lot of PMs, all sexual in nature. At first, he thought he found a gold mine. The joke was on him, though, as EVERY OTHER PERSON claiming to be a lesbian was actually another guy! 8 Years later and he is STILL trying to live that down!

    Someone already mentioned about undercover cops posing as teenage girls online. I, for one, am really happy that police are putting in such a great effort to stop online predators. Thanks to shows, such as Dateline, I think many other would-be predators are realizing that online stalking is not a good idea. With today's technology, it is very easy to track online users, even if the so-called anonymous person is using some sort of ip-blocking software.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    • May 26th, 2006 @ 5:45pm
    • Re: careful what you ask for...

      by noseeme

      What is it with guys hot for lesbians? Hello! They are lesbians -you know into FEmales. You can never get rid of human preditors until lawmakers realize they are not "sick". They are compulsive criminals and have to be locked away forever.

      (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    May 9th, 2006 @ 3:12pm
  • by josh

    People still use chat rooms?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 9th, 2006 @ 3:15pm
  • In general

    by Rofl

    Well i dont know what research articles you are looking at cause i have completely stopped doing chat rooms all together. The reason being is because it seems that every time I get into a chat room i get analyzed by some weird psychiatrist or some other random person.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    • May 9th, 2006 @ 3:41pm
    • Re: In general

      by Dr. Wierdric Von Psychiatrison

      I think you have issues with letting go, and probably abandoment issues after the circus no longer allowed you to travel with them. Perhaps you should see a Psycologist for some new meds.

      (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    • May 9th, 2006 @ 3:42pm
    • Re: In general

      by ConceptJunkie

      Rofl:

      That's not a chat room. You're running the old ELIZA program.

      (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

      • May 9th, 2006 @ 6:20pm
      • Re: Re: In general

        by JennyTransGenVegetarianCarnivoreMale32

        ELIZA! Ha! Haven't thought of that in years... why don't you play a little 'Zork' and puzzle over the "artificially intelligent" 'life' program?!

        Ah, the good old days...

        (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    May 9th, 2006 @ 4:28pm
  • Stupid researchers

    by captain obvious

    yet another example of "researchers" wasting their time... putting into paper diagrmas what is plain to see with the butt-naked eye...

    more obvious than masticating food is the fact that men are a bundle of built up horniness and nerves... what will researchers discover next?

    TOP STORY: Researchers discover that chewing food makes it easier to swallow

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    • May 26th, 2006 @ 5:52pm
    • Re: Stupid researchers

      by noseeme

      Hey! Reseachers have to sit through years of boring classes until they grow up to be researchers. The dumbies are the ijits who give them the money to do the stupid research. You can't get a grant to study chronic rapists but there's a ton of money to study the mating rituals of the three toed bullfrog.

      (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    May 9th, 2006 @ 4:48pm
  • May 9th, 2006 @ 5:02pm
  • Yes

    by Christina

    We have come so far that all the things-we-didn't-know stories have been covered, and they've resorted to telling us things-we-already-know. Back to basics, as they say.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 9th, 2006 @ 5:29pm
  • WE HAVE YOU NOW!!!!

    PUT DOWN THE COMPUTER AND COME OUT WITH YOU GLANDS UP!!!1!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 9th, 2006 @ 5:32pm
  • by jennychick1997

    i am a chick dammit

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 9th, 2006 @ 9:15pm
  • Hot Nerdy Chicks

    by MS

    This woman is beautiful, smart, she can play chess... Why wouldn't men want to talk about her... :-) Quit man bashing... if it wasn't for men trying to be with women none of us would be here right now...

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 9th, 2006 @ 11:55pm
    • May 26th, 2006 @ 5:56pm
    • Re:

      by noseeme

      Honey you're not a coward. Just smart. Too many crazy people out there these days. Keep your head down and your ass covered.

      (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

    May 10th, 2006 @ 12:00am
  • by Anonymous Coward

    alert('boo, Techdirt vulnerable to XSS!');

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • May 10th, 2006 @ 7:17am
  • by Michael

    Pffft.... that's a Photoshop, for sure ;)

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Jun 7th, 2006 @ 7:45pm
  • Jul 10th, 2006 @ 4:23am
  • attention!!

    by Jazzie

    if u want attention in chatrooms u hav 2 pick a cool name like a attention grabbing 1!!!! get out there

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Aug 22nd, 2007 @ 6:00pm
  • chat

    by gary

    how do i chage my chat room name?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Aug 22nd, 2007 @ 6:00pm
  • chat

    by gary

    how do i chage my chat room name?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Aug 22nd, 2007 @ 6:01pm
  • chat

    by gary

    how do i chage my chat room name?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Jan 23rd, 2008 @ 7:16pm
  • by Roman

    Wow guys there is sun outside ? :[

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Nov 6th, 2008 @ 5:25am
  • scalo 76

    by giuditta

    sendo me vevono lasciare stare fracesco delle vibrazioni sulla sua vita privatta

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Jul 3rd, 2009 @ 4:05pm
  • by Anonymous Coward

    any single guys?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Jul 3rd, 2009 @ 4:43pm
  • by Anonymous Coward

    whats cyber mOrd3?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

Add Your Comment

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now.
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Plain Text HTML
Save me a cookie
  • Plain Text: A CRLF will be replaced by break <br> tag, all other allowable HTML is intact
  • HTML: No formatting of any kind is done without explicitly being written in
  • Allowed HTML Tags: <b> <i> <p> <a> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <hr> <tt>
Close
Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now.
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Plain Text HTML Save me a cookie

Search Techdirt
And now, a word from our Sponsors..



Subscribe to Techdirt's Daily Email Newsletter

Techdirt's Daily Email Newsletter

Related Stories
Close
E-mail It