Maybe you’ve been through one of the following scenarios before: A sweet guy held the door open for you, but you were too nervous to say anything to him. A cute girl is in the library, but you don’t want to seem too creepy by approaching her.
The first post on Spotted on The Beach was made last February.
Well, have no fear. Now, there’s a website called Spotted on The Beach where you can anonymously “say hello, make a move, ask for a number or confess your love” to someone you momentarily crossed paths with at Cal State Long Beach. There’s even a Twitter and a Facebook page you could follow.
The website is powered by Tumblr, in which tags consist of #girlspottedguy, #guyspottedgirl, #girlspottedgirl, #guyspottedguy and #other.
In the #other tag, there are confessions that deal with occurrences at school, from complaints about bad drivers to an observation about a squeaky door.
The “spotted” confessions usually include a description of what the other person was wearing, the time and place the brief meeting occurred and a comment in hopes that the other person would stumble upon the message. Connections are made via comments. Now the website is gaining more publicity by word of mouth.
Connection complete!
Some confessions are as brief as “Chick in CWL 100: MW CWL 100 930-1045 you are cute as heck! that is all,” while others are as specific as “Thalia Barrera, I sit next to you everyday in Political Science, but you never seem to notice me. You asked me for a pen the other day, & I gave you my favorite black ballpoint pen. You smiled and said thank you and my heart skipped a beat. I love the aroma of your perfume every morning.”
Then there are the really suggestive moments that probably belong in a personal diary.
Yes, one of the points of this site is to say what you can’t really say to someone in person. The idea is simple and seemingly innocent, but when does this become too personal? What happens when it’s not just a spotting, but harassment?
Consider such scenarios such as a sexual fantasy being relayed onto the site.
Imagine that one of these confessions had your full name where someone can google you and find a picture. They know the school you go to, the fact that you’re the object of someone’s desires and that you have a nice behind. Not feeling flattered, you feel embarrassed by it and want it taken down. Unfortunately, you cannot directly remove it because you’re not an administrator. Sure, you can probably request it be taken down eventually, but it doesn’t change the unwanted attention in the first place.
To make matters worse, let’s say you didn’t know about this site at all. A potential future employer searches your name and sees this site, decides it’s unprofessional and doesn’t hire you. Granted, this didn’t occur with these comments, but it’s still a possibility.
Apparently Asians at our school have nice “booties”
The site can be as innocent and genuine as the contributors wish it to be, but there’s also dangers to consider.