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Toxic Teen Website Infuriates Parents, Cops

On anonymous message board, free speech becomes personal attacks

By Katherine Thompson, Newser Staff

Posted May 17, 2009 12:01 PM CDT

(Newser) – The creator of the online message board Peoplesdirt.com says he's just providing an "avenue for people to express their feelings," but parents and teachers disagree. The website allows teenagers to anonymously post slurs and false rumors about fellow students. Although it's legal, it's also hateful and humiliating, students and parents tell the Washington Post.

Alfredo Castillo, the site's 23-year-old administrator, presents the board as an outlet that might prevent school violence—and one posting has led to the arrest of a student who made threats. But for the girls who have refused to return to school and the boy who feels like an "outcast," the site is simply a sad example of the dark side of the Internet.

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The message board Peoplesdirt.com is blocked by most school computer labs, since it has sexual and other inappropriate content, but that doesn't stop kids from using it. (Getty Images)

The creators of Peoplesdirt.com say they are filling a need for kids to air grievances anonymously, but those students mentioned by name on the site's explicit posts don't agree. (Getty Images)

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It's so frustrating. The parents are upset. The kids are upset. There's nothing positive about the site at all. Young girls are coming home crying. - Montgomery Police Detective John Reinikka, who couldn't find anything illegal about the site

We understand that a lot of it might be false. . . . We have to allow people who know these individuals to judge what is right [and] what is not. - Alfredo Castillo, the site's administrator

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Toxic Teen Website Infuriates Parents, Cops