A new Web site catering to UW-Madison students, , caught hundreds of students' attention Wednesday and is part of a larger network of similar sites nationwide.
Many students at UW-Madison received an email from an unidentified \julie59@wisc.edu"" Tuesday directing all those who read the e-mail to a Web site for students at Julie59 is not a user recognized by the Division of Information Technology, which regulates the wisc.edu domain.
""www.thebadgerweb.com is the coolest. Its [sic] going to be sweet when everyone is on there,"" ""Julie59"" told students in her e-mail.
And students are following her advice-within a day, well over 300 users registered on the site, which acts as a multipurpose message board for students at this university. Services provided on the site include message boards for dating, rating professors, sports and others. In fact, the Web site calls itself the ""Unofficial Homepage for the University of Wisconsin.""
UW-Madison sophomore Briana Petersen signed on to the Web site Wednesday because she saw her roommates playing games on it.
""I will probably use it more now that I know it has many things to offer,"" Petersen said in an Instant Messenger interview facilitated by The Badger Web.
The source of the Web site, however, is unclear. The company who created the Web site is not listed on the page itself, but the domain name is registered by Niche Wave Media in Leedom Estates, Pa. A call to that company confirmed they created the site, but the site's apparent webmaster did not return calls to The Daily Cardinal to explain the site's purpose. Almost identical sites, like ""The Hoosier Web"" and ""The Longhorn Web,"" exist for other universities.
DoIT Communications Manager Brian Rust guaranteed that the university reviews content and criteria before allowing anyone to send mass e-mails to wisc.edu addresses.
""We would not sell or rent or loan names or e-mail addresses that aren't approved, and it has to be within the university,"" Rust said. ""[The Dean of Students] would never permit a private company to send an email through our service.""
Assistant Professor of communication arts Rob Howard said the success of student message boards like this one depends on accessibility and the amount of students who participate.
""Once a certain critical mass of people know about it and go there it can be an interesting way for people to share individual opinions, which is good,"" Howard said, because it allows students to make more informed decisions.
