A website filled with anonymous compliments about Marlborough teenagers became so popular the schoolgirl who created put it on hold so she could finish her school work.
Fifteen-year-old Michaela Dodd set up the blog site More Marlborough Secrets in response to another blog aimed at spreading anonymous gossip about Marlborough teenagers.
The gossip site was set up about a month ago and posted rumours about teenagers, but appears to have been taken down. The last post on the website was as recent as November 16.
A blog is a public online journal, most of which are free to set up.
Michaela set up the blog anonymously several days later and created images using compliments submitted by others.
The year 10 student at Marlborough Girls' College closed submissions on the site several weeks ago because she could no longer maintain the site as well as do her school work.
She set up the blog to counter the negativity of the other site, she said. "It was the fact that this website had been able to create a wave of unhappiness among other teenagers," she said. "It's always good to get compliments, especially from strangers."
On some days there were up to 15 compliments waiting to be uploaded on the site, she said. Those submitting compliments were evenly split between Marlborough boys' and girls' college students.
She would consider reopening submission to the site if there was enough public interest.
Another website, Blenheim Beauties, which operates in a similar vein to Michaela's, has had more than 13,600 views.
Michaela did not know who was behind the site.
The first posts on the blog were in mid-November and a brief look at the site reveals the person behind it is a year 12 student at girls' college.
The site says it was set up to counter the "pretty harsh things" said about Blenheim youth.
Netsafe executive director Martin Cocker said if a gossip page was set up on a website like Facebook it could be reported to the site administrators, but it was more difficult to make a complaint about an independent website.
The issue would then become a legal question about defamation and if the material was offensive or dangerous it could be reported to police.
Netsafe also runs theorb.co.nz which is a site where people can make an official complaint about online incidents which may break New Zealand law or legislation, he said. The information is forwarded to police on the person's behalf or the site may suggest alternative action.
Complaints to the site were growing, but were mostly about online scams and fraud, he said.
Do you know who set up the Blenheim Beauties blog site? Contact reporter Simon Wong at swong@marlexpress.co.nz or (03) 520 8926
- The Marlborough Express
SIMON WONG
Online journal: Blenheim school girl Michaela Dodd has set up a site where people submit anonymous compliments about fellow Marlborough teenagers. The site was one of two set up in response to gossip sites.
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