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College Gossip Web Site Closes, Cites Lack Of Revenue

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By LINDSAY PETERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 5, 2009

TAMPA - JuicyCampus, the controversial gossip Web site, shut down Wednesday, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported.

With a motto, "keep it juicy," the site titilated and enraged students and campus officials for 1 1/2 years with openly salacious and anonymous posts.

Sections for the University of South Florida and University of Tampa made it onto the site in September, when the number of schools featured reached 500.

USF posts speculated on the promiscuity and pregnancy of sorority sisters.

But it wasn't the outrage and lawsuit threats that ended its rocky run. In a post on the Web site, founder Matt Ivester blamed the site's demise on a lack of revenue, despite steady growth.

"Unfortunately, even with great traffic and strong user loyalty, a business can't survive and grow without a steady stream of revenue to support it," he wrote. "In these historically difficult economic times, online ad revenue has plummeted and venture capital funding has dissolved. JuicyCampus' exponential growth outpaced our ability to muster the resources needed to survive this economic downturn, and as a result, we are closing down the site as of Feb. 5, 2009."

Popular topics on the site's last day typified the posts that JuicyCampus had become known for. They included "Biggest slut in each sorority???" and "Gayest Frat Boys?" each with a discussion thread listing students on specific campuses who authors believed fit the labels.

Many users didn't seem sorry to see the site go. One posted this: "Bye bye JuicyCampus — thank God."

Reporter Lindsay Peterson can be reached (813) 259-7834.

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