A Cosmo Confession: Internets and Anonymity

Al Gore "invented" the internet in the years that I was in grade school (in actuality, though, according to Thomas Friedman, a primitive form of the internet had been around since the 1950s with a very, very archaic form of IM). Nevertheless, when I was in 9th grade, the internet was still a novelty - with its chat rooms where one could connect to strangers in places as far and mysterious as Texas, and then e-mail, virtual messages that could be received with the speed of lightning (or so it seemed).

It was the summer of ninth grade, and my friends (members of "Clique A") and I were taking physics for some unknown reason. The summers would drag on as we learned about vectors and other things that seemed difficult at the time but now prove to be child's play. One day, we started to receive weird, anonymous emails from "youwillneverknow@hotmail.com." The messages were like horoscopes - weirdly specific and general at the same time. They revealed school gossip without naming anyone. The emails would offer pornographic advice, telling girls they shouldn't be "afraid to explore their bodies because they were beautiful." Youwillneverknow was a precursor to Gossip Girl, except in a decidedly unglamorous locale of southern Virginia.

It was THE summer mystery as everyone tried to figure out who this mystery emailer was, and it offered us an exciting thrill that made me feel like I was in a Sweet Valley Twins novel. My friend Jenna, the keeper of all secrets and gossip at Carlisle, figured out who it was a year later, and the discovery of this mystery rabble rouser's identity proved to be very lame.

Jenna and I, together, were tricksters and started to send emails out to our class with an email address - "YouWillNevaKnow@hotmail.com." Our advice was actually pretty pointed and directed to certain members of the class who we thought needed help getting their act together wardrobe-wise. Granted, I wholeheartedly admit that I was a shallow bitch, but who isn't when they're 15? No one figured it out, but we got people talking.

We took it even further. We heard through the grapevine that my friend Lauren W was being harassed by an anonymous emailer called "gorillaman" (it turned out to be a cute soccer player Nathan W, we would discover later). He would send her cryptic, threatening e-mails, and Lauren received it with a cheerful annoyance that teenage boys construe as flirting.

Jenna and I decided to "flirt" with Lauren, too. We started sending her cryptic email messages from "gorillawoman" in the same vain as gorillaman. Lauren was confused and never did figure out that her close, seemingly-innocuous friend Mariam was the source of said internet harassment. Eventually, we got bored with the entire endeavor, and I never did get the chance to tell Lauren. And here I am, atoning for my decade-old sins via blog.

--By Mariam Q., a student at UTCOM.