How could any of us forget Formspring.com, the phenomenon that swept through middle schools a few years back? It is easy to remember the rude comments and intruding questions that people posted behind the mask of their anonymity. I think most of us heaved a sigh of relief when the craze died out and life was restored to normal. That is why I was astonished when Formspring.com returned under a new name: ask.fm.

For those who are unaware, ask.fm is a website where people can anonymously post questions on someone else’s profile. When the user answers the question, everyone on planet earth who has access to the Internet can read it. It is impossible for anyone to find out who posted the question, so naturally some are very nasty. This sounds like a recipe for disaster, so why were so many Blake students jumping on the bandwagon and signing up?

One student said they got an ask.fm because he was, “curious to see what people asked me [him].” Other students who signed up for the site said that they received some offensive questions, but did not take them to heart. The most enticing factor of the site was curiosity. Students simply wanted to know what others thought of them.

However, another student said that it was “really offensive what some people said about me.” Many students who did not want to be involved with the site were shocked to see questions about them that they had not posted. Many people were disgusted with some of the questions like, “Why are you such a an asshole?”

The ask.fm craze has died down quite a bit since its initial popularity, but its brief popularity does not reflect well on Blake students. This craze shows how we constantly crave gossip and rumors. If you have a question for someone, ask them to their face instead of on a website. If you can’t ask them personally, your question is most likely intrusive.