Tiger Admirers, a Facebook page that allowed University students to express love, affection and secret crushes for other members of the University anonymously, was recently removed from Facebook because it was found to be in violation of the website's policies.
The page’s format was that of an ordinary Facebook user, and students would submit poems, YouTube links and confessions to the Tiger Admirers inbox as if they were instant messaging a friend. The administrator of the page, whose identity has been maintained anonymous, would then post these messages as statuses so that University students who were friends of the page could view the posts on their news feed.
"Reinstate Tiger Admirers," a Facebook page created to gather support for Tiger Admirers’ return, explained that Tiger Admirers was shut down because it violated section IV part I of Facebook’s Statements of Rights and Responsibilities.
“You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission,” the policy reads.
As Tiger Admirers was a user profile rather than a fan page, it was in violation of this rule. The page explained that Tiger Admirers was originally created as a user profile rather than a fan page because its contents would be made publicif it were a fan page and able to be seen from people not affiliated with the school.
A Tiger Admirers administrator did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.
The shutting down of Tiger Admirers has received various reactions from students.
“It’s a shame it got shut down," Xavier Bledsoe ’17 said. "It’s a good, anonymous forum for Princeton students to express positive things about other students, and a positive use of social media.”
David Coneway ’14 also said he was disappointed that Tiger Admirers was shut down, noting that Tiger Admirers was a funny way to play jokes on your friends without going over the top.
However, Pam Soffer ’15 said that she thought the shutting down of Tiger Admirers was a good thing, saying that she did not like the anonymous nature of the page.
“I’m a huge fan of saying nice things to people, and I think that if you have something nice to say — or mean, I suppose — you should say it to that person and not hide behind a wall of anonymity,” Soffer said. “It perpetuates a culture of people hiding behind their virtual identity and detracts from our ability to form a community filled with loving connections.”
"Reinstate Tiger Admirers" was created to encourage University students to contact Facebook, with the hope of getting permission granted from the Facebook administration regarding the rebirth of the webpage. 100 people are participating and 2,700 more were invited.