Institute - Wide Planning Task Force Releases Its Final Report

MIT students have become addicted to two new popular websites, MIT FML (http://mitfml.com/) and I Saw You MIT (http://isawyou. mit.edu/), created this past semester. Filled with anonymous, quirky, Twitter-like posts the two sites were designed to entertain, bond, and poke fun at the MIT community. “We are living in such a stressful and yet entertaining atmosphere, it would be a great idea to have a website to show the public,” said one of the moderators of MIT FML. The idea for MIT FML comes from the popular web site, fmylife. com; similarly, I Saw You MIT is based on isawyou.com. Posts on both sites vary from one or two sentences to entire paragraphs and include anecdotes of everyday student life, each following a general format. Like on fmylife.com, MIT FML posts generally start with “Today...” and end with “FML” (standing for “f uck my life”). According to its statement of purpose, “mitfml.com is an anonymous forum for students to vent, rant, and post funny shit.” In addition to posting their own FMLs, users can comment on and either “like” or “dislike” other posts. Showing a slightly different perspective on MIT student life, I Saw You MIT is a “place to post and browse missed connections.” All posts begin with the phrase “I saw you...” and continue to describe a sighting of another fellow student, either funny or romantic. I Saw You MIT also provides posters with the option to allow direct replies from other viewers instead of providing space for comments. Although both sites request that only MIT students provide content, Institute-Wide Planning Task Force Releases Its Final Report