The International Writers Magazine: Modern Life:

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Froggy went a courtin’ on the Web • Antonia Greco While carelessly perusing the Internet the other day, I stumbled across a creepy, new phenomenon in Internet chatting called Camfrog. Similar to AOL Instant Messenger or MSN Messenger, Camfrog is not only a freeware messaging platform, but a video chatting community as well. This allows users to view the person they are messaging with, via a web cam, through a live, streaming feed. In my first encounter with this sketchy, yet novel idea, I created a fictitious screen name for myself and entered a generic chat room: Camfrog Users 1.

The screen names of the users that are present in the room are color-coded based on seniority. The "hierarchy" system uses the color black, to denote that you are new to the room and can get booted by users above you in color, i.e., rank. These higher ranked users are allowed to dictate the room, primarily because they’ve been in the room the longest. In short, the losers that have been sitting in front of their computer for 20+ hours are the ones that have the authority to kick anyone out. Sounds like a cyber geeks’ dream, right?

So the first chat room I entered was just about as lame as they come. Apparently the rooms are equipped with audio streaming as well, so if a user presses the "talk" button, it allows the entire room to hear whatever it is that they want to say. The first conversation I walked into was-more or less-useless gibberish between a fifty-something year old guy and some divorcee in the middle of nowhere Kentucky, talking about the variations of Wisconsin cheese. Now there’s a party!

Needless to say, I left that room in search of something a little more lively. I then found myself in a "Singles" chat room. As I scrolled down the list of people in the room, I noticed a funny symbol over UserX’s name. It was an animated pair of creepy little frogeyes peering at me. Little did I know, this was the international Camfrog symbol. That is, when someone is "viewing" your web cam, a pair of frogeyes will appear over that user’s screen name in order to inform the "viewee," that that particular person is viewing you. I found this out the hard way when curiosity got the best of me and I double clicked on UserX’s name. Then, as dark as day, there it was; A fat, sweaty, balding man from the South, sitting on the couch in his wife-beater, in his hot, humid living room. Ew.

The longer I stayed in the room though, the seedier it got. As I sat there reading the message board of the chat room in complete entertainment, I heard a funny dinging noise; it was my private chat alert. Apparently when someone is interested in your "footage," they have the ability to request a private one-on-one video chat with you.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! The noise wouldn’t stop! Private requests were popping up left and right and before I knew it, I was inundated with messages! I began to feel like I was sitting at my computer with a taser gun, shooting down box after box of skeevy requests! The next few minutes or so of my evening went something like this:
Camfrog Chat request: 35/Albania/looks like Mr. Bean
"Want to make sexy time?"
[Albania?! Ummm ew, gross.] REQUEST DECLINED
Camfrog Chat request: 30/Tennessee/hairy man with no shirt on
"You’re hot. Want to chat with a real man?"
[Can we say "gorilla in the mist"] REQUEST DECLINED
Camfrog Chat request: 36/Ohio/looks like the Unabomber
"Hi beautiful. I’m horny, are you?"
[Gross!] REQUEST DECLINED
Camfrog Chat request: 36/Ohio/looks like the Unabomber
"Can’t you help out a horny military guy?"
[Again? What this guys problem?! ] BLOCK USER.

Basically, Camfrog should change their name from Camfrog to CamPerv! That’s right. No need to ride the bus or walk along 2nd Avenue for cheap thrills anymore! It is all at your fingertips! Now you can get sketched out 24/7 without ever leaving your house! Don’t believe me? See for yourself! www.camfrog.com.

The man of your dreams is waiting for you on Camfrog


© Antonia Greco July 2008
ant389 at hotmail.com

Readers Email: November 2008
Camfrog user colors are not based upon seniority.
They are designated by the room owner. Please try to get it right in the future.
Room friends are BLUE, they have demonstrated they can follow the rules with
no supervision.
Black users are merely unproven users, potential perverts.
Green are OPerators or OPerator+ the + can ban you.
Red are owners of the room.

Please do better research before posting or allowing posting of crap disinformation.
Regards,
Zoomshorts
Paul McQuown
zoomshorts at gmail.com 2 November 2008

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