WESTMORE SNOOZE READERS ARE ALWAYS THE LAST TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON IN PORT CHESTER
The Port Chester Back Benchers At The Westmore Snooze Finally Report On A Story That Has Already Been Covered By Port Chester Roundup, Port Chester Patch, The Journal News, The Greenwich Time And Other Local News Gathering Organizations
Derogatory list seeks to smear students
BY NATHAN MAYBERG - WESTMORE NEWS
A “smut list” being circulated throughout Westchester County and Connecticut high schools has hit Blind Brook and Port Chester.
The list, described as viral by school officials, is a cyber-bullying weapon being used by students in an apparent attempt to attack the character and reputation of other students through the use of Blackberry mobile phones and the website Facebook.....
.....Blind Brook and Port Chester High School Principals Mitchell Combs and Gina Healey both denounced the practice this week. Both said they have notified police of the incidents and are looking into leads, though it is difficult to track down where the messages are originating......
Maybe The Port Chester Police Should Forget About The Westmore News And Start Looking Port Chester Patch And The AOL Patch Team Blogs For Leads....
Local Webcasters Confront Facebook 'Smut List' Poster
Patch.com - Renea Henry
There's nothing ironic about reporting that a so-called smut list has gone viral. In past decades, the vile ...
....the Westchester Smut List began as a BlackBerry Messenger forward of 20 names. The list was sent from smartphone to smartphone with the touch of a button on Monday night. That was not instantaneous enough for one young Yonkers man who decided to put the list on Facebook so his friends could see it more quickly. Then the list was discovered Tuesday by a group of local webcasters.
Sergio Siano, an 18-year-old from Yonkers, claims to have posted the “Westchester Smut List"—of approximately 100 female students from high schools in the Westchester County and Connecticut area—on a Facebook fan page Monday night. Siano denies creating the original list, but said, on Facebook, that he posted the names online after he received several requests for the names from friends.
"I didn’t make the list. I made a Facebook page with the list on it because people kept asking me to message them the list and I got tired of it. If anyone is mad at me because of this, then be angry because I’m not apologizing," the indignant Siano posted on the Facebook page of Zedalza New York.
Zedalza New York is the next part of the story. This group of young entrepreneurs webcast from their Port Chester entertainment studio every Tuesday and Thursday. During their last show, one of their interns brought the “Westchester Smut List” to their attention while they were on the air and they decided to discuss it.
Frank Valbiro, and his partners, brother Anthony Valbiro and Michael Alonzi, started their webcast in 2006 while they were students at Manhattanville College. They usually discuss entertainment and music news on their show, but decided to go with the flow when the smut list came up.
“Tuesday the lid blew off,” said Frank. “By the end of the night we had 1800 local viewers [on the webcast]. The screens lit up.”
Frank said he had never seen anything like what happened Tuesday night in all the years they’ve been webcasting. Based on the traffic spike to their site, they were convinced the numbers were local.
At first, their discussion of the list was light-hearted, but that changed as more callers expressed their outrage about the list.
“We think it’s really cruel,” said Frank. “For these girls to have their images destroyed like this is just cruel.”
Frank said he watched in real time as the number of people “liking” the Facebook page increased Tuesday night. “It was viral.”
One of the callers was personally affected by the list. Amanda Mickatavage, 18, of Port Chester first heard about the “Smut List” when she received it as an unsolicited BBM on her smartphone around 11:30 Monday night.
“It was just a forward,” Mickatavage said. “People said it was sent to them and they were just forwarding it.”
The first list she received had no more than 20 names on it. She has no idea who wrote it. “I know on the original list, I recognized a few names of people who are seniors now. But their were a lot of names of people who were younger that I didn’t know.”
By Wednesday, Mickatavage had received a second list of about 50, more familiar names. Hers was one of them. This list had names specifically from Port Chester, with malicious annotations.
“I mean, first I was in shock—very upset and angry,” she said. “The one sent to Port Chester also had descriptions as to why they were smuts. The things that were listed were completely false.”
Amanda said she was receiving so many BBM messages about the list that she finally deleted the contact list from her phone to stop them.....
...Mickatavage, who graduated from Port Chester High School last year, said she has heard from friends still enrolled there that girls on the list are being taunted.
“Girls are being called by their number on the list. It’s so degrading and disgusting.”
The role of BBM and Facebook is nothing Amanda has ever seen.
“I have been attacked by rumors before, but I’ve never seen a list like this before.”...
....Frank bristled at the suggestion the webcast had a negative influence on the situation.
"We didn't blow this up," Frank said during the Thursday webcast. "Our show isn't responsible for making this big."
The list and Facebook page were already in circulation when Frank found about them.....
Port Chester Roundup Was The First Port Chester Media Outlet To Report On The Port Chester Smut List
Please See How News Gets Reported In Port Chester:
03/17/11 Port Chester Girls Targeted On "Smut" List - Watch The Video (Updated)
A controversial so-called "smut list" targeting scores of female students in area schools has been circulated by students in Port Chester High School.It is part of a recent phenomenon among college students and teens of publicly naming girls claimed to be promiscuous -- via mobile phones and the social networking website Facebook.
The list posted on Facebook contained the names of 99 students from area towns.
One version of the list names 24 girls identified as Port Chester residents.
Students from nearby Rye, Rye Brook and Greenwich are also on the list......
==================================
Please send your comments, news tips and press releases to PortChesterRoundup@gmail.com
