Perhaps many students at KAIST would agree that the channels of communication within the school are limited. It is quite difficult for one to get to know complete strangers, unless they are forcefully introduced through group projects in class, or if they share membership in the same club. Naturally, some of the functions of socialization have to be delegated to online media. The “official” routes through the KAIST mail network and ARA, the school’s online forum, are open to all students, yet some have felt that even those were limited at best, especially when discussing matters that seem less agreeable to the (often socially conservative) larger student audience. This applies to seemingly natural elements of life in any community - namely sexual and political expression - with ARA users who express such opinions or make such posts being derided as “licentious” or “extreme.” Naturally, after the demise of the ill-fated ARA anonymous board after just 13 days, some students have taken up the mantle of creating a KAIST anonymous online forum. The KAIST Herald went to investigate.

Hello, our staff consists of computer science students (who will remain anonymous) who opened the anonymous KAIST web community “Bamboo Forest” on September 2. Coding for the website was completed around August 14, and advertisements on ARA were posted on September 2. Although initially this was a solo project, a number of friends and acquaintances have lent help in maintaining this unique website.

True to our intentions and the name of the website (“bamboo forest” being a slang term for online boards where users of a certain profession can express their grievances anonymously), most posts by “Bambees” focus on issues within school. However, the variety of posts is much broader than that: from dating advice to restaurant reviews, political opinions, and discussions about religion. Around 30,000 people have visited the website since its opening, and the number of visitors is usually around 1,000 daily. It seems that the community already has a number of dedicated users. Taking all these into account, we would say that our initiative to create a free online community for KAISTians has been quite successful.

KAISTians are usually very private people, averse to inconveniencing others with “irrational baggage” such as their own emotions. This was also true with me; I have always had instances where I have found it hard to express my truest opinions and emotions, even to my friends. I reckoned that this was also true with a lot of people at KAIST; these people cannot freely divulge their true thoughts in a named web community like ARA. I also wanted to help such people burdened by their thoughts (as exemplified, perhaps by the spate of suicides last year) relieve themselves without the worry that they might be chastised by others. I find myself lucky to have discovered an opportunity to carry this out with Bamboo Forest. Hopefully, many people here will find it useful and will be offered some solace through it.

Yes, definitely. The independent opening of web forums such as Bamboo Forest and Talkyou KAIST by students proves that people have a demand for something more than what ARA can currently provide.

There were certain incidents with some users singling out and disparaging certain people. There were also issues with hate speech regarding regional discrimination, sexism, et cetera. These incidents highlight what may go wrong in an anonymous web forum; some users find it convenient to unleash their vitriol about certain issues if their names are not shown directly. It was indeed unfortunate.

For every benefit, there is a potential shortcoming. We are of the opinion that the pros and cons of free speech on an anonymous online forum are things that the users themselves have to learn to adapt to. We are also doing all we can to introduce measures (limiting what users can post within a certain period of time, for example) to prevent possible problems such as the example with ARA. For the time being, users must remember that sincerity does not necessarily equate to verbal abuse against certain individuals or groups. It is up to them as to what type of a cultural community Bamboo Forest may evolve into. We hope it offers support and joy to those who need it.

We hope the website, as originally intended, becomes fertile ground for KAISTians to frankly share their innermost thoughts with one another.