Many students’ first reaction to hearing that there was a new gossip account was “are we back in middle school?”  Like it or not, these accounts are alive and well.  In fact, there are at  least ten for Fairview alone. At the time of writing, the largest account has nearly 300 followers and a hotly contested comments section to boot.

The owner of this account, whose name was kept anonymous, is neither a student of Fairview nor a resident of Colorado. The owner stated that he hails from Burbank, California, and “got the idea from TikTok.”  Many users of TikTok will know that this is a common trend, to select a school at random and create one of these accounts. The owner describes the experience as “wild,” and they explained that people have sent in “legitimately serious things.” While serious submissions represent a minority of the owner’s content,  the account has its critics.

“Like three people got really sensitive and have tried to figure out who I am and told me to delete the account.” The owner didn’t seem too bothered by the 1% of his followers who dissented, saying “everyone else has gone along with the jokes.” However, the comment sections on their posts paint a vastly different picture. Insults and judgement are abundant, but so is entertainment for those watching.

The owner was quick to laugh about the things they’ve seen, and was eager to know more about the school. They recounted: “One kid started preaching communism to me though. Like he just started telling me all about how communism worked, and then he defended [Joseph] Stalin.”

Naturally, this is not what would be expected on a gossip account, but it was a welcome respite from the other submissions.

When asked about the existence of ten other accounts identical to theirs, the owner explained: “We have a [group chat]… There is someone from New York, someone from Scotland, and someone from Texas.” The owner clarified that they have no connection in the real world. All soldiers on the same mission.

I have decided to include the whole response of the owner when asked if he had a message for Fairview. It is as follows: “I want to say that you are all really wild, and I’m glad I chose this school because there [are] so many crazy things going on. Also, please make sure your boyfriends/girlfriends aren’t cheating on you, because I don’t want to be the one to tell you. And if you want to preach communism, feel free to hit me up.”