Chatroulette: too much info

Now you can see the web community: it’s pretty horrible

SOMEONE TURNED THE light on in cyberspace. As a result, you can now SEE the internet community. Warning: it is VERY strange.
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A Moscow schoolboy named Andrey Ternovskiy noticed that most laptop computers have tiny cameras built in to the top of the screens. So he wrote a program that automatically switched them on.

The result: anyone who goes to Andrey’s website sees two images. I’ll demonstrate.

Click.

One is a live video image of a weird-looking guy.

Wait. No, hang on, that’s me.

This is how it works. One image is yourself and the other is a live video image of a random stranger as seen by that person’s laptop. Click your mouse and you get another random stranger.

Keep clicking and you really get the feeling that you can see everybody working at a computer anywhere in the world.

Click! There’s a guy in Lithuania.

Click! There’s a child doing homework in Dhaka.

Click! There’s a traffic webcam in Hong Kong.

Click! There are two Londoners doing… er, what are they doing? Ewwww!
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What’s the practical use of the program that 17-year-old Andrey wrote? There isn’t one. The site does not transmit contact information, so that you can’t use it for business.

And you can’t use it for research, since you can’t choose who you see. Because of the random factor, it is called Chatroulette.com.

It is completely useless. So of course it’s a huge hit.
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From 500 hits a day when it was launched last year, it now has about 30,000 users on line at any time. It has gained a wild reputation for giving you glimpses of people misbehaving.

And it’s STILL run from Andie’s bedroom in Moscow.
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Your humble narrator decided to get a computer savvy friend to check it out.

This is what we got.

Click. A weird looking guy.

Click. Another weird-looking guy.

Click. A third weird-looking guy.

Click. A weird looking guy with not enough clothes on.

Click. Three women talking among themselves and ignoring the camera.

Click. An empty room.

Click. A weird-looking guy holding a sign suggesting we remove our clothing.

Click. A fat schoolboy.

Click. A sleepy looking woman.

Click. A creepy looking guy.

Click. A teddy bear.

Click. Another creepy looking guy.
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Typical Chatroulette encounter. Guy (weird) meets guy (ordinary)



Less common encounter: Pet meets people.

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Rare encounter: Humorous person meets another humorous person.

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Curious encounter: Person finds his/ her twin—and then clicks disconnect!
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Five minutes spent on chatroulette is very educational.

You quickly realize just how many weird guys there are in cyberspace. Suddenly, you know the source of all those inane, hormone-crazed, astonishingly stupid comments which appear in chatrooms and under YouTube videos.

A survey by TechCrunch.com revealed that 89 per cent of users of Chatroulette are guys, and the highest concentration of perverted users are in the UK, where 22 per cent of participants do something weird, like taking off their clothes or trying to form a coalition government.

Occasionally someone does something entertaining.

One group did a silly dance and persuaded people around the world to do the same.

But after logging on to Chatroulette and seeing who else was on there for a few minutes, I turned it off in horror—and I expect lots of people looking at me did exactly the same thing.
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ON A SORT OF RELATED SUBJECT, having discovered how horrible the web community in general is, I REALLY appreciate the clever, wise, witty, warm crowd on this site. I won’t be going back to Chatroulette.

it’s interesting that people are encouraging Mahjuja to post a pic. I think it’s good to get to know each other – so can I suggest that she, and Ram, and Lift Lurker, and sej, and anyone else who has not posted a pic, please email me one and I will add it to the gallery: nury@vittachi.com

Technorati Tags: chatroulette,chatroulette funny

Comments

[Jason]

This strikes me as a massive invasion of privacy. What if any of us were on the computer and our spouses were coming out of the shower or getting dressed?

[Lift Lurker]

Jason, do you mean "and someone other than our spouses"

I am 100% sure chatroullete is inspired by lifts. Inventor noticed that you never know who you will see when lift door opens. He just transferred similar phenomenon to computer but without the excitement.

[Mel]

Nury,

You never fail to make me laugh, what a way to begin the day, thank you!

[Thiru Cumaran]

Nury, I think you've misunderstood chatroulette a bit. If I'm not mistaken, your webcam switches on only if you are on the website

[Jason]

http://data.getafreelancer.com/project/11532/honesty.gif

[farah]

looks like another prospect for the dating sites. now not only can you see the profiles but also what they're doing in real life!

errr...smile! you're on candid web-camera!

[Jason]

Question for Angela. Are you familiar with Kiasu?

This comment was in the HK blog by pundit Hemlock today.

Few things make some of us more livid than the sight of a fellow human being enjoying some sort of bonus that we did not get – even though it is not in any way at our expense. It is a mean-spirited, irrational and childish emotion, but the resentment at the perceived injustice burns as fiercely as CentralWorld shopping mall on Ratchadamri Road. The Singaporeans are familiar with the feeling as Kiasu, from the Hokkien for ‘afraid to lose’. The classic example is the woman who feels immensely pleased with herself for bullying her Indonesian maid into accepting a HK$2,000 monthly wage, then goes berserk with fury on finding that Mrs Chan in the next block is paying only HK$1,800.

http://biglychee.com/blog/2010/05/20/hk-inequality-prompts-turmoil-curfew-likely/#comments

[Dinu]

Sounds good. I used to be worried when I found a nice person to chat with on the net...worried that the person (gender purposely omitted) may turn out to be plain weird.

Thanks to this article I understand that all people on the net including me are plain weird, so no more worries.

[Angela]

Wow! luckily my laptop don't come with with webcam. Hooray! only my next building neighbor gets the undisturbed view of me getting out of the shower.

*

Jason, kiasu-ism is endemic in the Sporean canonical genetic code. It is tightly lodged between the tri-nucleotide sequence. The kiasu mithocondrion conducts an industrial strength supply of the hormones that transmit insane neurotic envy to the brain cells but fuels only relatively small amount of energy (measured in mere tera joules) to enable the human (?) subject to act out the primal instinct we fondly call Kiasu lah!

Couple of years ago when taxi fare went up by an appallingly outrageously unacceptably humongous amount of 30 cents on flag-down, the biggest amount of complaints came from non-car-owning middle and upper middle class segment of society that made up of roughly 87% of the taxi riders. Emails of displeasure flooded online forums and caused mega-traffic jams in the cyber highways that is worse than Manila’s EDSA during peak hours.

Toting her S$5,000 Chanel 2.5 double flap lambskin medium with leather and gold chain straps, the wannabee taitai burst a major blood vein when a taxi meter jumps by 30 cents more than usual as she planted down her louise vuitton clad bullimic butt . The shocked driver was too immobilized to call an ambulance and the bleeding taitai soiled her brand new matching chanel jacket which she insisted the driver pays for dry cleaning. Driver run her over so many times all attempts to scrape off the remaining remains of the late taitai on the concrete road was called off due to insufficient supply of spatula from ikea.

*This news never made the local nor international broadsheets due to the strict enforcement by board of cencors banning publication of all sensationally invented news. I hope to one day own my own tablod that will publish news like this. Maybe when I retire from driving truck.

[Ram]

Whenever there is a price hike of fuel in India, (Normally, the government will announce that the price hike will be effective from next day)you can see people queuing up in fuel stations for many hours leading to heavy traffic jam.

Does this come under Kiasu-ism?

[Jason]

Perhaps the men on this site can take up a collection to get you a webcam. Oops, my bad ;-)

[Chamin]

I have seen a video of a guy playing piano and singing on ChatRoulette, changing his song as the other party changes. I am sure that is an exception, and the site is filled with weirdos.

Just in case, let me fasten a piece of tape on my laptop camera :o)

[Karuna a.k.a. Kaye Moreno]

Heard from mainland chinese, that government has technology to switch on your mobile phone and use it to listen.
Have seen some mainland people, actually removing the battery from the mobile phone before confidential discussions.

[Vaibhav]

Yeah Ram - Its funny to think the people will wait in queues to fill petrol/diesel when even by filling up the max thay can hope to save is 40 litres x amount of increase. too much effort to save just 40 or 80 bucks.

[Vaibhav]

dont have a webcam on my laptop. so i cant be connected to the website.

Should i count myself lucky that i didnt see any weirdos who could potentially ruin my lunch/day. or them lucky to not be able to see a guy wasting time in his office.

I doubt anything would brigthen up the day since Angela doesnt have a webcam either.

[farah]

"Wow! luckily my laptop don't come with with webcam. Hooray! only my next building neighbor gets the undisturbed view of me getting out of the shower."

maybe all the guys should deport themselves to Singapore and fight to get the room with the view. what say? :P

[fardel aka Faye libad]

whow
Peep show!
free of charge

Since it shows guys, mostly ; I can imagine someone ( or maybe somethree who will spend the night looking for Prince charming)
Sorry
due to respect,( too broke to afford a court case) I cannot give names here

[Mahjuja]

Okay gang, I've sent Mr. Jam my pics for better or for worse, that's for you guys to decide and in Mr. Jam I trust ;-). If you don't see my pic here now you can badger Mr. Jam.

[sej]

Jason,

Did you notice in the Honest on the Internet image you linked to, the poster on the wall was "Monster Trucks"?

Were you trying to say something about our truck driver?

[sej]

Farah,

Your laptop didn't come with a camera? Shall I ship one to you?

[Christy]

Omegle is sort of like Chatroulette, only it's not connected to webcams so your eyes won't get "polluted" by weird acts.

The website connects you with a random stranger and you can chat for as long as you want or disconnect. I've had some interesting experiences...One person began with "moooo" so I replied "honk". Another asked me where I was from, and when I said HK, he/she replied "You get internet in North Korea?"

I wrote back: "You from USA we kill you imperialists!!!!"

[sej]

Christy,

Do you use Omegle much? Just had a quick squiz... less than 4000 users online at the time, so if you get a few friends together to use it, there's actually a reasonable chance you'll get someone you know.

[sej]

But Christy...

"Moo", "Honk", etc... your mind may not get polluted by weird visual acts, but it could still be quite disturbed by weird conversations...

[Christy]

@ Sej,

I tried it a few times. I wanted to see how many weirdos versus normal ppl I talk to in a given time, eg 15 minutes.

Most were American males. Their favourite starting line was "ASL?" (age, sex, location) and they almost always thought my L was in North Korea, or Japan. There was a >50% chance I had to disconnect by the third line (because they started asking for cybersex). I only met 2 normal people through the experiment, and 1 of them was doing the exact same thing as me -- an experiment!

[Angela]

Most common cybersex pickup line in a chatroom, "I'm just doing an experiment here"

yes, experiment to see how many will fall for it and succumb to my invitation.

[Mike]

Sort of like Clinton experimenting with drugs in college. I smoked but I didn't inhale. I clicked but I didn't watch.

@Angela Mimi for Mike? All the filipinos I know call me Mickey?

[Mahjuja]

What with all these non-contact 'sports' going on, I'm hopeful that at least the world may one day be cured of STDs!@_@

@Fardel Nobody from the gang lives in the Carribean, so you are just trying to tease or create suspense to get some attention. ;-)

[fardel aka Faye Lipad]

I never said that i live here, I dwell here!

[Mike]

How do I attach a photo?

[sej]

Fardel,

I think in truth, where most people say they "live", they in fact only "exist" - they sort of just stumble from day to day.

You on the other hand, seem to really enjoy residing in the Caribbean, and so, I think rather than just "dwell" in that region, you really do "live" there.

[sej]

Mike,

Many photo sharing websites, like TinyPic, Flickr, etc., can provide a link or small amount of HTML which you can embed into the comments. The image can then be displayed inline.

If on the other hand you have a photo of yourself you would like to share, simply forward it to Nury, and he'll add you to the "Meet the Gang" page.

[sej]

Nury,

Actually, I think my photo in the "Meet the Gang" section is probably quite appropriate. I'm probably someone who should be gagged and restrained, for my own good, if no one else's.

[Mahjuja]

Dwell or live, whatever it is, I don't think you're legally liable for what u say here, so when u say u can't give names here, you are just tantalizing and depriving us of some fun!

[fardel aka Faye Lipad]

#Still talking???
Still waiting!!!!!!!

[Nury]

Mahjuja, I checked my email -- no pix, can you send them again, make sure to the right address:
nury (at) vittachi (dot) com

thanks

[Karuna a.k.a. Kaye Moreno]

@Mahjuja,
Got your email with the photos. Liked the one where you come out of shower. The lighting and angle was perfect.

[Karuna aka Kaye Moreno]

@Mahjuja
One more observation....
always thought of you as a brown Indian girl from Bangladesh. But the photo is of a Chinese woman with 25% Filipino features.

oh ! just checked the email again. The email is from Angela's neighbour.

Very nice, lah .....

[Sabrina]

Fortunately I have no webcam. Haha.

[farah]

@ sej

no thanks. i prefer my old school laptop which weighs 5 ton and have paint coming off.

i did have webcam long time back but i stored it somewhere after a guy i used to chat with asked me to take my tops off.

[Mahjuja]

@ farah Why is it that everywhere u go, there is always proof that men are jerks?

@ Mr. Jam I did send my email with pics to nury@vittachi.com, in fact I copied your email address and pasted it into my email. Hmmm... maybe you have me spammed or this is a sign that I shouldn't be posting my pic here. ;-)

I just resent my mail.

[fardel aka Faye Lipad]

Yes resend your mail
i am impatient to see a snake sorcerer in the gang

[Mahjuja]

Wait for it, wait for it...and ???

@fardel the names?! maybe my pics won't be posted until you reveal the names.

[Hamdizelda]

chatoulette so much a new trend youtube facebook social networking sites a great alternative

chatroulette to meet people from every country, and presents a platform for a variety of different people and groups with new people all the time diversity çıkabilmekte.Bu out and sharing these innovations chatroulette'in unofficial blogs (http://chatrulette.blogspot.com/ etc.) can be followed .

If you so bring a variety of technologies now in the coming days to meet with the new trends will be inevitable.

[chat]

chatoulette so much a new trend youtube facebook social networking sites a great alternative

chatroulette to meet people from every country, and presents a platform for a variety of different people and groups with new people all the time diversity çıkabilmekte.Bu out and sharing these innovations chatroulette'in unofficial blogs ( http://www.sibersahne.com/chat-roulette/ etc.) can be followed .

If you so bring a variety of technologies now in the coming days to meet with the new trends will be inevitable.

[speed dating singapore]

That is pretty amazing, and now i am looking at my own camera and worry slightly, lol. it does have to be someone you are chatting to, you cant just hack in and turn it on without someone allowing you to connect?

[tohla]

Thanks for sharing, You can do more desi video chat on tohla india (tohla.in).