I’m writing in response to James Baron’s letter to the Nexus “The Dark Side Uses Footage of Halloween for Party Film” (Daily Nexus, April 26). I had never actually been to the website before he wrote the article, but considering this was one of many articles written about the website recently, I decided to check it out. There I found four videos, which really did not effect me. Oh my God, people drink at college parties? No way! That never happens on college campuses.

In his article, Baron claims that when he contacted the person who edited the video he confirmed that “he had mixed in some Halloween footage.” By mixed in, do you mean almost all of it? Oh yeah, that was really confusing – we thought the cops brought in floodlights and horses most weekends. Who is this guy?

After reading the website, the only word that comes to mind is “tool.” Next, I decided to go read the site’s message board. Wow, this guy really is an idiot. When an article about the website was posted, one person who disagreed with Baron’s views decided to write in saying, much like I am, that the videos were almost all from Halloween weekend and that they do not mean a whole lot. The editor shot back with this comment: “We just love to hear from people who subscribe to the theory of ‘are you going to believe me or your lying eyes.’ Since I was directly involved in the hiring and payment of the film crew, I can assure our readers that they were filmed in the spring of 2005. I pointed your comments out to Mr. B and he said he would be happy to place a wager on when the videos were taken.”

Care to put your money where you mouth is? Anyone who has been in I.V. during Halloween knows that these videos were shot on Halloween. Whoever wrote that post, I sure hope you took the editor’s advice – you could be rich. To the people who created this site: Fuck you. You claim you want to warn all the parents and students of the dangers that occur in I.V., as if parents do not know what goes on. And as it turns out, all your video clips come from Halloween weekend when over half of the people partying in Isla Vista do not attend UCSB.

We are educated adults, unlike many of the people who come here for that weekend, and, for the most part, we handle ourselves well and stay out of trouble, so quit blaming us for all the problems that occur. To the parents who buy into the garbage on this website: Please do not keep your kid from the experience of a lifetime at UCSB just because they show you a fight and some beer cans. Fights outside of Halloween weekend are rare, and drinking is normal. Just don’t suck at raising your child and I’m sure your little angel will be fine.

They show you cops as if that would deter you, but wouldn’t you rather have a bunch of cops around to make sure your kid is safe while they’re partying if you’re really worried about it that much? And finally, to the students: If someone puts a camera in your face to interview you, make sure they’re not from this website, and if they are, tell them to fuck off. I would like this to be the final article about this website. The more we discuss it, post on his message board, and send hate mail – as tempting as that is – the more we are feeding the flame. These guys thrive off of us hating them; they love it. Students should be proud that as a university we can party our asses off and still attend a university that educates some of the top students in the nation. We may have risen to the top of the party school list, but we’re also rising up the academic lists as well. This is something we all can, and should, be proud of.

Alex Shlyakhov is an undeclared freshman.

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