RandomDorm offers spin on ChatRoulette for collegiates

Former USG president Josh Weinstein ’09, who is also the creator of GoodCrush.com, has launched a challenger in RandomDorm.com. RandomDorm’s twist is that only users with an e-mail address ending in “.edu” can join, restricting access to college students.

Weinstein said that he had planned to introduce a text-based chat feature for the GoodCrush website after Valentine’s Day, but decided to put that idea on hold in order to create a new video-chat service after watching ChatRoulette’s rise.

“It was clear that there was an opportunity to engage in video-based chatting,” Weinstein said. “There was also an opportunity to add value beyond what ChatRoulette currently offers.”

A recent analysis of ChatRoulette by RJMetrics, an online analytics service, found that one in eight spins leads users to encounter inappropriate content. Daniel Schiff ’12, who said he doesn’t frequent the site, provided an even higher estimate of such content. “About 25 percent of the time it’s some guy masturbating,” he said.

Weinstein said that restricting the users to college students was a “built-in censor” that lowers the risk of such behavior on RandomDorm. He also argued that “by having people log in, there’s an added degree of accountability. Either theoretically or in actuality, their actions are in some way tied to their e-mail address.”

The system isn’t foolproof, however, since registered users can still engage in inappropriate behavior. Though Schiff had not used RandomDorm, he said he was skeptical that limiting access to college students would improve the quality.

“I think it’s a bad idea,” he said. “If it’s open to all college students, it’s just going to be the same as before.”

Weinstein said that he plans to offer a mechanism to report inappropriate content on RandomDorm and is also considering active moderation.

Weinstein said that RandomDorm also improves on ChatRoulette by providing a greater sense of community. “You can share party ideas, study techniques or just find out what life at other schools is like,” he said.

So far, roughly 4,000 users have registered for RandomDorm, after GoodCrush sent a message to its users on March 16. It was also covered in articles in The Huffington Post and a New York Times blog.

After a Spanish blog featured the website, Weinstein expanded support for international users, who are now registered in Spain, Korea, Canada, Israel, Japan and the United Kingdom.

“The ability to connect with people internationally is one of the cool aspects of ChatRoulette and something we hope to emulate,” he said.

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As of Wednesday evening, RandomDorm’s Facebook page had 89 fans, 51 of whom are in the Princeton network.

Several, however, said that they have not actually used the website. Daphne Earp ’10 said she tried it out, but hasn’t been back since experiencing problems with the site. Weinstein and the developers are currently eliminating bugs that caused problems in the early version.

“Once we finish solidifying user experience, hopefully by Thursday, then we can start really promoting it, reaching out to more people to get involved and see it evolve and grow,” he said on Tuesday.

Weinstein said he doesn’t see a need to expand the site to include other groups.

“What we’re trying to do is really focus in on the college demographic, even if it means losing out on the rest of the population,” he explained. “There is real opportunity in focusing on this and providing a similar but enhanced service for those who are eligible.”