By Anna Marden, News Staff

Beer pong and body shots can lead to vomiting in bathtubs, peeing in taxis and waking up with shoes on, face covered in obscene sharpie drawings. If sharing stories about misadventures sounds appealing, a new site called drunklastnight.com, created by Northeastern senior business major Scott Klipper, could be the ultimate guilty pleasure.
The site is a place for people to anonymously share and read tales of drunken nights, often those that led to pretty serious consequences. Klipper said he was inspired by fmylife.com, a site where people can post stories that portray the writer as the protagonist in some unfortunate situation.
Many students appear to love hearing the embarrassing stories other people anonymously post on sites like fmylife.com and textsfromlastnight.com, a website that allows users to publish text messages detailing outrageous adventures. Some admit to spending hours reading the funny stories people write, but other than providing a few good laughs, Klipper, a business major, said these sites have little actual value to them.
Drunklastnight.com is taking a different approach, he said, because it has a dual purpose ‘- it has the element of entertainment and promotes alcohol awareness.
‘People will come to read the stories and even though they’re funny, [the readers] can also learn from other people’s mistakes,’ Klipper said. ‘It sounds like [the site is] endorsing drinking. Yeah, these stories are funny, but it’s serious. We need to be aware of the dangers involved in drinking.’
Klipper thought of the website idea last winter and launched the beta version of the site in March. He said the official version of the site will launch in the end of May or beginning of June.
The new version of drunklastnight.com will have a news and information section that provides links to the websites of organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and other alcohol awareness groups, Klipper said.
Klipper said he faced some challenges in launching the site, particularly in getting people to post their own stories.
‘Everyone wants to read everyone else’s story,’ Klipper said. ‘The hardest thing is getting people to share theirs. I really want people to want to make others aware of the affects [of alcohol] by sharing their own stories.’
To encourage more submissions, Klipper said he is holding a promotional contest:’ The first 50 people to post a story, photo or video will be entered to win a free iPod touch.
He is also promoting his site using Facebook and Twitter. He said the Facebook group recently grew to more than 3,000 members, prompting him to start a fan page instead.
Jaclyn Iavarone, a middler art major and friend of Klipper’s, said she helped him by promoting the group on Facebook.
‘I’m into networking,’ Iavarone said. ‘Facebook is really going to help get the word out since people are so connected through it.’
Drunklastnight.com merchandise, including hats and shirts with the site’s logo, is available on the website. Klipper said he plans to give away free shirts to to help spread the word.
George Horn, a senior business major and friend of Klipper’s, said he helped Klipper start the site by writing a few stories. Horn also said he supports Klipper’s message of alcohol awareness.
‘It’s one of those topics where people our age aren’t usually too worried about it,’ Horn said. ‘They’re out partying and drinking all the time, but nobody wants to get lectured about it. This site is entertaining and it provides a lesson about alcohol awareness at the same time.’
Boston University psychology professor Thierry Guedj said he thinks the biggest appeal for sites like this is the entertainment value ‘- people are interested other people.
‘This is a logical extension of reality TV, Twitter and Facebook; this isn’t that different,’ he said.
Guedj said there are two main reasons why fmylife.com and sites like it are so entertaining ‘- voyeurism and exhibitionism. There are people who read it ‘- the voyeurs ‘- who want to get a ‘peek into people’s private lives,’ and the people who post ‘- the exhibitionists ‘- who want to ‘be seen, be heard and be witnessed,’ Guedj said.
Guedj said he thinks people post to sites like fmylife.com and drunklastnight.com because they are anonymous ‘- he compared online story sharing to a Catholic confessional.
‘You can go and be anonymous and confess all your sins, you can free your conscience online without having to bear the consequences of shame or embarrassment,’ he said.