Slow walkers. Greek life. The International Village wind tunnel. Finals week. Campus dogs. Why are all the frat men short? Is anyone else sick right now? Why are people barefoot in Snell Library?

All these topics and more flood the endless stream of posts on Northeastern Sidechat.

Sidechat, a social media app launched in 2022, connects college students through discussion forums specific to their university, where students can post anonymously. The app’s layout resembles Reddit and mirrors an older college-based, anonymous platform, Yik Yak, which Sidechat acquired in 2023. When signing up, users input their student email address to gain access to their university group.

At the top of the app, users can sort their feed by “Hot,” which displays posts that are currently trending; “New,” which displays the most recent posts first; or “Top,” which displays the most upvoted posts. Users can collect “karma” from upvotes, reply to posts in discussion threads and private message users. On Northeastern Sidechat, posts range from memes about campus life and complaints about Boston weather to requests for advice.

Maddy Krempler, a fourth-year business administration major, checks Sidechat a few times a week as a source of entertainment.

“People say crazy, random things that happen around campus or just around Boston, and it never really fails to make me laugh,” Krempler said. “I love going on there and just seeing how many people upvote crazy things that are being posted.”

Sprinkled among the jokes and complaints are some posts that give a glimpse into a more wholesome, positive student experience.

And, of course, many pictures of the campus dogs.

Sidechat does not filter any posts based on language, but takes posts down if they are reported by other users and deemed to be in violation of Sidechat community guidelines. Behind the shield of anonymity, users have posted rankings of sororities and judged the attractiveness of the girls in them.

Some universities, like The University of North Carolina, are working to ban the app from their campuses for cyberbullying concerns. At Columbia University, the app was used to rally students to join encampments calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, but came under fire by administrators for racist rhetoric.

One topic that frequently seeps into Northeastern’s Sidechat is Greek life. Fall 2024 recruitment saw a record number of students rushing sororities, and for those few weeks, Sidechat was a place of constant discussion about the different chapters. While many of the posts were harmless, the anonymous nature of the app allows for hateful comments to be posted without recourse.

“I know there’s a lot of talk about Greek life, and talking down about certain fraternities or sororities on campus, too, which can definitely harm the image of that fraternity or sorority,” said Bradley Lyon, a second-year architecture major.

Lyon, a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, has noticed some of the posts made about the fraternity, but said they hardly bother him.

“Most of it has been pretty jokingly,” Lyon said. “Some people do it on purpose to gain some traction or something, and I think we’re not alone in that either. … We mostly joke about it — like we don’t really take it that seriously.”

Lyon views Sidechat mainly as a place of lighthearted discussion, but is also wary of the self-consciousness it can inflict for some students. He has seen posts with pictures of people around campus, and thinks the app could potentially impact the way people conduct themselves in a public setting in the event that it gets posted online.

“I would say that it has some impact [on campus culture],” said Joseph Rossillo, a third-year mechanical engineering major. “As to what degree, I’m not really sure. … I think that it is helpful, maybe, with also kind of opening the conversation about certain aspects of college and maybe making it more casual.”

For Northeastern students who are particularly passionate about Sidechat, the online forum enters real-world conversations.

“It comes up in real life all the time,” Krempler said. “I will be sitting in my living room cracking up to myself, and my roommates are like, ‘What are you — what is going on?’ And then I obviously scroll through and show them everything because they’re not on Sidechat, but I’ve been trying to convince them to join.”

Despite some of the negativity on the app, Krempler believes that the app fosters a sense of community within Northeastern’s student body.

“I think that it brings people together,” Krempler said. “It’s a place where people can be real with each other and relate.”