[It's pretty obvious that the average CollegeCandy reader has some very strong opinions. Opinions that she likes to share with everyone on the site. Sometimes with mean words. We love a strong woman (unless she happens to be charging at us with her fists raised), so we thought we'd give her a real forum to discuss her thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Every Friday I'll be featuring a hot topic (like whether the first date is dead!) and leaving it up to you, the readers, to duke it out. So, read it and get your debate on in the comments section below!]

There has been a lot of controversy lately over sites like RateBU, where pictures of girls are posted online and people vote on whether or not they’re hot. Yeah, I only wish I’d made that up. Regardless of whether you think this kind of thing is just fine or is a pathetic excuse for shallow douchbaggery, the question that a lot of schools are facing is – should this be allowed to happen? The question’s on the table ladies, let’s get to it!

Side A – We’re not talking about consensual sites here, where people post pics of themselves for others to judge. What we’re talking about is random people finding photos of others and posting them for the world to rate. Is it just me, or hasn’t cyber-bullying been one of the big hot button issues of the last few years… and isn’t this pretty much exactly the same thing? Whether the girls get rated well or not, it’s still submitting them for judgment and potential ridicule without their knowledge or acceptance. And particularly when these websites are affiliated or related to colleges, shouldn’t they be required to shut down this kind of content and punish the offenders the same way they would if someone, say, put up derogatory posters about someone else all over campus?

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Record number of questions this week! Sorry to those of you who haven’t been answered–Tuffy’s trying to work her way through as many of them as she can!! In the meantime, keep sendin’ those questions to TuffyLuv@collegecandy.com and I’ll keep answerin’ them, one by one!

Confidential to Terry: Don’t stay with him if you don’t love him. Stop cheating on him and leave him. If you are living with him, please, please move back home with your parents (or other trusted relatives) right away. I wish you so much luck, girl.

Dear Tuffy Luv,

I broke up with my boyfriend of 2 years about a month ago.  Even though I know he’s struggling with the break up, and it’s no walk in the park for me either, we’ve been on pretty good terms.  We chat a few times a week and haven’t fought since the break up.  But I have a favor to ask of him, and I know it’s gonna hurt him because he’ll think I don’t trust him.  I need him to erase the pictures I sent him while we were dating.  It was long distance and I know it was dumb to take the pictures in the first place, but now they’re there, and he has them. Read More »

I know you’re all still swamped with the work you neglected over spring break and don’t even want to think about the fact that exams are just around the corner. That’s why I hate to break it to you, but if you’re planning on sacrificing your summer for an internship this year,  the time to start searching, applying, and interviewing was yesterday. But don’t worry – you can still start now!

Whether you’ve already pledged to yourself that an internship will be beneficial to your eventual career, or this article only just now put the idea into your head, it can be difficult to know where to look. After all, if we are going to spend the summer working for little or no pay, we want the best damn internship out there, don’t we? As a bit of an intern connoisseur (I have five under my belt), I’d like to help steer you in the right direction. Read More »

So, I was out at the bar with some coworkers last week, and a guy started talking about “The New Facebook.”

“There’s a ‘new’ Facebook?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Is it bad that I want to go home right now just to try it out?”

“Definitely,” I responded. “Stay here and get drunk. New Facebook will be waiting when the bar closes.”

Facebook has had quite the impact on American pop culture. I mean, really? This guy wanted to leave the bar to try it!? Whenever there’s even a minimal change in the layout and operation of the social network, it causes an uproar.

Remember when mini-feed first popped up? Immediately, groups sprouted all over the internet:

“Down with Mini-Feed!”

“Boycott F/B if They Don’t Get Rid of Mini-Feed Immediately!”

“Facebook Makes Stalking Easier with Mini-Feed!”

You get the point. Of course, now we’re all used to the program, and many of us keep updated via mini-feed every day: “Hey, I saw on Mini-Feed that you got a new job, congratulations!”

So, even though I’m hesitant to add too many applications (I don’t like that we have to check a box giving the ‘application’ full access to the info in our profiles), and even though I’m fully content keeping tabs on my friends the “old way,” I decided to check out the hullabaloo that is The New Facebook. Read More »

One of my esteemed colleagues wrote a great piece on texting etiquette. I recently wrote a biting piece about Papa Joe. This piece is about etiquette, too. After reading my Papa Joe piece (hopefully they read it in its entirety), a commentator, named ‘Haha,’ quipped, “you’re just a jealous peon,” to which I replied (in two posts) “nope, Haha, sure ain’t . . . I’m glad [the Simpsons are] rich. That’s great for them. But their father is a tool. Oh, one other thing . . . I LOVE the word peon. It’s great fun, conjures up great images . . . thanks!”

First, I do love the word peon. It’s nasty. It’s blunt. It’s cutting. People don’t use the word peon a lot, so I liked the reminder that the word peon exists. Reminds me of my old father (he’s a judge). He calls people peons and ninnies all the time – those words are funny, and I always chuckle when he coughs them up. BUT I digress (you’re probably getting used to that).

Now some of my fellow bloggers might wonder why I waste my time responding to remarks, whether good or bad, and why I’m even bothering to write this piece. Well, first off, I wish to thank Haha for inspiring me to do so. Because I’ve spent a lot of time (yes, it’s true) thinking about internet etiquette, how people are quick to insult (yes, I’m just as guilty, stirrin’ up crap, criticizing Mr. Simpson, etc.), name-calling, and even verbally terrorizing others on web posts. Read More »

Until sorta recently, I was never one for matching my bra to my undies, let alone buy super sexy lingerie. I felt like it was all a waste of money; if someone was interested in taking me home and ripping my clothes off, they wouldn’t lose interest just because my bra was nude and my underwear was pink with black polka-dots, right?

After spotting a set of pretty lacy lingerie on sale, I decided to take it for a test run. That is when I realized what I had been missing all along; lingerie made me feel sexier and more confident. It wasn’t about showing it off, but rather about me knowing it was there. Letting someone else enjoy it was just a little bonus.

I started going a little lingerie-crazy. I bought all sorts of sets: lacy, silky, cami’s, bras, thongs, bikinis. I built myself quite a collection. Never mind the fact that I have had no one to share it with lately, I just kept buying. And, truth be told, I have grown a bit bored with all of it. I may have a lot – and it all may be pretty – but there is only so much variety out there right now and it all seems rather cliché, overdone and commercialized.

Not anymore. In an era where you can personalize everything from your latte to your footwear, it was only natural that someone brought that along to our most intimate of apparel. The dream-team over at evloveintimates.com has made your lingerie as personal as the occasion you are wearing it for.

You pick the color, the fabric and the cut (even the piping and a little extra appliqué!). They do all the work, and in three weeks your sexy new under-thingies arrive, just in time for you to work ‘em. Rar. Go get em, Tiger.

Our generation has been called a lot of things. Lazy. Fame obsessed. Narcissistic. Unmotivated. Oversexed. Why haven’t you Twenty-Something’s moved out of your parents’ house yet? The general consensus seems to be. Why are your parents still giving your money? Stop watching reality TV and and get a real job!

Instead of pushing against the unfocused, immature stereotype so much of the older generation is trying to box us into, “Quarterlife” a new MySpace web show (soon to be a real NBC show) plays right into their frustrated hands.

Produced by “the creative minds behind My So-Called Life”, “Quarterlife” follows 6 white kids in their twenties, most of whom consider themselves some type of artsy bohemian. In weekly, 10-minute installations, the characters on “Quarterlife” walk around plugged into their iPods and deal with, you know, issues. Sexual tension, boredom, sexual frustration, confusion, sexual discontent…everyone’s so like, conflicted. So like, unsure. Happiness is fleeting, and nothing makes like, any sense at all. Read More »

Is your freshman year a little bumpier than expected? College making you feel more like an outsider than part of a community? Think you’re the only one with these problems?

Well, Seventeen magazine and MySpace want to ease your worries (and make a profit from our current reality TV craze) by giving the world a “web based reality program” called Freshman 15.

“The magazine and MySpace will follow 15 girls in print and online through the demanding first year of college”, each one from a different and “diverse” background.

According to one source, every girl will have her own MySpace profile that will be frequently updated with clips, pictures and blogs—which makes me think the whole thing will be a lot more manufactured than the producers are letting on.

And having cameras follow you around sort of defeats the purpose of being completely real, doesn’t it? Shouldn’t these girls be focusing on school and not on whether or not they got a comment on MySpace?

How much you want to bet these girls pull a Lauren Conrad and drop out as soon as the show hits the air?

Either way, Freshman 15 will debut in the October issue of Seventeen magazine and run through May 2008. Read More »