Las Vegas Weekly

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Scarlet letters are so 17th century. These days, people scorned by wandering lovers have better options, like going online, writing about an adulterer anonymously and then sitting back and basking in self-righteousness. One such site is Las Vegas-based cheaterville.com, where, with or without proof, a person can accuse someone of doing unsavory things, such as being a compulsive liar, cougar chasing or offering married men money for sex. Listed alongside these alleged misdeeds are the subject’s full name (including maiden!), location, race, weight, height and a photo. The entire practice straddles the line of libel and cyber-bullying, which is more than a little ironic for a site claiming a foundation in morality. Sure, some legalese exists about how posters are responsible for their accusations, and while posters are anonymous to users, they must register and verify an email address, so some accountability exists if someone pushes the issue far enough. But many will not. Doing so might just bring more attention to an already embarrassing situation. Better simply to ignore it and hope everyone relies on what should be the Golden Rule of the Internet: Don’t believe everything you read.