“Male, Black hair. you are in my tuesday/thursday writing class and you have a lip ring. I would just like to say that you are sexy :)” (AuSable Hall).

“Male, Brunette. 2nd floor! You’re sitting 2 tables away, facing me & drinking some V8 juice. You’re looking too cute in that striped crewneck & those nike sneakers. Come over here(:” (James H. Zumberge Library).

“Female, Blonde. like every other guy, i’m just looking for a girl to hang out with and cuddle with. it’s about time i put this amazing cuddling talent to good use :)” (On campus).

The Grand Valley State University community has become entranced by the website www.likealittle.com where students can post anonymous flirtations about people they like on campus — or people they want to like, as evidenced by the third post.

Like a Little began at Stanford University on Oct. 25, and GVSU student Zachery Brown brought the site to Allendale in mid-November. It has spread both nationwide and through GVSU at an exponential rate. More than 730 people “liked” the GVSU site from their Facebook pages.

“We have seen an explosion of interest from the student body,” Brown said.

The site prompts each poster to mention the sex of the person, the hair color, the category of and specific location and then a personal “flirt” with more details.

To keep the anonymity alive, people who comment on existing posts are assigned fruit and vegetable names. Thus, pomegranates, peppers and gooseberries are common sights to see on Like a Little.

“There are a bunch of perks that come with communicating in a different way,” said GVSU Assistant Professor of Psychology Todd Williams.

Williams said people can feel better about flirting in this anonymous way because their self-esteem is not on the line. Also, people can let their social inhibitions down when the people they are flirting with do not know their identity.

“You are not expected to conduct yourself in a way that is reflective of your personal standards,” Williams added. “Like a Little poses the opportunity for fun to be had with little or no social consequences.”

One man wrote a general flirtation to all female brunettes, saying “I just wanna meet and hangout with some adorable GV cuties.” Then “Tomato” responded with “im your girl,” and a conversation began.

The author ended the public conversation with a suggestion that “Tomato” send him a private message through another function of the site, which also allows users to “like” a comment or flirtation, both similar to popular social networking site Facebook.

“This is a safe way to talk to fellow students in a fun and flirtatious way,” Brown said.

A main appeal, Brown said, is that the students visit the named campus locations every single day and want to see if they are being talked about.

“It’s pretty neat, I like that it’s like a little adventure trying to figure out who the person is that is being commented on,” said GVSU student Keith Burns. “I like how creative people get by hinting at who they are talking about, but still leaving it a bit of a challenge.”

GVSU Junior Samantha Slankard said she considers the website to be mindless entertainment, but still enjoys looking at some of the posts.

“They’re sort of the same genre as (the popular website and book) Texts From Last Night,” Slankard said.

She said she does not usually investigate if she was the subject of any posts, since many mentioned locations are in the freshman housing areas and Kleiner Commons, where she does not go anymore.

“It’s really hilarious, though,” she said.

Brown said he reads the posts on GVSU’s site each day to make sure they are appropriate, but he has not had to remove more than 25 posts.

“This is supposed to be a fun site, and if someone is directly talking negatively about somebody then I usually step in and make the appropriate decision,” he added.

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