They're silent, always clicking, but not always contributing.
Known on the Internet as "lurkers," they represent the vast majority of visitors to anonymous message boards, including one which has quickly grown into something of a phenomenon at Hopkins: JHU Confessions.
Launched in January and envisioned as a free speech haven for students, participants have pushed the limits of that freedom, leading to an increase in content moderation, though the University has no plans to interfere with the site.
"It's a good thing for students on campus so I'm glad [the administration is] not making a move against us," said the JHU Confessions webmaster, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity. "I'm a little surprised."
When posts mentioning suicide began to appear, JHU Confessions' moderators started actively interfering in the anonymous student discussions. In a thread titled "Reasons not to commit suicide?" the majority of replies advised the student to seek professional help, but the moderators quickly deleted those that did not.
"I'll jump in every once in a while and delete posts," the webmaster said.
At the beginning, JHU Confessions, which was inspired by similar anonymous student forums at Wesleyan University and Oberlin College, did not restrict discussions. Now, potentially harmful posts, like those encouraging suicide, will be removed and the moderators will ban users who repeatedly post similar comments, since they simply clutter the discussions.
Though the student moderators have placed more restrictions on the site, the University currently has no plans to take action against JHU Confessions. However, it reserves the right to notify students against visiting it, should enough complaints be heard.
"If enough students weren't happy with it, we could probably say this is a site that students wouldn't want to visit," Dorothy Sheppard, associate dean of student affairs, said.
Sheppard explained that before the University takes any proactive measures to restrict visitation to the site, it must gather more research and listen to more student testimonies, neither of which it currently does.
JHU Confessions' webmaster sees administration interference as a possibility, but not an immediate threat.
"I can't think of a situation, but I'm sure one exists, where they would have a legitimate reason where they'd want" to know a user's identity, the webmaster said.
But the webmaster could imagine how the administration would be justified in taking any action. For the webmaster, it is a matter of free speech: "If someone made some racist comment, he's free to make that comment. He may be an idiot but that doesn't mean people won't make those comments anymore."
Though the administration is keenly aware of the existence of JHU Confessions, the Hopkins Counseling Center remains ignorant.
Michael Mond, director of the Center, said University counseling services were not aware of JHU Confessions and do not search the Internet for students who may need assistance.
"If a student brings up an Internet encounter in their counseling session we would most likely help the student process that experience and their reaction." Mond said. "We would probably help the student think through any advice received so they could decide if it was good or bad advice."
For Sheppard it is easy to see why the site has not generated more buzz with University administrators.
"I think it's kind of a worthless site," she said. "It's just a bunch of people posting things that other people don't know is true or false. It's a place that could cause a lot of people to receive bad info, bad advice, or hurtful comments."
Mond echoed this sentiment.
"Sometimes the problem with these websites is that people are not always telling the truth. Some of the stuff is potentially harmful or distressing," he said.
But the webmaster disagrees.
"I think that there are a lot of good important discussions going on that otherwise wouldn't have [occurred]," the webmaster said. "There are tons of posts that are stupid, harmless fun. There was a wonderful post about racism that was surprisingly good intellectual discussion."
One such recent discussion found students approaching the topic of interracial relationships with a candor rarely seen among strangers.
"I didn't think many people were bothered by interracial relationships anymore. I'm in one myself and have never considered it unusual," one anonymous user wrote.
"I'm a white girl, and although I don't morally oppose interracial relationships, I would never date a guy who's a different race or religion than I am. My family would freak out, and I think it would just put unnecessary stress on a relationship to be from such different backgrounds," another user replied.
Some of the most popular stories address such key issues as suicide prevention, gay and bisexual life, and the world after college.
A number of posts on the Web site discussed the difficulties of gay life on campus, and provided a means for gay, lesbian and bisexual students to find support.
But the president of the JHU Diverse Sexuality and Gender Alliance, Keshav Khanijow, doubts how useful the site is as a means of "coming out."
"If it's anonymous, you're coming out to yourself, but you're not really coming out to anyone; you're coming out to a fictional world," Khanijow said.
Although many comments left by Hopkins students suggest an underlying feeling that the campus community tends to be "subtly intolerant," there are gems of clarity to be found in many posts on JHU Confessions.
"There are so many visible things that people can discriminate based on like skin, gender, some religions. Sexuality is a rarity. It doesn't fall into the category of a visible minority like so many others. By giving sexuality strict boundaries it is far easier to categorize, and form a them-vs.-us kind of mentality," one anonymous user told the News-Letter.
"There are lots of actual good discussion, from racism, to sexuality, to politics; there are lots of conversations going on here," another user told the News-Letter. The user would prefer if there were more discussions and less "mindless entertainment."
Though JHU Confessions' purpose is to foster discussion, many students seem to think it's just a way to fight boredom.
"College kids plus anonymity equals totally ridiculous comments," freshman Diego Ardila said.
"I think that it's a cool place for people to go where they can talk anonymously, but people have to be careful not to take it too seriously," freshman Mike Maiale said.
