UBC investigates lewd women-rating website, Twitter feed

A cached copy of The Dime Watch website, which was taken down on Oct. 25, 2012. (Huffington Post)

A lewd women-rating website created by a University of British Columbia varsity athlete was taken down Thursday and a Twitter account by the same name is being investigated.

Dan Elliott, manager of media relations for UBC Athletics said Thunderbirds hockey player Ben Schmidt admitted to creating the website The Dime Watch, which featured offensive content referring to women as “dimes,” slang for women ranked a “perfect 10.”

According to Elliott, Schmidt admitted to creating the website for a friend, but was not linked to the Twitter account @UBCDimeWatch, which posted pictures of women without their consent and harassed women online.

Elliott said the athletic department asked Schmidt to remove the website after discovering it Tuesday. The website and Twitter account were removed Thursday.

One Twitter user claimed she was harassed by the Twitter account several times.

“I’m glad to hear something is being done re: @UBCDimeWatch I blocked the creep months ago for harassing me via tweets,” @Melodia222 tweeted Wednesday.

Others were disappointed the site was taken down.

“Very disappointed that @UBCDimeWatch doesn’t exist anymore. Who’s gonna keep track of all the dimes on campus now?” @hgrewal14 tweeted.

Elliott said university officials are investigating the Twitter account, but so far no athletes have been linked to it.

Some of the tweets from @UBCDimeWatch posted pictures of women with lewd comments such as, "Take a look see at this shiny #dime shaking her toosh on Westbrooke Dr. Who's the waste of skin she's with? #dimewatch."

“@dimes you can run but you can’t hide, first day of summer classes come out to play ladies #shortshorts #tanktops #creepershades #dimewatch," another tweet read.

Another tweet posted a derogatory term for female genitalia repeatedly.

Elliott said the university is investigating and will decide whether those responsible will face consequences.