JERUSALEM (Reuters Life!) - A new Israeli Web site has taken office gossip online, inviting users to provide juicy details of romance in the workplace and other corporate tidbits.

A generic picture of a woman typing in an office on an IBM computer keyboard. A new Israeli Web site has taken office gossip online, inviting users to provide juicy details of romance in the workplace and other corporate tidbits. REUTERS/Catherine Benson

“Send us gossip,” urges the Hebrew-language Merahlim site, at www.merahlim.co.il, founded by a paparazzi photographer who goes by the name of Buchacho.

“After 20 years in entertainment journalism, I came to the conclusion the best stories came out of workplaces,” Buchacho said.

The site -- its title means “gossip” in English -- launched earlier this month. It offers links to sections with gossip about Israeli companies including banks, cable television networks, newspapers and airlines, and the military.

Companies are named on the site but employees mentioned in the entries are not, although job descriptions are used.

Users do not have to disclose their own identities, and there is no way to verify the information they provide. Buchacho said Merahlim generates about 5,000 hits a day.

Entries range from the mundane to the raunchy.

One user, identifying herself as a secretary at a major telephone company, asked: “Who is the hot new guy in sales? The quality of the sales department seems to be improving lately.”

Others disclose far more personal details.

“Who is the captain and the flight attendant who entered the same restroom at a New York bar?” “Flight Attendant Ilan” posted. “He looks good for his age. She is young but looks ... hot. Pay attention on next Thursday’s flight.”

Most of the companies cited in postings declined to comment about the site.

Buchacho said he and his Web team check every entry and delete anything they believe is particularly hurtful. He said he was not particularly worried about law suits.

Eran Liss, an attorney specializing in media law, said he did not believe the Web site had crossed any legal boundaries.

“The site is about gossip. But if someone writes about, let’s say, a new product being developed, the company could definitely have a case. It is a very sensitive issue,” Liss said.

Merahlim also enables users to comment on the gossip or classify an entry as “recommended”.

Unsurprisingly, the most racy stories often generate the most responses -- such as the tale of an executive’s wife who pulled into a parking lot only to spot her husband smooching with another woman in his car.

“Who is he? Which department does he work in? Customer service?” one user asked in the comments section.