On Chatroulette, a new and controversial Web site, every click lands you in a face-to-face video conversation with a random stranger.

The setup is simple: Activate your webcam and click "play." Then, as people from all over the world pop up one at a time in a box on your screen, you decide whether or not to chat with them. If you don't like the looks of things, click "next" and the site shuffles you to someone new.

For better or worse, Chatroulette is going viral on the Web in a big way.

Use of the site has grown quickly since it launched in November, and mainstream blogs and media organizations are catching on to the phenomenon. About 35,000 people are on Chatroulette at any given time, according to a traffic count published on the Web site's homepage.

The site has been called many things: the new Wild West of the Internet; a speed-dating replacement; a cesspool of porn; a voyeuristic follow-up to Alfred Hitchcock's film "Rear Window"; a way to get people from different social groups to interact.

Jason Kottke, a prominent blogger, wrote that Chatroulette "is pretty much the best site going on the Internet right now."

But even the haters seem to agree that the site generates a certain potentially addictive intrigue -- whether it comes from the rush of meeting a new person, or the fear of seeing a stranger who's not wearing any clothes.