2008 Woodie Awards
Middlebury Confessional fad hits campus
Kathryn Flagg
Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: Features
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The Web site, modeled after similar forums at Oberlin College and other universities, allows visitors to submit anonymous messages and comments that are then immediately visible online. Current postings run the gamut from the baffled ("What is this site??") to the baffling ("This school is a giant barrel of lolsauce."), and from apparently earnest queries ("Are you happy here?") and hesitant admissions ("I play football and I am bisexual, and no one knows the truth.") to the requisite dose of post-coital regret ("I can't believe I had sex with you. What was I thinking??").
Behind the Web site's launch is Oberlin College senior Shibo Xu, who currently maintains the Oberlin Confessional and 10 additional "confessionals." The Middlebury Confessional is the latest addition to a suite of Web sites modeled, to some extent, after the Facebook phenomenon. Xu created the Middlebury Confessional after a friend at the College asked him to launch the forum. The idea appealed to him because of similarities between Oberlin and Middlebury, Xu said.
"I think it's very successful at small colleges," he said.
Like the confessionals at other colleges, Middlebury Confessional functions as a closed community. Confessions posted on the Middlebury site are accessible only to visitors surfing from the physical campus.
"I don't want this to be like Juicy Campus," said Xu, who moderates offensive comments for all of the confessionals but does not keep records of the IP addresses of posters. "This is your business," he said, "your community."
Though Middlebury Confessional is currently innocuous enough, the Web site's predecessors - including a similar site at Amherst College, for example - allude to what could be the uglier face of the Confessional spree. Xu acknowledged that when students disregard the Web site's requirements to refrain from using names, the banter can turn ugly.
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 4
dephenineon9
dephenine8
posted 4/25/08 @ 1:14 AM EST
Well, it is a common and popular topic for LGBT, espcially for bisexual, as those at bimingle.com discussed on the forum.
Nick Diieso
posted 4/26/08 @ 3:58 PM EST
For the record:
I was threatened for creating a Facebook group related to the website, not for moderating or anything else, simply for posting a link. (Continued…)
Anonymous
posted 5/01/08 @ 9:14 PM EST
It seems that we've gone the Amherst way -- the site screams sexism, racism, and bullying, which is extremely unproductive and unhealthy in such a competitive environment. (Continued…)
p.l.
posted 5/05/08 @ 10:35 AM EST
the web site is the worst possible thing to happen to a small college campus. if people are smart they will lose interest and the thing will fade away into oblivion. (Continued…)
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