A Sad Day for Secrets

Dear friends-

We are gathered here today to mourn a great loss- the loss of the PostSecret iPhone app.

The fact that the app is gone makes me sad. The reason that the app had to be shut down makes me even more sad.   Long story short, the PostSecret app allowed user to anonymously share their secrets with other app users.  The app was wildly popular, with tens of thousands of secrets being posted everyday (some of which were mine).  Unfortunately, a few users with malicious intent started posting inappropriate, pornographic, gruesome, and, at times, even threatening content.  Despite these users only making up about 1% of the app users, the scale of the app was so massive that even this 1% was too much for the moderators to keep track of and keep a hold of.   A huge part of the app and of PostSecret as a whole is anonymity, which made it difficult (if not impossible) to block certain users from using the app.  As sad as I am to see the app close, I really do understand why Frank (the creator of the PostSecret project) had to shut it down.  It's upsetting how just a few people with bad intentions and an iPhone can bring down an entire community.  You can read Frank's statement about shutting the app down and see where PostSecret will continue to thrive here.

In memory of an app that I used like crazy over the past few months and sometimes turned to when I needed a little support or release, I've posted below some of my favorite secrets that I came across while using the app.  Some of them made me sad, some of them made me giggle, some of them made me hopeful,  some of them made me say, "Me too!",  some of them made me relieved, some of them made me angry and frustrated, some of them hit a little too close to home, and some of them I just liked, despite not really relating to them.  I could write an explanation of what I think of each secret, but I think I'd rather let them stand on their own.   They're the secrets of strangers. They don't need explanations.

 

The app may be closed, but it will live on through the PostSecret projects, in the hearts of the people who used it, and on my iPhone (because I can't bring myself to delete it yet).

Santa Claws is Coming to Town

I've been having a lot of trouble getting in the Christmas Spirit this year.

But this certainly helps:



Animals are awesome.

And this "secret" from the PostSecret app makes me giggle.

Secret Sundays.

Neither will I.

I also don't stand in front of mirrors in dark rooms.

Sunday Secrets

on Monday.



My roommate and I got a Christmas tree for our dorm room. I know, it's too early, but after Thanksgiving is over, we'll only have two weeks in our room, so we're having Christmas early!

Secret Sundays

I never liked any of my school pictures.


I've been trying to schedule my Spring Semester at LSU for over an hour now. I can't get past the PAWS homepage. Rumor has it that the server crashed. I am very frustrated and very anxious. And kind of hungry too.

FAIL.

Secret Sundays

I survived mid-terms week. I need to stop procrastinating.

No secrets really "spoke" to me this week (If that's what you want to call it), but this one made me giggle:



Frank called the file "wetelladifferentstory.jpg."

I'm having a good Sunday. The kind of Sunday that makes me feel like there's no need for secrets. I'm happy.

Secret Sundays

This week, one secret really hit home for me.



I lost my grandmother two years ago tomorrow. She had severe dementia my entire life. I can't even remember the last time she remembered my name.

But I know that a lot of who I am is because of her and it kills me that I never got the chance to know her, even though she was there for 16 years of my life. Her body was there, but she was not.

Sunday Secrets

This week, I had two favorite secrets.

I thought this first one was very relevant to the events of this past week. #ItGetsBetter


It's always interesting to see what Frank names the image files for the secrets. This secret is titled "onback.iwouldnotbeherewithoutyou.jpg." It's like finding a PostSecret Easter Egg.




Ironically enough, all of the stories on that secret are the first stories that I would read in the magazine. Sure, I read the stories that don't have anything to do with men as well. But I can't be the only woman who feels an incredible sense of empowerment knowing that she is able to please a man. I mean *really* please a man.

If you want to see more secrets from this week and maybe even discover a secret of your own, go to www.postsecret.com. You can also follow PostSecret on Facebook and Twitter.

Secret Sundays

Every Sunday, I check www.postsecret.com too read/see the week's Sunday Secrets. Some Sundays, a Secret will stick out to me. Today, this one did:



One day, I will be brave enough to write my own secret on a postcard and mail it to Frank Warren.