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'Secrets' criticized for censorship, content

by Sarah Mirk

On December 11, a week after they unveiled "Secrets," an anonymous forum on Plans, the Plans administrators announced that they would screen future Secrets posts. The announcement said that they "would make some sort of 'official statement' later, including rationale for the change and the criteria we will use when deciding whether or not to display a secret." Nearly six weeks later, secrets are being filtered but neither an official announcement nor an explanation has been released.

In the first days after Secrets was made an official part of Plans, a flurry of hundreds of posts included some that threatened students by name. Administrators Eryn O'Neil '07, Megan Goering '08 and Sidonie Straughn-Morse '08 said in a previous S&B article that they hoped at first Secrets would be a community-moderated and essentially self-governed forum. When this did not materialize, they changed the code so that all secrets had to be approved by an administrator.

This has some Plans users incensed. Max Postman '08 said that the absence of public guidelines for how secrets were censored was "a classic Grinnell administration move. [They] say, 'Uh, we'll explain later.' [It's] a short-term appeasement and a failure to follow-through."

Other students were less harsh. "The filtering is a decent attempt to return Secrets to what it was supposed to be used for," said Mike Billups '07.

Since the Plans administrators began screening Secrets, the content posted has shifted from the free-for-all of its first days. Over the past month, there has been a mix of actual secrets and wide-ranging discussions on matters ranging from class issues to body image. Most discussions were about sex.

Some felt that Secrets isn't worth keeping around. Paul Kramer '09 said he didn't think Secrets was a good forum for discussion. "Secrets represents the unspoken subconscious of maybe 15 people who really enjoy saying a lot of things on Plans," he said.

Sidebar: Quick Hits

• Secrets was first created on Will Emigh's Plan
  • Anyone with a Plan can access Secrets by clicking on "Preferences," then "Optional Links" and checking "Secrets"
    • The Plans administrators say they cannot track posters
      • All secrets must be approved by the administrator

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