“Secret” confessions Facebook page a hearth of cyber-bullying

Editor's Note: The Facebook page "Saratoga High Secret Love Confessions" has since been taken down.

On March 26, a group of students created the Facebook page “Saratoga High Secret Love Confessions,” a forum supposedly created for secret admirers to anonymously confess their crushes.

Yet this page has become a forum for anonymous cyber bullying rather than a page for sincere confessions. Emboldened by anonymity, students feel compelled to gossip about their peers in front of the entire school, whose attention has been captured by the gossip-filled Facebook page.

A large number of the posts were obviously meant to poke fun at their victims. One post was actually phrased “person X needs to stop ____.” Rather than giving a confession, this post blatantly criticized a student for his or her actions. Similarly, a particularly stupid post called a student the “cutest stoner ever.” Other posts poked fun at students for the shape of their bodies. Perhaps the worst post, since deleted, was the one that told a couple that they seemed “weird together.”

The fault lies on the end of the page’s moderators — themselves anonymous — who continue to show disturbing indiscretion, despite saying, “We won’t post anything bad!”

Blame it on immaturity or a lust for attention — the moderators of this page are essentially creating and condoning a method of public humiliation. Don’t like a person? Just send a “confession” to Saratoga High Secret Love Confessions and humiliate him or her in front of the entire school. It’s no big deal — no one will know it’s you, right?

Cyber bullying takes on a lot of forms, but the kind practiced on Saratoga High Secret Love Confessions takes it to a new level. Most cyber bullies do their work by sending hurtful messages in private areas of the web such as Formspring. However, cyber bullying on this Facebook page occurs in front of most of the school.

It’s eerily similar to the class of 2014’s sophomore quad day, when a group of students inappropriately joked about their peers in front of the entire school. Only those joking students were actually somewhat responsible — at least they showed their faces.

By contrast, the anonymous bullies on Saratoga High Secret Love Confessions can virtually say whatever they want. After all, the moderators of Saratoga High Secret Love Confessions allow practically anything to be posted. At other better run high school confession pages, such as Saratoga Compliments, posts are far more appropriate, though moderators often are still unable to identify insults veiled behind sarcasm.

What’s most disturbing about Saratoga High Secret Love Confessions — or any of these anonymous pages for that matter — is the complete lack of accountability. If they wanted to, these powerful moderators could do anything: spread a rumor about a teacher or publically humiliate a student; with such an enormous “fan” base (the site garnered 500+ likes in its first day), Saratoga High Secret Love Confessions essentially has a 24/7 PA system that reaches most of school.

The school has enough problems with bullying. From assemblies on cyber bullying to school-wide movements such as Just Be Kind week, we’ve put together a remarkable effort to actually make the school a place where people can feel safe. To let a couple of immature, attention-hungry moderators make our school a place of fear would be despicable.

When we witness bullying, we’re often encouraged not to turn away. But in this situation, the best response is to ignore Saratoga High Secret Love Confessions, choking the page of the attention it was made for. Who are they, anyway, to turn our school into a gossip column?