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Some postings are more than shocking; they are downright disturbing...

PostSecret is covered at the end of this audio clip...

30 October 2007

I've got a secret...

by Jacqueline Alexander

I let a guy think that I love him. He pays for everything including my rent, cell phones and a laptop and I save the money I earn to move to Japan to be with the man I really love.

No, I have not decided to use the Henley Standard as a confessional but these words, although not mine, are genuine and are published online. Why? I have no idea. Where? On a web site that does just one thing; it publishes the secrets of others. Why? Because people with secrets want them to. Why? Sorry, I still have no idea.

Perhaps their secret is eating them up. Perhaps a troubled conscience is disturbing their sleep so a confession alleviates the guilt and guarantees a good eight hours every night. Perhaps the secret isn't theirs but they are just bursting to tell someone. Why tell just one person when you can tell the world? Whatever the reason, this site is hugely popular and people are queuing up to reveal all.

Some of the secrets are heartbreaking while others are funny, witty and woeful. The subject matter varies enormously; regrets, hopes, fantasies, fears, betrayals, humiliations, desires, beliefs and suspicions all come together to create, according to figures released last year, the seventh largest blog on the internet. The site insists that all secrets should be truthful and, whilst many honour that prerequisite, I suspect others exercise their creative muscles for effect. Having said that, I may be wrong, we all know 'there's nowt as strange as folk'. Maybe I just can't comprehend the reality so it is easier to believe that some mad fool has made it up when, in fact, some poor soul does want to drive their car off a bridge 'to see if anyone comes to my funeral'.

We all have secrets. Some are innocent whilst others are what could be termed 'character defining' but some of the inclusions on this site are nothing less than shocking. And therein lies the appeal. Gossip has long been fodder for the masses. Why else would tabloid newspapers and their glossy counterparts sell in such huge numbers?

Postsecret.com, whilst allowing the source to remain completely anonymous, goes straight to the crux of the matter without revealing the back story or the outcome. They give us the secret and leave our imaginations free to run riot.

Some postings are more than shocking; they are disturbing and, although I haven't seen any myself, some are reported to include criminal activity. I am not going quote any examples here for the simple reason I don't want to be responsible for the complaints that would ensue but, if your curiosity gets the better of you, just go along to the web site every Sunday when the owner of the site gets busy with the latest updates.

Postsecret.com started life as an art project. Frank Warner, the founder and an artist, exhibited for the first time in 2004 at Artomatic, the multimedia arts festival in Washington DC. Since 2005, the web site has simply invited people to design a postcard and send it in. Using just one side of the card, the secret-holder is asked to draw, paint or cut n' paste imagery to illustrate the secret. The results are as varied as they are interesting. Without commenting on the artistic value of each, the collective diversity is quite compelling and may, in itself, account for at least part of the appeal of this site.

Actually, who am I trying to kid? People go there to read other people's secrets. When I first stumbled across this site, I was more than a little uncomfortable with the concept but such is its popularity that Mr Warner has made a very pretty penny from the books, exhibitions, seminars and related material produced under the name PostSecret. All contributors are required to 'grant a perpetual, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, distribute and otherwise exercise all copyright and publicity rights'. A condition leaving Mr Warner free to expand the PostSecret empire to his wallet's content.

Earlier this year, the site's archive was removed from the web site. You can now only read the current week's entries but, with the internet being the behemoth it is, other sites have sprung up publishing the archive as it stood before July 2007. Glancing through defunktion.net, the content seems a lot less sad than the updated version. The archive includes secrets that are sweet and endearing, some are beautifully illustrated and some leave you with a little smile. 'Sometimes I romanticise my roots... to be more interesting at cocktail parties' and 'I pretend to know French because I'm in love with a girl who does' are both innocuous and amusing. It's these examples and others like them that are far more gratifying to view and, whilst the underbelly of this world is still in evidence, the overall picture is less dark, less dismal and less depressing.

If writing your secret down doesn't appeal, a community 'sister' site has been developed to receive your audio and video. As you might expect, the video element has not captured the imaginations of the Postsecret.com contributors as yet. This section seems to be populated with promotional material rather than silhouetted confessors seeking absolution. The audio section, on the other hand, is gaining in popularity so it seems that, one way or another, the secret is out.

So if you can't keep mum, and you don't want to become the town gossip, maybe Postsecret.com is performing a community service for you. Just go along and reveal all to the world. But be warned, you may find your secret in print one day so don't leave any inadvertent signatures that someone else may recognise. Unless, of course, you secretly want to be found out.

Defunktion.net

Postsecret.com

Jacqueline Alexander presents Web Watch every Tuesday at 5.45pm on BBC Radio Berkshire on 104.1FM, 104.4FM, 95.4FM, 94.6FM and DAB Digital Radio. To listen in, just visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire.

What is Web Watch?

Web Watch is broadcast on BBC Radio Berkshire, published in the Henley and South Oxon Standard and published online right here at web-watch.info.

As a cross-media project, Web Watch is designed to help you find the best sites here on the Internet.

You can catch Web Watch on air every Tuesday at 5.45pm when Jacqueline Alexander sits down with Phil Kennedy during the Drivetime show on BBC Radio Berkshire to chew the virtual fat.