{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-article-tsx","path":"/aliuclasecrets","result":{"data":{"primeArticle":{"slug":"ali.uclasecrets","excerpt":"Anonymity is a double edged sword for the admin of the infamous Facebook page.","headline":"The Uninhibited World of UCLA secrets","author":"Ali Pond","authorbio":"","authoremail":"","authortwitter":"","coverimg":"https://assets.dailybruin.com/images/UCLAsecrets/COVERARTuclasecrets.cover-8272bc3d6e2bf2314e04ebb8c2513747.png","covercred":"Claire Sun","coveralt":"An illustration depicting a man holding a sword in one hand and a phone in the other, depicting the concept of the double edged sword of anonymity online.","articleType":"article","updated":null,"content":[{"type":"text","value":"At 24,000 likes, the UCLA Secrets Facebook page is more popular than that of the Daily Bruin, Undergraduate Students Association Council, UCLA Radio or any other student organization on campus."},{"type":"text","value":"Undergraduates, alumni and graduate students alike flock to the page to feast on their daily helpings of drama, often sending engagement rates into the thousands. Some posts are shocking – “So we decided to have an orgy like two weeks later.” Others are dismal – “If I asked you to kill me, would you?” All are anonymous. The page’s administration can’t view the sources of submissions and automatically rejects those that name another person directly."},{"type":"text","value":"Students take the anonymity of UCLA Secrets as a rare opportunity to break from the monotony of the everyday and instead discuss the things that really matter to them. For example, sex – there’s a surprising amount of posts about it. I won’t quote them for reasons I hope you can understand."},{"type":"text","value":"Other popular themes include social isolation – “How does anyone make friends at this school?” – and relationship problems – “I’m worried that my girlfriend is going to find out that I’m a weeb and break up with me.”"},{"type":"text","value":"Despite its widespread allure, UCLA Secrets remains “completely unaffiliated with University of California, Los Angeles,” as stated in its Facebook About page. Perhaps that’s part of the appeal."},{"type":"text","value":"“It feels like an untapped market,” said Alysa Wang, a fourth-year linguistics student."},{"type":"text","value":"Wang is a “top fan” of UCLA Secrets, a title reserved for the most active page members. Wang said she understands the student body’s need for a forum that regards every opinion, no matter how graphic, with an air of complete neutrality."},{"type":"text","value":"“There’s not really another platform that’s UCLA-specific that lets people fulfill that desire,” Wang said."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Illustration by Sun of a person whispering into another person’s ear.\",\"url\":\"https://assets.dailybruin.com/images/UCLAsecrets/uclasecrets.illo4-71e70b9a1cf08b13e2c980c830ce794d.png\",\"credit\":\"Claire Sun\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"John Suler, a professor of psychology at Rider University and an expert in online anonymity, attributes the candid nature of online interactions to what he calls the “online disinhibition effect.”"},{"type":"text","value":"In Suler’s book, “The Psychology of Cyberspace,” he describes the online disinhibition effect as a phenomenon in which people interact differently online than they would in real life. On the internet, we experience a distinction between our “real” and “online” selves, allowing us to separate online actions from real-life consequences. This results in more honesty and, at times, less compassion, especially under the guise of anonymity. If you’re Generation Z or a phase-out millennial, you likely recall this idea from cyberbullying prevention seminars in grade school."},{"type":"text","value":"Myriad scientific studies discuss Suler’s disinhibition effect and its many manifestations online. One study run by researchers at the University of Central Lancashire examined the Ask.fm trend that spread through schools in the mid-2010s and several adolescent suicides that followed."},{"type":"text","value":"Another study conducted by researchers at University of Houston studied the anonymous comment section of publications, like the Los Angeles Times and the Houston Chronicle, and found that, for articles about contentious subjects like immigration, anonymous commenters were nearly three times more likely than nonanonymous commenters to post things that were racist, xenophobic or generally uncivil."},{"type":"text","value":"UCLA Secrets provides a platform for people to discuss taboo or inflammatory topics on the internet. Evidently, our students welcome that opportunity with open arms."},{"type":"text","value":"“A lot of the comments there, no one would be saying a lot of that if they knew who the poster was, or knew their situation,” Wang said."},{"type":"text","value":"UCLA Secrets shines a new light on our community, showing that we are all basically the same: equal parts distressed – “Whenever I get very sad, I drink by myself,” – vulgar – “I threw up on my roommates bed,” – confused – “Did I get ... married too early?” – and apparently really explicit – “I had sex on one of the tables in a discussion room in PubAff.”"},{"type":"text","value":"It’s unifying, right? But when does that honesty go too far?"},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Illustration by Sun of a person hiding behind the veil of a curtain.\",\"url\":\"https://assets.dailybruin.com/images/UCLAsecrets/uclasecrets.illo1-544678dde05122f4a0d0f0ed9cd13f79.png\",\"credit\":\"Claire Sun\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"According to UCLA Secrets’ administration, which consists of just one alumnus who requested to be anonymous for this story, the answer to that question is complicated."},{"type":"text","value":"The admin wades through around 600 submissions each month and carefully selects which ones make it on the page. As the sole administrator of UCLA Secrets, they assume personal responsibility for both the quality and the quantity of posts."},{"type":"text","value":"In an earnest attempt to do what’s right, the admin said they often teeter between revealing and withholding troubling submissions."},{"type":"text","value":"The admin never revealed their name or face. All I heard was a voice and how firmly it articulated their passion for the “social volunteer work” that they do through UCLA Secrets."},{"type":"text","value":"“It’s everyone's page. ... I don’t want to silence anyone’s voice,” they said. “I still think it's better to know what your peers are thinking out there, just so we can look at it and say, ‘OK, let's assess this, maybe this person is uninformed.’”"},{"type":"text","value":"The admin used a recent string of posts about mental illness as an example. In the submissions, the original poster, or OP, likened himself to Arthur Fleck, DC’s “Batman” character who later becomes the Joker. He wrote that he has been “intensely suicidal and (has) wanted to harm others with equal intensity since March of 2012.”"},{"type":"text","value":"The posts go on like this – paragraphs and paragraphs describing his misery in great detail. According to the admin, the OP submitted each post multiple times until they made it onto the page. When they finally did, responses varied, and drastically so. I remember the visceral “ouch” that surged through me when I read the OP’s first post. A sense of hopelessness seeped through the screen; it was so real that I could feel it too."},{"type":"text","value":"Some commenters felt that same pain and reached out with offers of support and friendship in the comments."},{"type":"text","value":"Others condemned the OP, calling him an “incel,” which refers to a man who blames a woman for the fact he is not having sex, and comparing him to famous serial killers. The blunt apathy of their remarks surprised me. Is this how they would have responded if his lament had occured in person? But, then again, would the OP have ever spoken these things aloud in the first place? In a later post, he said himself that UCLA Secrets was one of his only healthy outlets."},{"type":"text","value":"The way the admin sees it, the support the so-called “Arthur” received outweighed the scrutiny. Of the 500 to 600 posts they receive a month, the admin only refuses to post those that break anonymity or overtly threaten others."},{"type":"text","value":"“This one was really tricky for me, because Arthur was the closest I’ve seen to that,” they said. “He's actually admitting he wants to hurt people, that's pretty big. ... But I think it's more dangerous to not post his secrets than it is to silence him. He's still feeling and thinking these things. I want people to be able to help him.”"},{"type":"text","value":"Although the page remains largely uncensored, the admin, who joined the page in 2014 during their first year at UCLA, said they’ve personally experienced the repercussions of this laissez-faire approach. A student once direct-messaged the admin with a violent threat in response to a controversial post the student found offensive. The student threatened to hurt the admin if the student discovered their identity. The threats scared the admin and compelled them to have taken a long leave of absence from the page."},{"type":"text","value":"After some time away, the admin returned and, in a coup of sorts, took full control of UCLA Secrets. It’s been that way ever since. They explained the other admins had conflicting visions for the page. So, for better or for worse, they nixed the interns."},{"type":"text","value":"Since then, the admin has tried to balance offensive or troubling submissions like Arthur’s with positive submissions, like lighthearted love stories or shoutouts to strangers: “To the guy singing at Ackerman today … you should have kept singing my dude. Queen Elsa could never and those vocals slapped.”"},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Illustration by Sun of students using their phones to share secrets and browse the Facebook page.\",\"url\":\"https://assets.dailybruin.com/images/UCLAsecrets/uclasecrets.illo2-c365a7250312985b49772a554f9f1573.png\",\"credit\":\"Claire Sun\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Since the admin took control of the page, UCLA Secrets has seen a surge in popularity because of more compelling and frequent uploads. The admin spends a part of every day sifting through and publishing posts, many of which deal with heavy subject matters."},{"type":"text","value":"“It does take an emotional toll on me,” the admin said. “But I’m going to keep doing this for as long as I possibly can.”"},{"type":"text","value":"Nevertheless, some students still have issues with how UCLA Secrets operates."},{"type":"text","value":"“I love this page, however it’s been really depressing reading about how fucked up our community is, mentally and emotionally,” read one recent post. “I wish people would stop jumping to conclusions and being so judgemental,” read another."},{"type":"text","value":"Antonio Rodriguez, a second-year sociology student, said he has his own concerns. As a top fan of the page, he puts a lot of thought into which posts he interacts with and questions the page’s legitimacy."},{"type":"text","value":"“How can UCLA Secrets check to see how truthful stories are?” Rodriguez said."},{"type":"text","value":"He is skeptical, for example, of a recent post in which the OP said they fraudulently took an exam to get revenge on their roommate. He said in most on-campus exams, moderators require BruinCards to evaluate students’ identities. This would make it difficult for the OP to take a test for a class in which he was not enrolled."},{"type":"text","value":"This post also detailed the graphic and intensely homophobic abuses the OP endured from his roommate. Rodriguez worries that, as an entertainment platform, UCLA Secrets exploits and fetishizes sensitive topics for the sake of comments and likes – of which the post has over 6,000."},{"type":"text","value":"Rodriguez is not alone in his grievances – Wang agrees that anonymity can cause problems."},{"type":"text","value":"“People come to that page to start drama, people come to that page to look for drama, and they all kind of bounce off of each other,” Wang said. “No one is really there because they have a vested interest in what’s being discussed.”"},{"type":"text","value":"Wang said she felt conversations on the page have taken a more extreme shape than they would have in person. As an example, she referenced a series of posts from last summer that dealt with obesity and fat shaming."},{"type":"text","value":"“The debate became, ‘Obesity isn’t bad for you,’ versus ‘We should be mean to fat people,’” Wang said."},{"type":"text","value":"These sorts of discussions, which often occur on UCLA Secrets, miss the mark. When we interact on the internet, it’s as if any semblance of moderate opinion or common ground crumbles beneath us and cascades into the abyss of the online disinhibition effect."},{"type":"text","value":"But what can be done? The page, after all, is unaffiliated with UCLA. And what should be done, if anything? Without platforms like UCLA Secrets, we risk leaving the extremes unsaid."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Illustration of a hand holding a smartphone with an abstract Facebook interface.\",\"url\":\"https://assets.dailybruin.com/images/UCLAsecrets/uclasecrets.illo3-2e770c10d3f0378396faf0feaf8862a2.png\",\"credit\":\"Claire Sun\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"As both Suler and my tech-wary mother would contend, things get warped online."},{"type":"text","value":"One study examined the role of anonymity within the so-called “mommy blog” sphere, specifically one website called YouBeMom.com. Of over 51 million posts and comments, around 5% feature the acronym “dh,” which stands for “dear husband,” and the website is used primarily by moms to anonymously vent about their marriages."},{"type":"text","value":"For example, one post included in the study read, “I came home from work early and caught dh having sex with the Au Pair in our wine cellar. Should I be concerned?” Another read “If dd and I wear matching halloween costumes (hosting a big party) will it be cute or will I look pathetic?” The acronym “dd” refers to “dear daughter.”"},{"type":"text","value":"Although the concerns expressed here aren’t quite as graphic as some that appear on UCLA Secrets, the study shows how people from all demographics, even moms, might find solace in anonymity."},{"type":"text","value":"“I’d say it’s a net neutral force,” Wang said. “As long as you give people a platform to talk, there’s gonna be assholes and there’s gonna be people crying out for help.”"},{"type":"text","value":"Despite its issues, many users, including Emily Tam, a second-year nursing student and UCLA Secrets top fan, appreciate the page."},{"type":"text","value":"“I love it, I love UCLA Secrets,” she said."},{"type":"text","value":"Tam said the page’s impact on UCLA student life stems from the breadth of common experiences the posts cover. For her, relatability means solidarity."},{"type":"text","value":"She cited mental health as an example; the topic is frequently addressed on UCLA Secrets, and Tam said she feels these discussions are reducing stigma around mental illness on campus."},{"type":"text","value":"“It shows how helpful and sympathetic people are, or can be at least,” she said."},{"type":"text","value":"Tam’s convictions about the page prove true in real life. The top fans I spoke with have tasted the tangible fruits of the admin’s virtual labor. Rodriguez, for example, wrote a paper for an LGBTQ studies class about a submission that addressed the hypersexualization of men in the gay community. He said he used the post in his paper, on which he received an A, to further his analysis on body image disorders through an LGBTQ+ lens."},{"type":"text","value":"“The comments I’ve made on UCLA Secrets are definitely some of my better contributions to campus culture,” Wang said."},{"type":"text","value":"At times, her comments have reached far beyond the screen. Wang said she has offered her support to a person who reached out to her after she commented on a post in the past."},{"type":"text","value":"Wang feels without UCLA Secrets, people might not have access to an outlet for their feelings."},{"type":"text","value":"Even the admin has found refuge in UCLA Secrets’ enclaves of vulnerability. As an undergraduate, the admin struggled initially to find a place where they belonged, so they said they used their position at UCLA Secrets to facilitate that belonging, for both themself and others."},{"type":"text","value":"“UCLA Secrets gives everyone that community they might be missing, at the end of the day,” they said. “I think we kind of avoid negativity a little bit too much. I say go for it. Even if it's negative, go for it.”"}]}},"pageContext":{"term":"spring20","slug":"ali.uclasecrets"}},"staticQueryHashes":[]}