It has been generally agreed by the editorial staff of The Outlook that the Aragon Confessions page embodied a different tone and purpose than its Compliments counterpart (note: the two pages are not affiliated with each other). This is perhaps evident by name alone, but the truly anonymous nature of the Confessions’ Google Doc submission process left zero room for accountability. And while both types of pages are subject to a moderator’s discretion, Compliments’ direct messaging system between submitters and the moderator provides a striking contrast, one distinctly more trusting. By submitting a compliment directly to a person at the other end, Dons are more encouraged to think twice about their posting.
Yet, while the anonymous threat was indirectly enabled by the Confessions posting system, it is unfair to say that the page itself was the cause.
More concerning is the fact that some individuals in the Aragon community felt that the only safe way to express their feelings was through an anonymous Facebook forum. Perhaps what the Confessions page really revealed is the disconnect in the Aragon community.
While the Confessions page may have been created to bring the Aragon community together through entertaining streams of teenage consciousness, its content—whether that be the over-exposing posts or the threat itself—brought strong opposition from the community following the creation of a second page. Therefore, more than uniting the Aragon community, the Confessions page has become a controversy in itself. It has sparked debate both online and at school, and it provoked police and administrative response. And while some may complain that Aragon should have a Confessions page because other schools have one, or because the last Confessions page was a failure of moderation, the reality is that perhaps we as a community aren’t prepared for the responsibility that it entails.
If the Aragon student body wants the page, then Confessions should be allowed to exist under the Aragon name. That being said, the Aragon community must be willing to accept the responsibilities of the page and agree to moderate the page under stricter conditions.
Confessions must operate on a similar basis to Compliments. By mandating that students submit their posts under their identity, any suspicious statements can be easily traced and identified. This also gives students a larger cautionary period; if they are unwilling to submit the post to the anonymous moderator using their name, then perhaps the post is best kept private.
Now that time has passed for the Aragon community to interpret the page and its implications, the page should serve as a unifying force for its students. Whatever the future of the page may be, it should be executed with forethought and with the agreement of its participants.
