aroraborealis

Hey friends!

Astute readers will notice that I didn't kick off a confessional post yesterday. Although I hadn't really made a conscious decision about this one way or another, I now realize that last year's was the last one for me. Sorry I didn't realize this earlier so someone else who wanted to host one on the traditional day could do so. But! Please feel free to take the idea and run with it. I've super enjoyed these over the years and I appreciate everyone who has participated and helped to make them a really special and unique shared experience. I'll probably have a longer post later with more musings but this is it for now.

Welcome to the first confessional hosted on dreamwidth!

Tell me a secret! Tell me a not-so-secret! Whisper sweet somethings in my comment box. Express your maddest crush or deepest curiosity! Ask about personal habits you've always wondered if you're weird about! Expound upon the fabulousness of your friends or lovers or would-be friends or lovers! Or people you know or want to know. Share your best self-care for the political climate! Do it anonymously or with your name attached*; anonymous commenting is on and IP logging is off.

You know you want to!

[Please note ground rules here.]

A note on user experience: When starting a new thread, if you give it a subject, it'll be easier to pick out comments in response to it down the road.

*I encourage you to default to anonymous comments unless there's special value in being identified with your comment.

Back by popular demand! Tell me a secret! Tell me a not-so-secret! Whisper sweet somethings in my comment box. Express your maddest crush or deepest curiosity! Expound upon the fabulousness of your friends or lovers or would-be friends or lovers! Or people you know or want to know. Share your best self-care for the political climate! Do it anonymously or with your name attached*; anonymous commenting is on and IP logging is off.

You know you want to!

[Please note ground rules here.]

[Here's the link to the flat (chronological, unthreaded) version of comments.]

A note on user experience: If you're starting a new thread, if you give it a subject, it'll be easier to pick out comments in response to it down the road.

*I encourage you to default to anonymous comments unless there's special value in being identified with your comment.

Happy Confessional Month! First, some ground rules, and shortly, I'll post the confessional itself:

As I've done the past couple of years, I'll be moderating comments with a relatively heavy hand, especially around pointlessly mean-spirited comments or threads. Similarly, I'm aiming to nip in the bud comments or threads that seem to be headed in a bad direction. If you think I made a mistake about leaving something up, feel free to email me to bring it to my attention.

One of the things I deeply value about the confessional is the opportunity to say hard things, but it's important to me that they be productive, so please refrain from mean comments without substance. In past years, we've had some pretty amazing learning, compassion, and vulnerability, along with playful fun.

If there's a comment/thread that seems primarily to be about character assassination, I empower you not to respond, and to privately draw it to my attention for deletion. I will try to delete that sort of thing ASAP, but I have to eat, sleep, work, and play outside of this, also, so my eyes won't be on it every second it's up.

If there's any comment about YOU that you'd like me to remove for any reason, please email me so I can do so.

Remember that all those anonymous voices are people, some of whom you know and like, and all of whom are people like you.

Finally, on commenting with your name/handle vs. commenting anonymously: please consider anonymous commenting the default unless it's specifically relevant and important to post with your name attached. We have many settings in which we can converse as identifiably ourselves, and part of what's fun for me about this is the opportunity to hear people's words without always already knowing who is saying what.

Happy Confessional Month! First, some ground rules, and later today, I'll post the confessional itself:

As I've done the past couple of years, I'll be moderating comments with a relatively heavy hand, especially around pointlessly mean-spirited comments or threads. Similarly, comments or threads that seem to be headed in a bad direction. If you think I made a mistake about leaving something up, feel free to email me to bring it to my attention.

One of the things I deeply value about the confessional is the opportunity to say hard things, but it's important to me that they be productive, so please refrain from mean comments without substance. In past years, we've had some pretty amazing learning, compassion, and vulnerability, along with playful fun.

If there's a comment/thread that seems primarily to be about character assassination, I empower you not to respond, and to privately draw it to my attention for deletion. I will try to delete that sort of thing ASAP, but I have to eat, sleep, work, and play outside of this, also, so my eyes won't be on it every second it's up.

If there's any comment about YOU that you'd like me to remove for any reason, please email me so I can do so.

Remember that all those anonymous voices are people, some of whom you know and like, and all of whom are people like you.

Finally, a new note: anonymous posting is not required, but I encourage you to consider it the default unless it's specifically relevant and appropriate to post with your name attached.

Hey, guess what! It's confessional time! Today, the ground rules; tomorrow, the thing itself.

As I've done the past couple of years, I'll be moderating comments with a relatively heavy hand, especially around pointlessly mean-spirited comments or threads. Similarly, comments or threads that seem to be headed in a bad direction. If you think I made a mistake about leaving something up, feel free to email me to bring it to my attention.

One of the things I deeply value about the confessional is the opportunity to say hard things, but it's important to me that they be productive, so please refrain from mean comments without substance. In past years, we've had some pretty amazing learning, compassion, and vulnerability, along with playful fun.

If there's a comment/thread that seems primarily to be about character assassination, I empower you not to respond, and to privately draw it to my attention for deletion. I will try to delete that sort of thing ASAP.

If there's any comment about YOU that you'd like me to remove for any reason, please email me so I can do so.

Remember that all those anonymous voices are people, some of whom you know and like, and all of whom are people like you.

I'm planning to post the annual confessional this week, ideally tomorrow, depending on how my work today goes.

I'm planning to continue the changes I made last year:

I'll be moderating more closely than in previous years. I'll especially be deleting comments that seem pointlessly mean-spirited or that are obviously attempts to make up creepy or mean rumors about people.

One of the things I deeply value about the confessional is the opportunity to say hard things, but it's important to me that they be productive, so please refrain from mean comments without substance.

If there's a comment that seems primarily to be about character assassination, I also encourage everyone not to engage with it. Rise above it and don't feed the trolls! I will try to delete that sort of thing in a timely fashion, but of course I won't be watching the comments all day every day.

If there's any comment about YOU that you'd like me to remove, please email me so I can do so.

Remember that all those anonymous voices are people, some of whom you know and like, and all of whom are people like you.

This year's confessional has turned up many lonely hearts and some missed connections. One of the anonymous posters suggested a quick and dirty personals thread to see if an LJ thread can be used to create a happier 2011.

Here are the rules:

* Post with your regular LJ account.
* Tell us a few things about you.
* Tell us a few things about who you are looking for.
* 239 words or less. (The length of my 2011 confessional post.)
* Include one picture 239 x 239 pixels or less- any picture!
* No replies in the thread - reply directly to the poster.
* The thread closes in one week.

Have at it, and have fun! I want naming rights to any new household that forms as a result of this.

I'm planning to post the annual confessional at the end of this week.

I know, I know. I'll take bribes now to consider changing it to a time that's better for you. And also bribes to keep it on schedule if that works best for you. And no promises that any one bribe will do the trick, so, you know, maybe you should just keep your money.

ANYWAY, I'm going to do things a little differently this year, and here's how:

I'm going to be moderating more closely than I have in the past. I'll especially be deleting comments that seem pointlessly mean spirited or that are obviously attempts to make up creepy rumors about people for your own vindictive spite. You know who you are.

One of the things I like about the confessional is the opportunity to say hard things, but it's important that they be productive, so I encourage you to consider the balance of your comments and refrain from harsh comments without substance.

If there's a comment that seems primarily to be about character assassination, I also encourage everyone not to engage with it. Don't feed the trolls!

If there's any comment about YOU that you'd like me to remove, please email me and I'll do that, unless you've trolled my livejournal in the past, in which case, please don't bother. You know who you are.

Remember that all those anonymous voices are people, some of whom you know and like, and all of whom are just people like you.

I've had a request for a special edition "confessional" post, and because I'd rather read that than this report I'm slogging through, I give you a 24-hour only version.

You know what to do.

[ETA: Okay, 24 hours have passed! I'm disabling anonymous commenting and returning you to your regularly-scheduled nonymous confessions (aka LJ).]