Anonymous Confession Stories Bringing “Sinners” Together
Maybe you committed a petty crime and got away with it. Maybe you had a regrettable one-night stand, or you did something shameful in your student life. Or maybe it's not that extreme. Some people hide their views on political and religious views, especially when they believe no one else will agree with them. Some do not reveal their finances too, whether they have a lot more or a lot less than others think. For whatever the reason, every person in the world hides a secret. The group of people craving for a way out to spill the tea are much more than the easygoing poker faces we see daily.
Fesshole is the place that might do the trick in making you feel safe and still express what’s killing you inside—hilarious stories or not. With hundreds of thousands of followers, it offers everyone who wants to confess a Google form to keep their anonymity and many, many sets of ears, so they know their confession is heard. It might not bring you salvation, but if there's a chance for peace of mind, why not take it?
And we at Bored Panda are seekers of peace of mind. Hence we want to help everyone turn the page on a mistake they’re the only ones to know about. Sharing secrets anonymously is the core value in Fesshole. Thus, we got in contact with the person behind Fesshole, Rob to give us more insights about this impactful digital platform.
Rob told Bored Panda, "It came about after chatting to my mate Chris and he was moaning about the old internet and how you could post a complaint about your job or your life on a web forum, and nothing went viral and the only people who read were internet nerds. You didn't get sacked." Now, the situation is quite different. If you vent online about your crazy boss, chances are it might go viral enough for your story to reach them as well.
The Fesshole Project
Anyway, Rob and Chris continued with their conversation, and they "got to talk about how semi-anonymity through obscurity was a good thing in many ways."
"So I thought I'd make a place where it's free for Chris to moan and even if it did go viral, it wasn't going to ruin his job or his life because his name is not on," the man running the project explained its origins.
Rob keeps a record of how many people submit their confessions and it's about 150-180 per week.
The Selection Process of Funny Confessions
Rob doesn't overthink the process of which ones to feature on the account. “[My choices are] based on scrolling down the list and reading and picking out the ones that I think will work. Funny or interesting, really,” he said. “Or my judgment of what I think the world will find funny or interesting.”
When you look at it, Rob’s content selection method is kinda meta. “I think scrolling down whilst picking echoes how people read Twitter, just hunting for that interesting bit,” he pointed out. “So this is Twitter, where I’ve pre-chewed the meat.”
But with so many submissions, running the account requires a fair share of time and effort. “I’m in and out of the spreadsheet (whilst doing other stuff, too) all day and every day. That means I’ve read over 3 million words (3,178,532) simply picking the confessions.
Rob said his followers engage with stories that revolve around workplace stuff and anonymous sex confessions, but mostly, they seek to read about confessions revealing human condition.
“So much online is now stuck in a terrible culture war and trying to push you this way and that way, but Fesshole is (I hope) slightly outside this and saying there is another world we can exist in, even if it is just for 5 minutes, one where we just laugh about what it is to be alive. Or feel a bit guilty about laughing,” he explained, adding that all Bored Panda readers are welcome to follow the account.
