Got a juicy story that you’re just aching to tell the world, but you don’t want your fellow Yukoners knowing who leaked it? You’re in luck. Because there’s a Facebook page for that.
The salacious Whitehorse Confessions page is a never ending source of entertainment for your editor. Journalists by their very nature love a good scoop. I couldn’t help but wonder, with a bit of avarice, how things look from the other side of the curtain. The sheer amount of dirt must be truly delightful!
What makes the mysterious individual(s) behind Whitehorse Confessions tick? What motivates them? Or are they just doing it for the lulz?
So I set out to find some answers. Conveniently, I didn’t have to venture any further than my computer screen.
After a brief back and forth through messenger, the page admin at Whitehorse Confessions agreed to be interviewed. In keeping with the spirit of the site, the editorial “we” agreed to interview the site’s shadowy overlord anonymously as “anonymous.”
Who, dear readers, knows what secrets lurk in the hearts of Yukoners? We may never learn the true form of the mysterious keeper of our confessions. One thing however is for certain. The Shadow knows…
Of course I wouldn’t be doing my due diligence if I didn’t ask whether they’re a front for the KGB. Did they evade the question? Decide for yourselves.
What’s Up Yukon: What are some of your favourite confessions so far. Do you have a favourite story?
Anonymous: It would be hard to pick and choose. At first I wanted to make a list of “great” confessions, but that’s a subjective thing. Some of the funniest/worst ones are what I like to call the “Sunday morning hangover” confessions – ones that have trickled in during the wee hours of Saturday parties and events. It’s like drunk texting, only they needed to tell the whole town.
What’s Up Yukon: What inspired the page? How long has it been running for?
Anonymous: I didn’t make the page originally, but I think it started in 2015. I took over the page about a year ago. There’s lots of similar pages for towns and cities all over the place, so it isn’t necessarily unique to Whitehorse. I think a few colleges and universities have their own versions, too.
What’s Up Yukon: On average, how many confessions do you get in a week?
Anonymous: 100 to 200… There was a really busy time when there were like 400 over a weekend, I think it was a full moon.
What’s Up Yukon: What’s your favourite part of being an Anonymous page admin?
Anonymous …the fact that everyone thinks it’s some amazing or glamorous gig! Actually, I really like when people don’t follow the obvious instructions and message the page directly. Not how it works, bud. There is a total fascination with grammar and spelling errors in the confessions. People just love to correct and make fun of the silly mistakes.
What’s Up Yukon: Knowing what you do about the citizens of Whitehorse, what do you think about the place? Love it or hate it?
Anonymous: I grew up here so I want to say none of the confessions really surprise me… let’s just say you get to see “all aspects” of the community, ha ha! Sometimes you get weird ones that make you scratch your head. It’s great here, but some people evidently cannot handle it.
What’s Up Yukon: Do your friends and family know you’re Anonymous or do you keep it a secret?
Anonymous: Oh yeah, it’s not really that big of a deal to me if people close to me know. It’s really not as amazing or mysterious as you’d think, and I don’t have some sort of huge insider knowledge on stuff.
What’s Up Yukon: How do you pick the best confessions and how do you filter them?
Anonymous: Well, it’s easy to forget that since this is a Facebook page, we have to operate under Facebook rules. A lot of people get really upset that their confession isn’t posted, and 99.9 per cent of the time it’s because it’s straight-up trash talking, sexually explicit, racist, full of swears, about specific people, etc.
In the past, the page was red-flagged a whole bunch of times over these and had temporary suspensions over specific confessions. I had to crack the whip a bit. I have a very detailed disclaimer and [a detailed list of] what gets accepted under the pinned post on the page. In the past, the page was really famous for trash-talking and overall nasty posts. I’ve tried cleaning it up a bit, and slowly the bad confessions stopped coming in. As a result, there seems to be several new likes per day. I basically post everything that doesn’t violate the Facebook rules!
What’s Up Yukon: How has the page changed and grown?
Anonymous: Adding onto my last answer; back when there was a few hundred likes, the page was way different. Quite frankly, it was pretty trashy and got a really bad reputation. Now we just passed 6,000 likes and we reach thousands of people per post. You have to be careful what you allow to be posted, and always need to remember the growing audience. I’d like to think the constant growth is due to the fact it isn’t just a convenient place for people to bitch each other out anymore.
What’s Up Yukon: Are you a front for the CIA or the KGB? (we have to ask)
Anonymous: You’ve probably seen me in the grocery store…
What’s Up Yukon: Have you ever been contacted by law enforcement asking for information about any of the confessions? If so how did you react?
Anonymous: I don’t want people to get the idea that I have a bunch of secret information about crimes. I actually rarely get confessions of this nature. Anything related to murders or crime or gangs I do not post to the page.
What’s Up Yukon: What’s your message to the world?
Anonymous: Be good to each other!
We all need a place to unload from time to time. In a place where everyone knows everyone safe spaces to vent or tell a funny tale without fear of prying ears can be hard to come by.
Churchgoers might prefer the comfort of a priest or pastor, pious Jews might talk to their rabbi or Muslims to an imam. However, thanks to sites like Whitehorse Confessions there’s an option for the rest of us – and it’s so much more juicy!
