Comments on: The Anti-Social Network

The Anti-Social Network

the man of twists and turns — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:11:33 -0800

Whisper is an app that allows users to "anonymously share your thoughts and emotions with the world, and form lasting and meaningful relationships in a community built around trust and honesty." Secret is an app " to openly share what you're thinking and feeling with your friends. Speak freely, share anything." The Genius of Whisper, the Massively Popular App You Haven't Heard Of. With New Anonymous Social App Secret, the Merit Is in the Message. Two Apps, One Hot Trend

Whistleblowers Beware: Apps Like Whisper and Secret Will Rat You Out

Legal and security experts who reviewed those terms of service for WIRED say that broad exceptions in their anonymity protections make the companies' services legal scandals waiting to happen at best. And at worst, they're a trap for anyone who uses them to spill secrets that violate an NDA or a security clearance. "They say you can use this app to tell the world whatever you want to anonymously, but when you start reading the privacy policy, you realize it's not all that anonymous," says Runa Sandvik, staff technologist at the Center for Democracy and Technology and a former developer for the anonymity software Tor. "As soon as law enforcements asks, they'll turn over information about who said what and when."

Why should we care about this? The new, anonymous apps are healthy and rotten. And neither new nor truly anonymous. We should be wary of claims of anonymity, scared of the anonymous apps, whose allure has helped them find a niche in Silicon Valley Or is it just that the age of the social network is ending, as it is the end of the Facebook era and even weird Twitter experiences corporate takeover, and these apps are "reaction[s] to the over-embellished existences we find on social networks, making it often moody and melancholy -- and real in the most unsettling of ways." Secret is rolling out "Dens," which will limit your stream to your workplace. And Whisper now allows you to search for your city. If you're really into antisocial networking, try cloak (iPhone only), which will help you avoid people.

By: the man of twists and turns

the man of twists and turns — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:13:22 -0800

#NotAllPublic, Heartburn, Twitter

To say "twitter is public" is to beg the question that "public" means something. It's not even wrong to say this sort of thing: the fact that it's true, that tweets are public, is so obviously true that you can forget to notice that it's irrelevant, which is the point. Legally, tweets are public. And if "the legal" is what describes and circumscribes your sense of the ethical, you can stop there. ... Maybe legality, then, is of limited usefulness in figuring out how to be a person.

By: bigendian

bigendian — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:18:38 -0800

"If I maintain my silence about my secret it is my prisoner, if I let it slip from my tongue, I am its prisoner." - Schopenhauer (And Cloak sounds like a total Fakeblock ripoff.)

By: hippybear

hippybear — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:21:55 -0800

I've had a couple of instances where people who are my mutual followers on twitter are having a public conversation which I made a comment in, and then got berated for being "immature" and "butting in on something private". I still am unable to discern whether this is something specific to this small group of people or whether it's some new movement in social media where things that are entirely public are somehow to be ignored because one is not "directly involved", despite the mutual follower status and it appearing in one's timeline.

By: infinitewindow

infinitewindow — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:25:54 -0800

MetaFilter's Own Whisper.

By: codacorolla

codacorolla — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:36:04 -0800

I was curious, and decided to install Whisper to check it out. Here's the notification from the Play store: Whisper needs access to: Device and app history, Identity, Location, ... Device ID & Call Information

By: Alexandra Kitty

Alexandra Kitty — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:40:20 -0800

Whisper needs access to I like how it needs access to all of my identifying information. I am surprised it does not require my DNA and SIN to run as well...

By: hobo gitano de queretaro

hobo gitano de queretaro — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:41:18 -0800

By: duffell

duffell — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:44:23 -0800

Secret is rolling out "Dens," which will limit your stream to your workplace. Trying to think of literally any scenario for the development of Dens that is more plausible than Whisper developers gleefully crying, "Let's destroy corporate America from the inside out!"

By: fairmettle

fairmettle — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:45:20 -0800

I am surprised it does not require my DNA and SIN to run as well... It's primary fuel is sin.

By: fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit

fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:48:55 -0800

Didn't PostSecret have an app, once upon a time? I seem to recall they had to shut it down since it had a massive amount of trolling going on.

By: codacorolla

codacorolla — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:49:06 -0800

Me flipping through the most recent posts on Whisper: Provocation for anonymous cybersex, provocation for anonymous cybersex, provocation for anonymous cybersex, complaining about work, complaining about parents, image macro text about relationship problems over top of an image that's already an image macro. The more the Internet changes, the more it stays the same.

By: GenjiandProust

GenjiandProust — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:51:25 -0800

Well, you can't expect a company to turn over your private identifying information without even a warrant if you won't give it to them, can you? Whisper needs that information! Don't be mean!

By: mccarty.tim

mccarty.tim — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:56:54 -0800

I feel like we're in a weird stage where after we've all been coaxed into using our real names online by the likes of Facebook and Google, we're now thinking about putting that genie back in the bottle, but this time it's scarier somehow to deal with pseudo-anonymous people online.

By: localroger

localroger — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:58:54 -0800

I am surprised it does not require my DNA and SIN to run as well... Actually I'm pretty sure its whole purpose is to collect your sin.

By: localroger

localroger — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:59:56 -0800

Also, this is different from and better than, for example, the rotting husk of kuro5hin just exactly how?

By: codacorolla

codacorolla — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:00:01 -0800

This has borne forth from the dark abyss repressed memories of a metafilter-type anonymous confessional website that I was horrified by, and yet couldn't escape from; reloading the page over and over again until late in the night. It had some really high quality writing on it from time to time. It disappeared though, sometime around 2005? I really can't remember the name of it, and google has failed me. There were a few, I think. I remember one which used the metaphor of messages in bottles in the ocean, and you could pull them out and then write a reply. Does that sound familiar? Can't remember the name.

By: mccarty.tim

mccarty.tim — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:04:14 -0800

Also, if you don't pay attention to smartphone permissions for what an app can collect/control, prepare to be amazed as you look over the list. Everything wants a ton of personal information, and every app seems to ask for a new one every month or two. Check out this Google Nearby permission screen:

Nearby lets you connect, share, and do more with people, places, and things near you. When Nearby is turned on for your account, Google can periodically turn on the mic, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and similar features on all your current and future devices. Google+ and other Google services need this access to help you connect, share, and more. When you turn on Nearby, you're also turning on Location History for your account and Location Reporting for this device. Google needs these services to periodically store your location data for use by Nearby, other Google services, and more.

By: Brainy

Brainy — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:05:05 -0800

I love Secret so much. It's so much fun. It's also gotten me a job.

By: Mrs. Pterodactyl

Mrs. Pterodactyl — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:07:22 -0800

This seems like it has the potential to be an awe-inspiringly awful bullying tool; it could be like that part in Mean Girls writ large with real-time updating.

By: jess

jess — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:19:17 -0800

I joined Secret and was totally underwhelmed. Maybe it's just that my friends are boring, but all I see are fairly general platitudes that wouldn't be out of place on Twitter ("Sometimes I wish people would go away for a while") and that one friend I could spot immediately because he makes the same complaints about his lack of a girlfriend on Secret as he does IRL. Much like Snapchat, I think I might be too old to get this stuff.

By: pwally

pwally — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:22:30 -0800

It's also gotten me a job. ...I gotta know

By: feloniousmonk

feloniousmonk — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:22:31 -0800

Not only is your identity a secret, so is their business model. This bodes well for the consumer, as always!

By: TheWhiteSkull

TheWhiteSkull — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:28:13 -0800

The only way to destroy something like this is to flood it with secrets so trivial and banal that it loses any element of prurience or salaciousness. I'll start: My favorite Gilbert & Sullivan operetta is The Mikado, but I tell Japanese people it's H.M.S. Pinafore.

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:31:03 -0800

This is the perfect example of something that VCs find useful in Silicon Valley, and then invest in as if it's scaleable. Glad someone from metafilter will make a mint selling this silly thing off before it gets riddled with ads and disappears.

By: COD

COD — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:33:02 -0800

If your data is going across the Internet, or really any network, you are not anonymous, and your data is not private. Even a PGP encrypted email is vulnerable to the recipient knowing how to use copy and paste.

By: infinitewindow

infinitewindow — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:38:36 -0800

According to family, it's a great app to hook up with sketchy people with psychological problems. Apparently to chat with someone in realtime you have to pay. Has anyone NOT made money over charging horny teens for the chance to hook up?

By: threeants

threeants — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:54:20 -0800

is it bad that the app to help avoid people in real life is the first thing that's ever given me genuine thoughts about getting a smartphone

By: annathea

annathea — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:56:46 -0800

Codacorolla I think you're rembering BottleMail, which has some kind of app existence on Android now (I just searched for it a couple weeks ago when I first heard of Secret). And I think Metababy might be the other site folks were thinking of - where anyone could post anything and it would be erased by the next post. I might be misremembering the name tho, but I think it was a Greg Knauss project (I would properly cite Mefi's own but I'm on my phone).

By: clockzero

clockzero — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:57:17 -0800

Businesses which serve to get people to buy things are so odd. On one hand, you could characterize them in economic terms as systems that rationalize or maximize consumer spending, but they also seem viscerally worthless because they appear to detract value from people's lives more than they create or add it. I guess there is a common prejudice which favors industries that "actually make something," too. But it's tragic, to me, that there's so much growth in American businesses that inventively leverage powerful new technologies to wring money from demographics and less growth in businesss which innovate to do more valuable things.

By: ctmf

ctmf — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:58:17 -0800

There were a few, I think. I remember one which used the metaphor of messages in bottles in the ocean, and you could pull them out and then write a reply. Does that sound familiar? Can't remember the name. Probably not what you're thinking of, but Tencent QQ has had exactly that for a long time. You can write anonymous (or not, if you choose) messages that get "thrown out into the sea." You can also pick a from a half-dozen or so of these messages from others to read and reply if you like. The reply goes back to the sender without telling you who it was, but then it opens a channel where you can continue responding back and forth anonymously. I've played with it, and usually I get between 1 and 3 responses, so it's not strictly that once someone reads your message, it's taken out of the queue.

By: sendai sleep master

sendai sleep master — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:58:58 -0800

Does anyone else find it absolutely hysterical (like uncontrollable giggling funny) that this linked post ends with the following lines? "There will always be room for new and exciting ways to share and connect with the people that matter in your life. Keep building. Follow me on Twitter."

By: zardoz

zardoz — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:59:04 -0800

Or, you could do it like me, and write down all your secret thoughts on a dollar store notebook and then throw it in a live volcano.

By: lesbiassparrow

lesbiassparrow — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 18:59:07 -0800

When Nearby is turned on for your account, Google can periodically turn on the mic, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and similar features on all your current and future devices. Google+ and other Google services need this access to help you connect, share, and more. There is nothing about this that sounds like a good idea, especially the horrific thought an app might suddenly start recording/broadcast whenever just so I can know when people are near me. Also: fuck off Google+; if you need something, it will be my great pleasure to deny it as I can't get rid of your sticky and one-sided clingyness.

By: codacorolla

codacorolla — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:00:46 -0800

Oh shit... there was also something like misery.us (that's probably not the name, it had a light blue color scheme, and was mostly people posting truly fucked up things which were likely fabrications). It had a nearly identical model to Whisper, but it was very Web 1.5.

By: lesbiassparrow

lesbiassparrow — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:01:27 -0800

Also, I want to know why there aren't business to whom you can post (yes, post!) your anonymous secrets (with cash taped to it to pay for the service) and have them throw them in volcanoes, wells, the ocean, etc. if you can't.

By: flippant

flippant — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:02:40 -0800

I think the website you're referring to is/was Grouphug.

By: gryftir

gryftir — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:11:48 -0800

"I still am unable to discern whether this is something specific to this small group of people or whether it's some new movement in social media where things that are entirely public are somehow to be ignored because one is not "directly involved", despite the mutual follower status and it appearing in one's timeline." Shades of The City and the City

By: item

item — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:12:12 -0800

So it's like tinder without the possibility of hooking up with a stranger? The older I get the more the internet confuses me, and I'm only the semi-ripe age of 37.

By: psoas

psoas — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:36:40 -0800

I joined Secret and was totally underwhelmed. Maybe it's just that my friends are boring, but all I see are fairly general platitudes that wouldn't be out of place on Twitter Count your blessings, I guess? It's apparently taken over Gay DC's id and I've started to see tangential friends on Facebook complaining that they've been the subjects of a few invasive Secret conversations. The whole thing grosses me out to such a degree that I'm reeeeeally glad this is not my permanent home.

By: drjimmy11

drjimmy11 — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:38:46 -0800

I've had a couple of instances where people who are my mutual followers on twitter are having a public conversation which I made a comment in, and then got berated for being "immature" and "butting in on something private". People who are competent at twitter understand that "@" conversations are visible to anyone who makes a slight effort, and visible right on the timeline to people who follow both of you. The fact that mutual friends can easily "butt in" is kind of the point. Direct messages are private messages. It's kind of funny sometimes how Twitter can be so baffling to an older internet generation. From "Omg cool new tech I'm a cybersurfer!" to "Off my lawn with your twitters" in under ten years.

By: drjimmy11

drjimmy11 — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:39:16 -0800

(I'm not saying you are incompetent at twitter, hippybear. They are the ones doing it wrong.)

By: hippybear

hippybear — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:41:23 -0800

It's kind of funny sometimes how Twitter is often so baffling to an older internet generation. I'm part of that older generation (I'm 46), and I don't find it baffling. What I find baffling is that these 20-somethings got so upset when I said something in response to their conversation on public twitter. It made me unfollow them, because why bother having someone on my timeline that I can't interact with?

By: Ironmouth

Ironmouth — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:46:00 -0800

Or is it just that the age of the social network is ending, as it is the end of the Facebook era and even weird Twitter experiences corporate takeover These have always been corporations, from day 1. Don't know why people thought otherwise.

By: emjaybee

emjaybee — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:56:45 -0800

Or, you could do it like me, and write down all your secret thoughts on a dollar store notebook and then throw it in a live volcano. I hear the next Snowden leak is about NSA catch-nets installed inside volcanoes.

By: emjaybee

emjaybee — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 20:00:17 -0800

I have definitely had the experience of people I follow them getting mad if I chime in to a Twitter conversation. But private convos are what DM is for, so really those who gripe me out are just helping me trim down my Twitter follows.

By: anthill

anthill — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 20:32:51 -0800

The real privacy comes from having control over your phone. If your Android device is rooted, you can install XPrivacy, and deny (or spoof) the personal information that apps "need" to run. Fake locations, fake identities, you name it. Also interesting to see how apps are trying to spy on you - setting up "geofences" to tell the developer when you travel to an area (say, near one of their retail outlets). If you pay up a few bucks for the Pro version, you can apply the community's suggested privacy settings automatically. Great project, and a great workaround to get a little less bullshit anonymity.

By: muddgirl

muddgirl — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 20:33:34 -0800

My understanding is that many people consider twitter convos to be like semiprivate conversations in a public location, which have sort of a complex set of rules that we are all still figuring out. I mean, if they @ or # your handle then you're in the right to respond and they are clear assholes for objecting, but if they're doing that thing where they talk about you without actually alerring you, then its a different thing I guess. DM doesnt really work if there are multiple people in the conversation, which is likely why this sort of semiprivate distinction has developed.

By: hippybear

hippybear — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 20:40:47 -0800

but if they're doing that thing where they talk about you without actually alerring you, then its a different thing I guess. In my public timeline, I'm pretty much being alerted. *shrug* I don't follow them anymore. They get to keep their complex rules of engagement, I get to keep people who actually don't mind with me interacting with them when they talk online in public.

By: pmv

pmv — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 20:42:25 -0800

>which I made a comment in, and then got berated for being "immature" and "butting in on something private". >What I find baffling is that these 20-somethings got so upset when I said something in response to their conversation on public twitter. If you saw two friends having a personal conversation at the corner of a party, it would still be considered rude to butt in with a comment. Similarly, the context of the conversation is important. It sounds like they were having a public conversation that didn't involve you. It's not appropriate to interact with *everything* that comes up on your newsfeed or timeline.

By: hippybear

hippybear — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 20:45:13 -0800

Well, having a personal conversation in the corner of a party is the online equivalent of taking things to DM. They were doing the equivalent of sitting in the middle of the living room, one on the couch, one on a chair not right next to them, and talking in a normal tone. Also, I don't interact with *everything*. That would be exhausting.

By: hippybear

hippybear — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 20:46:58 -0800

Anyway, this is a derail. I'll be happy to continue this conversation via MeMail with anyone who chooses. This isn't my party, and I don't want to make it all about me. Talk about the FPP.

By: Dip Flash

Dip Flash — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 20:53:28 -0800

Has anyone NOT made money over charging horny teens for the chance to hook up? Have teens ever needed to pay to hook up? I've had a couple of instances where people who are my mutual followers on twitter are having a public conversation which I made a comment in, and then got berated for being "immature" and "butting in on something private". I have never used twitter, but I see people do this on Facebook all the time, posting things to each other that seem private but that are visible to all. I don't know if they think it's a private message or if they don't care, but either way it's no skin off of my nose.

By: daninnj

daninnj — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 21:12:04 -0800

codacorolla, it could have been Oceangram, which seems to be defunct and is some kind of actual bottle-giving-gift service now

By: muddgirl

muddgirl — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 21:19:13 -0800

*shrug* Internet community conceptions of public/private space seems on-topic to me.

By: immlass

immlass — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 21:21:30 -0800

In fact, I hate it. It's like being granted telepathy, but there's a catch: your superpower only works in middle school bathrooms. I snickered out loud when I read this (from the Atlantic article).

By: w0mbat

w0mbat — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 21:23:09 -0800

There's another one of those apps called "Rumr".

By: threeants

threeants — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 21:32:10 -0800

I'm developing an app like this called Telepathio, except the only anonymous comments you can receive are from me you just sign up for my listserv basically

By: Steely-eyed Missile Man

Steely-eyed Missile Man — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 21:47:47 -0800

My understanding is that many people consider twitter convos to be like semiprivate conversations in a public location People "consider" all sorts of bullshit.

By: Phire

Phire — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 01:48:38 -0800

I read that "weird Twitter" article a few days ago and it was really great - highly recommended. I briefly installed Secret a few weeks ago and found it basically like Postsecret redux / LJSecret 2.0 but with blander graphics - interesting while it's novel but ultimately repetitive and tedious. (Like all human interaction, I guess?) I work from home, so Secret Den holds no additional appeal for me, but if there were a way for me to go to other people's offices and "listen" in on the dynamics that play out there that would be kind of fascinating. Especially if you work in a coworking space or something.

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 03:59:28 -0800

(Like most inane things on the internet) Buzzfeed loves whisper. Every other week they have "19 Most Devastating Whisper Confessions from [Demographic]." They even had one from Starbucks baristas.

By: charred husk

charred husk — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 06:40:54 -0800

So a friend of mine was using that Secret app. Apparently you can scale down the range so that it only posts secrets of people within several hundred yards of you. He was using this function at work and got, "I wear my wife's dresses and make her spank me." He realized that according to the range it was from someone in their building and they were currently in a department meeting... He deleted the app after that. It made him feel too much like a voyeur.

By: rebent

rebent — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 07:22:47 -0800

thanks for that story Charred, I was just thinking about installing this app. Never mind then!

By: emjaybee

emjaybee — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 08:35:20 -0800

It's not appropriate to interact with *everything* that comes up on your newsfeed or timeline. This is an interesting stance, and I'm even willing to consider that it might be true, but I think it needs some justification. The whole point of Twitter seems to be "conversation with strangers" (who are not obligated to respond, and can block you if they don't like you). Mostly, I listen more than I converse, but conversing is definitely a possibility and I don't get why someone would expect me to know that THIS conversation is private, but THAT one is not. Again: DM is for that, specifically. And yes, you can't easily DM lots of folks, but then maybe Twitter is not the best place for your conversation, or you should petition them to make group DMs a thing you can use. At any rate, if you're going to make a rule that some conversations are not ok to join on Twitter, then you need to tell me how I can tell which ones they are. I don't have the benefit of visual cues, lowered voices, etc. that I would have at a party.

By: muddgirl

muddgirl — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 08:43:06 -0800

It's an evolving medium. I don't think there are cut-and-dried rules (or really, there are never cut-and-dried rules in human etiquette). Neither side is right and neither side is wrong. One evolving cue seems to be the use of @s and #tags, which could be considered the equivalent of raised voices and inviting looks.

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 09:21:35 -0800

Some of my younger relatives introduced me to "Yik Yak", which is a sort of location-aware 4chan or hyper-local Craigslist /open forum. It seems more about lulz and blue humor than sharing secrets, and looks like it was cooked up as a term project by a couple of CS students (perhaps it was). It's interesting, though, particularly because it lacks any sort of global feed or ability to browse locations. I guess you could spoof your phone's location to get access to posts from outside your area, but it's not trivial. They allow two posting options: one that shows only your approximate location, at about the neighborhood level, and another that adds your precise GPS location to the post. It's interesting to see what posts get the precise location attached and which are left approximate. From what I can tell there's no ability to 'zoom' in or out on a particular area. It just gives you a certain number of posts that are close to you, with the size of the area determined by the density of users. In a very high-density area, you get a very small area; in a rural area you get a much wider net. Apparently if you are at a college or school where it's heavily used, you can get almost down to building or campus level. This seems like it has the potential to be an awe-inspiringly awful bullying tool; it could be like that part in Mean Girls writ large with real-time updating. I don't know about Secret, but Yik Yak has already been implicated in a bunch of bullying incidents, mostly in middle and highschools. I gather as a result of complaints they now have the ability to selectively disable the app in certain locations, e.g. within a certain radius of a school. That's probably good of them but since there are a plethora of similar apps and not really much in the way of a barrier to just creating a new one, I don't think it really solves anything. But [some guy on] Fox News hates it, so it can't be all bad.

By: happyroach

happyroach — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 10:47:37 -0800

If you saw two friends having a personal conversation at the corner of a party USING LOUDSPEAKERS, it would still be considered rude to butt in with a comment. FTFY. *BWEEEP!*"SO ANYWAY, DATING A CO-WORKER ISJUST A BAD IDEA." *BWOOOP* "I KNOW BUT IT'S NOT AS THOUGH I CAN AVOID HIM- EXCUSE ME, THIS IS A PRIVATE CONVERSATION. CAN WE HAVE SOME PRIVACY PLEASE?"

By: Michele in California

Michele in California — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 11:33:58 -0800

By: schmod

schmod — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 12:32:10 -0800

psoas: "The whole thing grosses me out to such a degree that I'm reeeeeally glad this is not my permanent home." *Shrugs* Just about everyone in my social circle is pretty appalled by Secret (or doesn't know what it is). As far as I can tell, the press leaped on the "Gay DC" aspect, because the author of the original piece happened to be friends with some pretty ghastly gay dudes in DC. These qualities doesn't appear to be even remotely unique or remarkable among the social circles where the app is used. Also, I'm %$*&ing tired of people ragging on my city and my social circle. I guess you'd get a bad impression if you judged "Gay DC" by the people who play kickball on Sundays, get obnoxiously drunk, and say mean things about each other in public... but that's a pretty small and specific sample. If you judge any group by its loudest and most obnoxious members, you're almost guaranteed to walk away with a bad impression.

By: Kabanos

Kabanos — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 20:13:37 -0800

I prefer to use SockPuppet.

By: knownassociate

knownassociate — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 10:17:43 -0800

@hobo gitano de queretar, the website you're thinking was lowbrow.com. And I, too, miss it so.

By: Michele in California

Michele in California — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 10:26:15 -0800

Re my remark about twitter (in response to hippybear's remark about it): It occurs to me that when I was working in a cubicle farm, people there also had weird ideas about what constituted a private conversation. There seemed to be some mystical set of rules about who could join the conversation or some weird idea that I supposedly could not hear them loudly talking across the cubicle walls or something. This also got me in social hot water for joining in the conversation at times. And when someone was promoted and was supposed to be all hush hush and not tell anyone, we all knew anyway because the freakin supervisors would all drop by to loudly say CONGRATULATIONS, like we can't infer what that is about just because they didn't specifically say "Congratulations on your PROMOTION" or some shit like that. So this weird "IT IS TOO A PRIVATE CONVERSATION, NEVER MIND THAT EVERYONE CAN HEAR IT" seems to not be limited to twitter/internet stuff. I have seen this in meatspace as well. And I have no clue what that's about.

By: codacorolla

codacorolla — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 20:52:39 -0800

After playing around with Whisper for a bit, it's actually sort of fun. Putting up goofy messages and writing people haikus on demand has been a great time. The app as a whole really is like 90% attempts at cybersex, though.