Oberlin Confessional

The Oberlin Confessional was started by Harris Lapiroff in response to complaints about how LiveJournal wasn't exactly the best tool for anonymous confessions.

As the creators will tell you, it was believed that OCon could be a tool for mass student catharsis. The rather Freudian purpose of OCon, initially at least, was to serve as the collective "id" of the Oberlin College community, kind of like a large, coed, very public, electronic bathroom stall wall. As an anthropological study this has been revealing to say the least--apparently penises and vaginae are on our minds quite frequently--though OCon has also found use as a craigslistish hookup, discussion and trade forum.

Like any anonymous online forum [1], OCon suffers from the same sorts of hijinks such as trolls, racism and sexism. As a general rule, nothing on the site should ever be taken seriously, and in general one is very likely to get a very bad, even toxic impression of Oberlin from browsing the forum. In fact, to those unacquainted, OCon can be so vile that it is not recommend it any pre-freshmen or non-students browse the site, ever.

It is common knowledge that Safety & Security checks Oberlin Confessional, and some professors have been known to stumble upon it and become very upset. Word to the wise: Be careful what you confess.

Around reading period fall 2006, the site was taken down "for the holidays and winter season." It was reborn as of April 2007, now under the control of Shibo Xu and Akshat Singhal.[2] Many other schools have their own confessionals, started by the duo, including Amherst, Kalamazoo College, Connecticut College and Mount Holyoke. The existence of the confessional at Bard College at Simon's Rock resulted in a row after someone was threatened, and the site was ultimately shut down.

In August 2007, an as-yet-unidentified Oberlin student created an Oberlin Confessional imageboard at anonib.com/obieconfessional/

[edit] Mythology

The site has already created a certain number of ever-shifting celebrities and trends, as well as a few axioms, most notably Nagamatsu's Law.

The latest round of celebrities includes Kevin Carr, Jack Ryerson, Cate Minall, and your mom.

Some recent trends include numerous confessions concerning a Poopship Destroyer, as well as a Furby and Furry craze. Fernando is popular and generally well-liked, as is George Zimmer, Founder and CEO of Men's Wearhouse.

Even more recently, there have existed trends based on Admiral Ackbar and Joe Zummo. Some of the most popular threads include the "post your genitals" thread and the various "Random Compliments" threads.

[edit] Opinions

After it was taken down during the 2006-2007 winter, Harris encouraged a dialogue about the OC: "It has existed for nearly a semester now and it's no secret that reactions are mixed. Extremely mixed. What is your opinion on Oberlin Confessional? What do you use it for? Is it mostly good, or mostly evil? What do you think should be changed in the future?"

(Even though it's back up, you can still weigh it. Click "Edit" at the right, add something intelligent below, and finish it off with four tildes (~~~~) to sign it with your username or IP address.)

I'm of the opinion that it was best when it was just on LiveJournal. —alxndr (talk) 02:21, 24 December 2006 (EST)

It's an outlet for Obies to release all the political incorrectness that we all have inside but are afraid to voice. --70.19.25.59, 4 January 2006

It was an incredibly useful tool in terms of information- and opinion-gathering and debate. It was definitely misused but I wish there was still a site which fulfilled some of its purposes -- like an Oberlin message board, or something similar. Adcjordan 15:27, 20 February 2007 (EST)

I found it funny at times, but also somewhat trite. It basically became a private 4chan /b/ board [3] for Oberlin students--humorous, insulting, with zero function as an artistic outlet. I wonder sometimes if my life would have been better without it, but then I remember all the nights spent laughing my ass off and think otherwise. 69.9.28.26 16:13, 7 July 2007 (EDT)

See also: OP