User:CLA1401gp7/sandbox

Hong Kong universities’ secret pages are Facebook pages on which students share secrets of the universities publicly online. Everyone who has a Facebook account not only could view these secret pages but also share their own secrets and confessions anonymously. The ‘secrets’ are mostly about views on social issues and heated topics related to their lives, ranging from incidents happening in campus to personal love affairs.

Operation of secrets page
An official email account is provided for the general public to leave messages, share secrets anonymously. The secrets would be selectively chosen according to certain rules and shown on the official facebook page by the administrators of the page.

The administrators
The administrators are anonymous. The administrators are usually current students of the university or alumni.

History
This phenomenon started in Hong Kong in 2013. It works similarly as Confessions Page. The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology was the initial government-funded university who set up a secret page. Then, the other universities followed suit. Later on, the administrators of the secrets pages from eight government-funded universities in Hong Kong recognized the importance of providing a platform for current students and alumni to communicate and share their secrets and news.

Besides, many sharing pages in similar format gradually appear over the internet after the establishment of secrets pages. Over the years, the secrets pages keep developing to different types of sharing pages, like crushes, dry clubs. For example,HKU Dry Club is a kind of secrets page which aims to provide a platform for students to find their lovers and make a love confession.

Rule and regulation of secrets pages
Not all posts will be posted on secrets pages. The administrator followed several rules to filter the posts. All the posts are ambid by Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. So that posts with any unlawful, misleading, malicious or discriminatory and any posts including violence, pornography and personal information are not allowed to be published. Facebook encourages all users to utilize the when they find abusive content.

Process of posting secrets
Every university has its own Google form (Please refer to External Links) which is open to public. Everyone with a Facebook account can access to it through going to the secrets pages and the link is shown under the ‘about page’ button.
 * Sign up an Facebook account
 * Go to the universities’ secrets pages
 * Click the about button
 * Find the link of the google form
 * Fill in the form and submit

Reason for viewing secret page
Viewers can reveal various kinds of secrets and confession in the secrets page from different universities through Facebook. The public and the students love to view the secrets page as it is easy to access through computers and smart phones. Once you have liked the secrets page, the latest secrets will pop up automatically so that you can get updated with the secrets easily. Besides, the viewers are out of curiosity. They are interested in knowing more secrets about others and what is happening around them in the campus.

Influence of secret page
The one who posts the secrets in the secrets page usually wants to arouse the public and the fellow students' attention and sometimes he/she is seeking resonance from others, for instance, the free rider problem which is rampant in every university. Many viewers comment and like their posts, and sometimes give advice and express their empathy. At the same time, the one who shares the secrets is also learning to accept different ideas and advice from others. Moreover, it can also develop the critical thinking of the viewers as some of the posts are exaggerated and untrue, that they need to define whether it is credible or not, ranging from the serious hygienic problem of the canteen in the City University of Hong Kong to the post talking about some students in the Chinese University of Hong Kong

Usefulness of secret page
Through communication on secret page, students may feel a stronger tie with their own university because they feel the resonance of their experience and identity when they read along the posts of their own university secret page, as each secret page has its particular culture. The page, as a channel for students to express their stress and feelings freely, could make their voice being recognized. Without the need of revealing their own identity, students do not have to bear responsibility of what they post. Therefore the messages posted may be more truthful because students no longer feel embarrassed about saying anything. At the same time, readers of the page could not judge the writer of the posts according to their identity, so the problem of stereotype would be less severe. Also, the page has a function of monitoring the campus because students may behave appropriately in order not to become one of the “discussion topic” on the secret page.

Potential problems of secret page
As the popularity of the secret page continued to grow, every university student is able to reach and post messages on the page without revealing their real identity. Because of this anonymous function, people take a bolder steps on posting stuffs about complaint or gossips that they do not dare to tell when they are speaking in respect of themselves which may possibly give harm to the others. The complaints maybe about others students’ attitude and behavior in school, about gossips that are yet to be proven, or even about their misery of not being able to find another half. During most of the time, the message is being conveyed in a negative way, where conflict is easily triggered off. The administrator is just responsible for filtering posts which involve personal attack, but not responsible for verifying the truthfulness of each post. There may be inevitable misunderstandings and prejudices by the writers, that may lead to arguments and create an inharmonious relationship among university students.

External Link

 * Secret pages Admin Interview Part 1
 * Secret pages Admin Interview Part 2
 * Secret pages Admin Interview Part 3
 * SCMP: Confession sites all the rage on Hong Kong university campuses
 * University of Hong Kong Secrets
 * Chinese University of Hong Kong Secrets
 * The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Secrets
 * City University of Hong Kong Secrets
 * Hong Kong Baptist University Secrets
 * The Polytechnic University of Hong Kong Secrets
 * The Hong Kong Institute of Education Secrets
 * Lingnan University of Hong Kong Secrets