Dipping into the Blogpond

Many of you would be familiar with a popular website called PostSecret, whereby people (make and) send a postcard via snail mail with a confession, or innermost secret thought included. These are then added to the website, which is updated weekly and are subsequently compiled into books which can be purchased.

Via the Blog Herald, I found out about a newly released Australian site called Hidden Lives, which was founded by Justin McMurray (ex Crikey) of ideogeny.

The idea is that users can anonymously register to create a free account, and post short entries beginning with one of 37 random starting lines. Some examples are;

My biggest regret is….
One thing I would change about myself is….
If I wasn’t stuck behind this desk….
The most important thing to me is….
I have this idea….

The site also comes with a voting system (called “appreciations”), but you need to register to do that. You can also sort by starting line, country, age, screen name, number of votes or most recent. The site is in beta, and from what I gather the oldest of the 250 comments were posted just after Christmas, but I’m unsure of when the site officially launched.

 Many bloggers are reluctant to give away too much of themselves, or prefer to stay on topic. However, it can be cathartic to record these comments and here’s a place to do that. It also challenges the reader to think about what their response would be. Probably not for everyone, but an interesting concept.

(p.s. don’t go looking for any entries from me because I have refrained!)

I just found a video about this site, also.