Confessions, sometimes stylized as #confessions, is an anonymous messaging channel within the Hack Club Slack. It uses an open-source bot named Prox2 to allow community members to submit messages for review and subsequent anonymous posting by the bot. The channel is governed by an informal moderation policy enforced by a volunteer Confessions Review Team (CRT).
The primary function of Confessions is to provide a platform to discuss sensitive topics, share personal struggles, offer feedback about operations in, and engage in serious discussions while maintaining pseudo-anonymity.
All submissions to Confessions are reviewed by the Confessions Review Team (CRT).
The Confessions Review Team (CRT) is a group of community members responsible for enforcing the moderation policy. CRT members are via an application and round system. The team is independent of the Hack Club staff, though it is acknowledged that Hack Club Staff retains the ultimate authority to discontinue the Confessions.
The CRT reviews submissions in a private channel. The bot Prox2 hashes the submitter's Slack ID to verify the submitter without revealing their identity, and the CRT does not have access to the original, unhashed identifiers.
Confessions channel has been a significant part of the Hack Club community culture. It has been credited with providing mental health support and a channel for community feedback without fear of retribution. However, it has also been a source of community conflict, with instances of racist messages, verbal abuse, and targeted attacks being posted through Confessions, although they were stopped before they were made public by CRT.