POSTING on social media sites usually involves sharing only the best highlights of daily life.
But users of Pencourage are encouraged to blog about "every aspect of their life, as it really is".
The site allows subscribers to post 200-word diary entries about any aspect of their lives, along with pictures, songs or videos that are relevant to their story. They can invite others to give advice on what to do or how to cope with their situation.
The crucial aspect of the site is that it promises never to reveal the personal details of the user to anyone else on the site, allowing them to confess all anonymously and share stories ranging from battles with addiction and marital strife without anyone discovering their true identity.
In contrast to the happy, uplifting messages often shared on sites like Facebook, Pencourage users share wisdom such as "I'm 40 now and do you know what the best thing about being 40 is? There is nothing good about it".
A recent poll carried out by Pencourage found that two-thirds of social media users distort the truth when posting online - ranging from small lies about what they have been doing to making up relationships and holidays. One-fifth of people aged between 18 and 24 admitted their profiles bore no resemblance to the reality of their lives.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
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