"Forgive me David, You didn't want to share the ball with me in 3rd grade, so I bit your elbow."
Remember all those times where you did something to somebody, but you can vaguely remember their name, where they live, or any other useful information about them? Well, let your mind ease, because you can still be helped.
Mooned a teacher in 4th grade? post your apology here. Put dirt in some girl's slurpy in 2nd grade? post your apology here.
On this website is a community devoted to finding those whom you have offended. Broken down geographically, you can post a person's name, how old they are (relative to you, but no need to be too specific), and what happened to them, or what you did to them. It is then separated geographically, and when somebody says that they did something to someone in your area, who is about this age, who has this last name, who looked like this or that, you can search them out. You then get their email address and input it into a field on the website, inviting them to search their name and read the apology that was written to them. They are then invited to look back into their lives and search out those they have done bad stuffs to.
If this goes big, we could establish the WRA, the World Reconcilliation Association. What would their purpose be? who knows, maybe they'll investigate serious posts like "sorry I poisoned your husband", or "sorry I burned your house down".
It's time to get it ALL off your chest!-- twitch, Jun 09 2007 Same Idea at GlobalIdeasBank http://www.globalid...dea.php?ideaId=3550 [jutta, Jun 09 2007] grouphug http://grouphug.us/Anonymous online confessions [jutta, Jun 09 2007] Allan Bridge's apology project http://www.apologyproject.com/On the phone, not the web. [jutta, Jun 09 2007] Joe Apology http://joeapology.blogspot.com/Submitters give up copyright and consent to republication. [jutta, Jun 09 2007] LanguageLog: Three ways of using "sorry" http://itre.cis.upe...rchives/000327.htmlWhat I was reminded of when thinking about people not-apologizing. [jutta, Jun 09 2007] Modernised Karma Modernised KarmaKind of the opposite [zen_tom, Jun 09 2007] PostSecret http://postsecret.blogspot.com/Confessions on the back of a postcard [phoenix, Mar 25 2009] This will make it easier for Earl.-- xaviergisz, Jun 09 2007 Earl "the pearl" Strickland will never do this.-- zeno, Jun 09 2007 I'm imagining this idea being extended into a sort of 'atonement clearing house'.
There are many bad things of which either the perpetrator or the victim has died, moved on or forgotten all about it, making proper closure problematic. Suppose that, in parallel to the apologies, each user of this website kept a list of their festering grievances.
I'm picturing an email from the site which might say 'It looks as though you'll never get an apology from the driver who cut you up at the lights last thursday, but since your account is so far in credit, you might like accept some heartfelt remorse from Eric in Bedford, who was didn't get round to making things right with his mum before she died.'
This arrangement would require nothing more than a solution to the small technical problem of making human relationships fully fungible. I believe the Adam Smith Institute is working on that one.
Oh yes, and bun for the actual idea, which is much better and less warped than my extension of it.[+]-- pertinax, Jun 09 2007 The established leader in the voyeuristic apology market is grouphug, grouphug.us.
None of the sites I link to are concerned with actually finding the people anonymous posters are apologizing to (and many of the apologies really aren't - e.g., "I'm sorry you're still a whore").
The anonymity and lack of follow-through may have good reasons.
If you hurt me, and you happen to remember my name, I'd rather not have you broadcast the details of my long-forgotten humiliation to a bunch of strangers online.-- jutta, Jun 09 2007 I suppose my idea is more about reconnecting than actually apologizing. I'm sure anybody'd be happy to hear from an old friend, or enemy, and look back and see how stupid they acted and stuff. good times you know.-- twitch, Jun 09 2007 I have an apology posted somewhere as an Easter egg. It hasn't been found yet, and i doubt it will be, but it would turn up if the person concerned egosurfs.If something is on a different ideas bank, what does that make it? It's neither previously been posted here nor baked. There should be a word for it. How often does it happen?-- nineteenthly, Mar 24 2009 To me an apology is meaningless unless you make it in person. (-)-- DrBob, Mar 24 2009 There are problems making an apology in person if the thing you need to apologise about has made them shun you completely, or if you've just lost contact.-- nineteenthly, Mar 24 2009 Anyone who mooned a teacher in MY 4th grade class got a three cornered ruler shoved up their butt. People with rulers in their butts don't apologize.
Wow! It sure feels good to get that off my chest. I like this idea!-- colorclocks, Mar 24 2009 [Cloud_nine], an Easter Egg is a hidden feature on something like a DVD, application, game or something similar. For instance, there used to be a flatbed scanner which played "Ode To Joy" if you did something to it, and one version of Excel contains a hidden flight simulator. There's a website i designed with a hidden page consisting of an apology to a bloke whose girlfriend i once had a crush on.-- nineteenthly, Mar 24 2009 random, halfbakery