The Charlatan (TC): Why did you create Carleton U Compliments?
CU Compliments (CUC): A friend of mine goes to Queen’s University and told me about her school’s compliments page. I spent over an hour one night going through the page and reading all the compliments!
I thought it was an amazing initiative and something that needed to be at Carleton. After messaging the Queen’s account to make sure it was okay to use their idea, I got started. I never would have thought this could work if I hadn’t seen the Queen’s Compliments account. Ours was one of the first to get off the ground and now there are over 100 of us.
We actually have a Facebook group where we can share ideas and give each other support, as most of us are doing this completely alone.
TC: Has the experience of running Carleton U Compliments surprised you in any way?
CUC: It continues to surprise me! I really didn’t think I was going to see it grow so big so fast, nor did I think it was going to keep growing. Initially, I was nervous that it would become a fad; here one day, gone the next, but the fact that it’s still growing goes to show how much people do love and care for one another! In a world where cyberbullying is such an issue, this page is a great reminder that the Internet can be used for good.
TC: What is your personal favourite message you ever received?
CUC: I get amazing messages every single day. I love seeing how much thought and effort get put into the messages that the complimenters send. I got one once from a girl who was complimenting someone she had never met. She just said she had heard so many nice things about this girl that she wanted to send a compliment to her, which I thought was so lovely.
TC: Do you ever receive messages you don’t post?
CUC: Very rarely. The great thing about running this through Facebook is that there can be dialogue between the complimenter and I [sic]. If something is inappropriate, or needs a little tweaking, I let them know and we work through it together.
TC: Can you describe your experiences since starting the page?
CUC: When I started this page, I really did not know what to expect. I didn’t tell my friends, so I was basing the creation of this page off of what I thought was a good idea. After only two weeks we had already hit the 1,000 friends mark and I was overwhelmed! It was amazing to see how the Carleton community welcomed the idea with open arms.
Every day is a new experience with the page, but it continues to be an amazing one for me. I absolutely adore seeing a bunch of messages in my inbox because it means more people’s days are about to be made.
TC: Do you think pages like yours improve mental health on campus?
CUC: I one thousand per cent believe that a page like this helps. I have dealt with depression during my years at university and whenever I am working on this page it really does make me happier and I really hope that it does that for others as well.
In a world that is filled with pages that focus on problems and gossip, a page like this helps people remember that life really can be a wonderful place.
TC: Will you ever reveal your identity?
CUC: I do not plan on revealing my identity. This isn’t about me; it’s about the compliments, and about making people happy; I am just the middle person. I also feel like a super sneaky spy sometimes, which is not an opportunity I’m going to pass up.
TC: Can we at least get a hint?
CUC: I like pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
