When Dodger Compliments first logged onto Facebook a year ago, the student body reaction was not strong. Compliments pages had popped up everywhere, for colleges and summer camps alike. The concept was nothing new yet MHS students did not take to the idea. Compliments trickled in slowly. Spurts of kindness popped up occasionally but for the most part, the page never took off.
Over the last few months, however, the page has been eerily void of new compliments. Only recently, a few new posts have been displayed on Newsfeeds. The affinity to Facebook has certainly died out over the years. What was once intended for college students is now overrun with middle school students and middle-aged parents. Instead, high school students have turned to Twitter for their daily social media interactions and humor indulgence. Dodger Compliments does own a Twitter account but it is even less active than the Facebook account. For the most part, anonymous kindness has lost its charm.
Dodger Compliments (DC) partly attributes the lack of traffic to the increased school spirit. The prior lack thereof actually inspired DC to create the page in hopes of raising school morale and kindness. Worried that this newfound spirit will fade with the graduation of the Class of 2014, Dodger Compliments hopes to rally users to sustain school pride. This scenario is not unlikely: DC notes that submissions dwindled severely after the Class of 2013 left and wonders if its main audience was that senior class.
In efforts to attract more users and complimenters, Dodger Compliments granted MDO an interview and shared its ideas to bring the page back to life. The page has contacted various students, asking that they promote the page casually. In following with the student body’s increased Twitter use, DC has decided to flood Twitter with the Random Acts of Kindness it sees around school.
MHS’s Twitter users have faced their fair share of negativity on the site this year. Two anonymous Twitter accounts, Dodger Anonymous and Dodger Don’t Care, slammed the student body with negativity first semester, giving a bad name to anonymous twitter accounts. Dodger Compliments kept quiet about its thoughts during both mini-scandals but shared with MDO how “sickening” the words on the account were. DC prides itself on “keeping the posts anonymous…then Dodger Anonymous has to go and spread personal information using names.” The whole ordeal “felt like a slap in the face.”
DC hopes to prevent scenarios like these in the future by spreading kindness through both the Twitter and Facebook accounts. Though the moderator will eventually graduate, he is looking for someone to replace him so the kindness can continue. In the meantime, DC aims to make “those around me happy” and will “do anything I can to achieve that goal.” His message to MHS: Help bring DC back! I believe in all of you!
The original article on Dodger Compliments:
https://www.mhsdodgermedia.com/student-life/2013/01/03/what-is-dodger-compliments/
Dodger Anonymous Editorial:
https://www.mhsdodgermedia.com/opinion/2013/12/14/we-wont-support-mean-kids-staff-editorial/