I had coffee with Crushdrews

They ordered a latte. 

It really is all about who you know in St Andrews, and it’s safe to say I was surprised when someone I had been friends with for a few months revealed to me they run the Facebook page “St Crushdrews” while we were in a random bar in St Andrews. This was during the peak era of Crushdrews when I was in second year, before the Instagram page (more on that later). Naturally, I had to interview them and tell you guys all the details!

Let’s begin at the beginning… When I asked Crushdrews what inspired them to make the page, I was shocked to learn that they are not the OG creator. There was another facebook page before them that one day just stopped posting crushes. When asked why they felt the need to carry the torch, they told me that it happened at the pub, where many wonderful stories often begin. Their friends were complaining that the page had stopped posting, and St Crushdrews declared (after only one pint, they swear) that they would continue the tradition. 

“If I didn’t, who else was going to? It’s an essential part of university life.”

I’d have to agree with St Crushdrews, as it seems to be all the rage on St Andrews social media at the minute. However it is not this St Crushdrews page that seems to be taking the university by storm, but rather the new and upcoming one on Instagram, which the facebook Crushdrews might have beef with.  

If you’re unfamiliar, the facebook St Crushdrews has a link to an anonymous form which you can fill in. The admin then filters through them and decides which ones are appropriate to be posted on the page and uploads them. They, just  like all of us readers, have no idea who is behind the confession. When asked why they preferred this method, they told me “I feel like I shouldn’t be able to know who’s submitting because that puts me in a position of power,” going on to explain that that is what makes them so uncomfortable about the Instagram imitator, who receives crushes via direct messages. 

I reminded them that the instagram Crushdrews claims to use direct messages so that they can play matchmaker if people think a submission is about them. St Crushdrews said that that further adds to their discomfort; “If you really wanted to ask someone on a date, you would do it when you saw them.” They explained that the nice thing about the St Crushdrews page is how you could anonymously give someone a compliment or make them smile without needing to take credit for it: “I really appreciate the crushes about the people in the plays, saying how good of a job they did.”

St Crushdrews did give some credit to the Instagram page for racking up thousands of followers, and additionally for censoring full names, like they do, to ensure the safety of people mentioned. They explained that when they are filtering through submissions, if they can find someone on facebook through a crush then it will not be posted and that first and last names together are never allowed.In addition to not allowing first and last names together, St Crushdrews has now also banned anti-crushes:

“It’s an air of negativity that I don’t really like.”

Despite doing this, they told me that they receive submitted crushes that they cannot post every single day. Whether it’s because it’s an anti-crush, something hurtful or rude, something controversial or something wildly inappropriate, the admin sometimes must keep a close eye on what they let through. They acknowledge that sometimes the submissions, especially those with more sexual undertones, are submitted as a joke, however they still must err on the side of caution as these “jokes” could encourage certain behaviours that they wouldn’t like to be held responsible for. 

I used to always think of these various Crushdrews pages as fun, silly gossip pages. I can now say that after talking to the admin, I can see how it is more than that. They run the page in the hope that someone will see something nice written about them and it will brighten up their day. This is why they take such care in monitoring the responses and maintaining anonymity. It’s not about who likes who, or who knows about it. They are not trying to be the Gossip Girl of St Andrews. They just want to facilitate wholesomeness and kindness and hopefully boost somebody’s self-esteem while doing so. 

Honestly for that, crush on St Crushdrews. 

• #coffee
• #crush
• #kindness