In Defence of Vent Posting

If you've been on the Internet, you've seen someone venting. The act of sharing anger, sadness, grief—usually with vulnerable, personal details. Almost universally, these get a bad rap. People are often drained, or annoyed, or resentful towards those who vent, and communities go out of their way to prohibit it. Not to pick on 32-bit Café, but they have a detailed section on mental health topics and discussions in their community guidelines: The 32-Bit Cafe is not a replacement for support groups, therapy, or mental health organizations. There are excellent arguments against venting that they list, and I'm not trying to change any minds here; however, I do want to write a post in defense of the venters, because I think someone has to. Something I haven't written about on this blog yet is that I've been a Listener on 7cups for over ten years. I've had text conversations with hundreds of strangers, trying to console and comfort them to the best of my abilities as a layperson crisis…