What are characteristics of a person people tell secrets to?

Sometimes, just being in the right place at the right time is enough.

Someone who’s not telling you other peoples secrets.

Perspective. A secret isn’t a secret when it is shared with anyone. Really what a person who tells secrets is looking for is a different perspective.

I’m such a person.

Why?:
If someone tells me to keep something a secret I always do.

I’m a secret keeper. I don’t even tell my boyfriend who sleeps in the same bed with me. I have strangers tell me some pretty personal stuff as well. I think it is my southern accent.

I think this depends, but I have noticed that people can’t help but tell the quiet people their secrets. It’s almost as if you are just trying to fill in the void by constantly blabbing and before you know it you are telling them things you wouldn’t dream of telling others!

Now, I know what I say now will contradict my aforementioned response, but people entrust me with their problems/secrets quite often. And I am in no manner a quiet person. So that brings us to the second (and perhaps more) important characteristic of a that person. Naturally, people share things more with those they feel they can trust. I have a reputation for listening to people, giving advice, and then shutting up about it. And so people feel they can confide in me. I am big on loyalty in friendships and so people know that they can count on me.

if it’s a secret it should be kept to yourself, but I can keep a secret.

Being non-judgmental helps.

Non-judgmental was what i was thinking as well.
Also insightful, available, trustworthy and kind.

Neutral person..not taking sides.

From experience…if someone says “Oh you can trust me..I won’t tell anyone.” That’s a sign for me NOT to trust that person. You have to be able to trust someone without saying “don’t tell anyone.” With friends..that should be a given.

Being non-judgemental, a good listener, and a bit wise does it for me.

A lot of people tell me their secrets, and bosses have always confided sensitive information to me—about themselves, about their bosses, and about my peers. This was true when I was 20 as much as it is true today.

I listen with genuine interest but without judgment, I reflect in such a way that the other person gains insights, and I never, ever, ever betray a confidence. Nor do I let on that there is any confidence to be known. I never hint at knowing something but instead let it seem as if I were the last to know. Even when other people tell me the same story, I don’t say I already knew. So anybody’s story is safe with me and will not lower my regard for them.

But why do people tell me their stories in the first place? I think that the way I respond to things as they come out gradually and tentatively at first encourages people to tell me more. I never go seeking people’s secrets and never ask probing questions, but I am receptive to whatever they want to say. I am sympathetic, but I am not afraid of other people’s sins or other people’s pain. I can hear anything.

As far as I am concerned, though, a secret is a secret only if you don’t tell anyone. So when it comes to my own, I assume that once it’s told, it is as good as public. I don’t tell something unless I can handle it if it gets out. In other words, I assume that most people are the opposite of me when it comes to keeping quiet. And for the most part this turns out to be true.

I really don’t know what it is about me, but I am one of those people. Maybe empathy?

A combination of empathy, discretion and perceived loyalty. I say perceived, because whether or not you are loyal doesn’t matter. Their opinion on that point is what matters.

Hmmm… I guess understanding and trustworthy. Obviously
I would say I am a person to tell secrets too. I don’t care enough about gossip to go spreading someone else’s business. I am flattered when people trust me with their secrets and I am not about to ruin that for some sick self gratification of being the first to know and tell. I take more pride in my trustworthy reputation. :)

Perhaps also because we don’t charge $175/hour and provide much the same service?

My father, a very conservative and suspicious man, once told me that if you tell one person the secret, it ceases to become a secret.

And yet, people often need to talk about things that they want to keep secret, usually because they are ashamed of them. The fact that people are non-judgemental probably has a lot to do with people trusting them. Most other people are horribly judgemental.

I agree that if you tell one person a secret, it’s no longer a secret. I think it’s wise to be prepared to have anything you tell someone else come out in public. One hopes it doesn’t; that one’s trust is properly placed, but one must be prepared.

I find that telling folks things I’m ashamed of often seems to make them feel they can confide in me. I figure we’re even then. We both know something about each other that we don’t want spread around. Sometimes, when someone has volunteered all kinds of information they shouldn’t have, I will tell them something secret about me, just to make them feel better.

But secrets bother me. Especially online. It seems to me that if you are anonymous, there should be no need for secrets. I talk about everything. I don’t try to make myself look good. I find this is a safe place to talk about the ways I fucked up. Still, I never name names. Someone might know the person I’m talking about. It turns out to be a fairly small world, and any one of you might be my next door neighbor, or be working in the office next to mine.

People tell me things because I am a good listener and I keep to myself. I am not part of any clique and I have no desire to be in the loop. When someone tells me something in confidence they know that I have no wish to blab it to someone else.

Someone genuine.
Someone you want to connect with
Someone who won’t run you over, but still listens
Someone who doesn’t necessarily gives you advice, you just need them to listen.
Someone you trust.
Someone is in a similarity situation
Someone that is wise
Someone with advice
Someone who is quiet
Someone who previously proved themselves to be trustworthy with secrets.