[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
A good friend tells you a secret about two other friends, about one cheating on the other. The one being cheated on is also a really good friend and totally clueless.You are not supposed to know any of this. You don't know the cheater. Would you tell your good friend who is being cheated on? If they were in a serious relatinship, getting married or engaged would that make a difference?

edited: to make slightly less confusing

[/ QUOTE ]

No, I wouldn't tell.

Two reasons both very important and can't be dismissed.

First, you were told in confidence. That means you don't really "own" the information, as something you can trade freely. If it was told to you in confidence, you have no right to tell it.

It doesn't matter if you agree or don't agree on the reason for it being kept in confidence. That decision is made by the person who told you, not you at your discretion.

Otherwise, there's really no such thing as a secret, no such thing as your word, and probably no such thing as friendship.

The second major reason why not to tell secrets is that you may think you know that it's not traceable if you tell, but you could be dead wrong. So could the person who told you. Blabbing can cause a chain reaction that goes all the way back to the original bigmouth or, as it sometimes happens, innocent party. Don't gamble with your friend's rep or with the relatively unbusted state of his face by blabbing.

Basically, you owe it to people to keep their confidence, and when you start playing around with that, you can screw over a lot of people really fast, including yourself.

Of course, there are limits. If somebody is out back setting the house on fire, etc. But don't make yourself unworthy of trust or make people pay a price for trusting you.