There Are Just Some Things

Originally uploaded by Anonymously Uncool

I love Flickr. I do. I like being able to share my photos, I like being able to view other peoples photos. I like seeing how people do the things they do with their cameras and learning about how to do new things with my camera. It's awesome. It's a great learning tool and a great way to see great photographers.

And then there is the darker side of Flickr.

Now, I'm just speculating here, but, I used to not put pictures of my kids on here, at least not publicly. I was afraid of pedophiles looking at their pictures and doing unsavory things, but I started to get over it, especially because there are SO many kids pictures on Flickr.

During this past week, I have added pictures of my kids out playing because I was playing with my lensbaby and they're fun to take pictures of. No big deal, right?

And then I looked at my stats, and where my hits are coming from.

"wet pants"
"wet boys"
"wet"

Really?

Wet pants was not even part of my tags, just happened to fall in the descriptions of the pictures, and it's taking these people to a picture of my son running around in a diaper.

I'm disturbed, really.

And it makes me feel a little sick to my stomach. I removed the words wet and pants from the caption of my photo. But who knows who has already seen it.

And then there are people that add me as a contact, with no pictures and no other contacts. Why? Are they really a pedophile that just wants to be able to easily access my kids pictures? Where do you draw the line? Do I just stop putting pictures of my kids on Flickr?

Sometimes, I'm really just disgusted by the world we live in. And I'm mad at myself for exposing my kids to that without even thinking.