posted on December 25, 2000 08:51:21 AM
of the weirdos in this world. I am aware of those who would attempt to alter pictures to their own advantage. But damn it. I live in a place I'm hard to track down - therefore my kids are hard to track down.
I have always shared pics of the kids. I know some people who have had problems with it.
VeryModern put up a thread to enjoy the holiday on the face of our little ones. Now I can't do what I had intended to do originally, which was to leave them up until tonight and take them down, because someone here got freaked out. Now the tread is locked, and the kids pics have to stay up, don't they?
Bah humbug.
We are all adults here. Please don't treat us like the children you are trying to protect. Speaking only for me - no body can protect my kids better than I can, and even I can't protect them from everything. I won't alter my life to live in utter fear and terror of what might happen. I live as cautiously as I can while still enjoying the freedom I have.
'Nuff said. Now I gotta break outta my cautious phase and go share a holiday dinner with my kids crazy grandparents, who are likely more dangerous to their well being than the anonymous weirdo online, for the first time in three years. (They are speaking to us again! Oh joy. Oh rapture.)
In defense of Spaz' concern, it is not so long ago that a child's picture was lifted from this forum, the head of the child placed atop the nude body of a young woman, and the resultant doctored photograph uploaded to a foreign website available around the world.
A shocking thing for a parent to discover, and an unfair, to say the least, and potentially perpetual depiction of the child which could be discovered by anyone at any time in her life.
I know that you do not believe that a little bit of friendly sharing on a chatboard is worth the risk of such an occurence.
posted on December 25, 2000 09:05:30 AM
Merry Christmas to all the parents out there enjoying it through the wide eyed wonderment of the little ones, the true believers
Merry Christmas Spaz, Please enjoy it before it passes you by!
Merry Christmas All!
MaddieNick I have a feeling that the ModSquad will allow you to take the pic down!
posted on December 25, 2000 09:09:22 AM
Im sorry Kris. I sided with Spaz because he voiced what I was thinking as soon as I saw the thread and the gorgeous little kids shown. He did what I was afraid to do...post the dangers. I knew it might make some folks angry, but I was also hoping those same folks would understand the kindness and concern behind the words posted. But I said nothing. Spaz did. And I backed him up because he was RIGHT. However, I dont want to step on toes, so my apologies to those who thought I was butting in and giving "bah humbug-ishness" at a time when folks wanted to share in the joys of their kids and Christmas. With that said, Im hoping you and VM and any others know that speaking for myself, and reading spaz's post, he meant well, as did I.
To add to KRS's post, the sicko e-mailed the parents a link to the foreign non-English web site. The picture was not easily removed the site. The parents had to contact the embassy.
posted on December 25, 2000 11:12:44 AM
Well, Irene, I'm puzzled by your statement. There was no indication whatsoever by the parent that the alleged perpetrator was the same person who'd sent the email--the person the parent characterized as a "fellow poster." Huh.
You also said, The picture was not easily removed the site. The parents had to contact the embassy. (sic)
The parent actually said:
In the mean time I got a person from the US Embassy in Moscow to interpret for me and had the material removed from the Russian site and the Russian site stated that upload information WAS retained and would be turned over to US authorities....
From what the parent said, the parent elected to contact the Embassy. No mention was made of "difficulty" in having the picture removed; in fact, the parent seems to have had complete compliance with the request. Huh huh.
It would help to know whether you're referencing actual text or your own memory, because what you're saying doesn't tally with the record.
posted on December 25, 2000 11:22:39 AM
That doctored picture turned up in a couple of places if I remember correctly.
And, just because a picture is deleted from a web site doesn't mean that picture is out of circulation. I saw that picture, and it changed forever how I think about posting pictures of my kids, here, or anywhere on the net.
I read a couple of parenting newsgroups, and no amount of warning from me has caused any of them to stop posting pictures of their precious kids. I only hope a similar thing doesn't happen to any of them.
Why bicker over the exact details of what happened? Just guard your family, and encourage others to do the same.
posted on December 25, 2000 12:33:46 PM
For the record, I wasn't even thinking about the alleged Russian incident. I don't know what to make of that whole fiasco because the truth is so entangled with unanswered questions and credibility gaps.
My comments sprang from a general concern for these little kids whose parents, with understandable pride, posted their pics on a public board. Would they put their kids' pictures up in a bus station just because it's Christmas? I don't think so. Yet on any public board there's always an unknown number of strangers and lurkers passing through, not unlike a bus station.
I didn't get "freaked out," kris. I recommended the pictures be taken down the same way I might caution anyone whose child I perceived to be in potential danger. Villify me if you must. I don't care. It's not you I'm concerned about in this instance. It's the kids.
posted on December 25, 2000 12:35:37 PM
Funny, isn't it, how pareau always pops into situations such as this?
Pareau,
That is, I think, the third time that you have referenced my posted warning concerning the danger of posting personal pictures to a website. Are you again trying to make some special diversionary point?
It is common knowledge, as I'm sure that you know better than most, that such things as I directly described to the addressed poster are quite possible, but I wasn't sure that that poster had shared that knowledge and thought that the weak allusion to the possibility may not have gotten through with force, and so posted.
To answer your question to Irene about the emailing by the sick individual who did the thing--no, that is not correct, but obviously from what you've just said you already knew that, didn't you?
And as to your attempt with a question to cast a suspicion upon me for having eventually deleted the post you reference, well, I can answer that for you too. I deleted it upon request from an involved party. I'll leave the rest to you.
Edited for: I just read the thread, and even my edited post is gone. I didn't do that.
posted on December 25, 2000 01:45:21 PM
What is said on boards is not necessarily all that happens. Friends share with friends things that they wont or cant post and share for the simple reason that they ARE friends and need to have someone to lean on. Call it an email loop, or whatever suits the fancy, but there it is. Needless to say, whatever happened to the other poster is for that other time and place. This circumstance was just to warn others who may not be aware of the dangers involved. And what happened then shouldnt be brought back out unless the other person specifically asked for it to be. This is just my humble opinion, and not to be construed as dictation of what others may think or feel, ok?
posted on December 25, 2000 03:45:36 PM
Stockticker,
I working from memory, Pareau. How and what does that "help"? (sic)
It helps me to know that you feel comfortable asserting as fact your extremely faulty recollection of one post made by the parent about the alleged incident. It is clear from what was actually said that the parent did not attribute culpability to the "fellow poster" who sent the email, yet you implied that this was so. Anyone reading your post who knows who sent the email would come to the conclusion that that person and the alleged culprit were the same person. Unless you're going to own up to erring in your recollection of your source material for the baseless surmise, your credibility for "fact" has just tanked, Irene. Oh, and names were given as placemarkers for the thread in which a post has mysteriously vanished, and the author of the deleted post. None of them is YHWH, all of them are AW members. No problem.
krs, you said:
And as to your attempt with a question to cast a suspicion upon me for having eventually deleted the post you reference, well, I can answer that for you too. I deleted it upon request from an involved party.
The only post of yours I referenced was the missing one in the "On Posting Pictures of Children in Messages" thread (link above). Having read that, you twice assert having deleted the post ("...having eventually deleted the post you reference"; "I deleted it...." ) At one time, AuctionWatch had a glitch that made it possible for regular users who knew about the glitch to edit other members' posts and posts in locked threads. AW resolved that problem, prior to October. At no time, to my knowledge, has it been possible for a regular AW member to delete any post. Yet here you are, saying you did, krs.
posted on December 25, 2000 03:59:01 PM
No mystery, Pareau. When I originally read the post some months ago (which you quoted from above) I assumed (I guess wrongly) that the poster who did the e-mailing was the person responsible for placing the picture on the Russian web site. It never occurred to me that another AW poster would be browsing a Russian site and would accidentally stumble across the picture. Too far fetched.
However, from Meya's post I see that I was missing a part of the story.
This is my last post on this subject. I refuse to be an "enabler" for your witch hunt.
posted on December 25, 2000 04:31:25 PMNow the tread is locked, and the kids pics have to stay up, don't they
Why don't you just delete the pic from whatever URL to which you uploaded it, or just rename it? You know, like everybody says you should do when another seller uses the URL of one of your pics to sell an identical item?
[ edited by HartCottageQuilts on Dec 25, 2000 04:32 PM ]
posted on December 25, 2000 04:31:34 PM
The picture I saw was NOT on a Russian site. It was posted to another Message Board type site that I was aware of. I didn't get the properties of the picture as far as where it was being hosted, I hit the back button as soon as I saw the type of picture it was. I didn't even know who's face it was, since I don't know the family at all and had never seen any of them.
I was the poster who notified the parents of the fact that that picture had been posted on that other message board. When I attempted to contact them, I didn't know the face was someone they knew, I just acted because that type of picture was totally unappropriate to be on the message board it was on.
I posted here trying to contact them as I didn't think I had an email address to contact them through. At that point, they were unaware of the picture being on that other message board. They took whatever steps necessary to get it removed, and that is the last I heard about it.
I knew nothing of the other site, where it was, or what happened after that. Those involved dropped out of sight, and I had no more involvement at all, nor heard any more about it until now.
posted on December 25, 2000 04:34:44 PMNo mystery, Pareau. When I originally read the post some months ago (which you quoted from above) I assumed (I guess wrongly) that the poster who did the e-mailing was the person responsible for placing the picture on the Russian web site. It never occurred to me that another AW poster would be browsing a Russian site and would accidentally stumble across the picture. Too far fetched.
I agree with the logic. It does stand to reason that the helpful "fellow poster" who supposedly alerted the parent to the presence of the alleged doctored picture on the Russian website was involved in the acts, whether they be photo doctoring, website hacking, or wholesale fabrications.
However, from Meya's post I see that I was missing a part of the story.
Huh again. What Meya just said was:
And, just because a picture is deleted from a web site doesn't mean that picture is out of circulation. I saw that picture...
I drew the conclusion from that that Meya had not seen the picture on a website. Which leaves those lovely loops...
This is my last post on this subject. I refuse to be an "enabler" for your witch hunt.
LOL. It hasn't been Pareau you've been enabling, Irene, as well you know.
Everytime this issue arises, you post a link to the same locked thread and reference the same post by krs in what appears to be an attempt to harass and create disruption. It also appears that you have posts quotes that originate from a source other than AW despite repeated requests by the Moderation team not to do so. Finally, you comments to stockticker, while falling just short of insulting, certainly violate common courtesy.
Based on the infractions of the Community Guidelines as outlined above, and that you received an informal warning on 12/12/00 for insults, I am bypassing a formal warning and have suspended your posting privileges. You are welcome to appeal this decision by emailing [email protected].
posted on December 25, 2000 04:49:25 PM
Mebbe I'm missing something here-Lord knows it wouldn't be the first time that happened-but it seems to me that the idea that parents need to be aware that they are taking a risk should they choose to post their children's photos is a helluva lot more important than all the friggin' fingerpointing going on about who posted what about whom and when.
Sheesh.
Edited to add: Thank you, MichelleG.
And to add again: Funny, MichelleG doesn't look a thing like Pattaylor(sorry about that).
[ edited by Shadowcat on Dec 25, 2000 04:51 PM ]
[ edited by Shadowcat on Dec 25, 2000 04:54 PM ]
posted on December 25, 2000 04:51:42 PM
Amazing. This thread got more attention than the Christmas threads. The more things change...
Spaz - I am not villify-ing you. I just don't respond too well to my choices getting trampled on. Dunno about you, but I get enough of that crap in my everyday life. I am an adult - a responsible, works two jobs/keeps house/raises kids adult - and I frustrated with what seems at times like way too many other people telling me what choices to make. I make plenty of wrong ones - admittedly. Thank you for your concern for my kids. They could use new shoes... (a JOKE, people. It's a JOKE.)
Maui - I'm not upset with you (or with Spaz, for that matter). I just hate being told what's right and wrong every place I turn - online and off. Makes my own opinions seem insignificant. I hate that! LOL
I renamed the url on the picture. It should be coming up broken now.
Let's drop it. I should have handled this by keeping my damn mouth shut. I'm getting better at it, but obviously have a way to go. I'm sorry to have been the originator of a thread gone south on Christmas.
::sigh:: Please lock this. It makes me a little sick that this thread got so much attention on a day that is supposed to be all about peace and goodwill and all that rot. Of course, six hours (I said six hours) with my freaky inlaws may well have made me more crabby than normal.
