CHILDREN'S PORTRAITS / Discuss

Jessi Roman says:

www.flickr.com/people/storm45044/

and here.
Posted 55 months ago. (permalink)

taraviolet.    says:

that is disturbing.
Posted 55 months ago. (permalink)

*ojoyous1*    says:

pretty scary stuff.....................
Posted 55 months ago. (permalink)

mikeasaurus    says:

All I can suggest is that all members reading this do the following:

1. Block these members personally
2. Petition the children's group admins that they remove these members from the groups.

After looking through the profiles of the 2 members you listed <paz kallah I am seriously thinking of making all my kids pics "family only".
Posted 55 months ago. (permalink)

Jessi Roman says:

yeah, these aren't the only ones out there... or rather IN here. i just looked at the first couple pages of members and clicked on the ones w/no profile pic and came up w/those two. that being a small sample of the members, i think we all need to do our part in monitoring this group for possible sickos like that. and yes, petition the admins to remove the members that are posted here. please, if anyone comes across more of these that are in our group, post them here so we can all know to block them and the admins can be alerted.

i've considered making mine private, but that defeats the purpose of recieving pointers, criticism and encouragment that i joined for... so lets just all try to make this group, at least, a safe place to post our kid's pics.

thanks!
Posted 55 months ago. (permalink)

Jessi Roman says:

here's another on in our group:

www.flickr.com/people/21437143@N02/
Posted 55 months ago. (permalink)

Kelsey N [deleted] says:

wow! this is frightening. this is the problem with internet anonymity...
Posted 55 months ago. (permalink)

astropunk says:

Thank you for bringing this to light. I am sorry, but I am removing my kids photos from this group. I wont be posting any more unless an admin or mod does something to remove the scum and screen new members.
Posted 55 months ago. (permalink)

Jessi Roman says:

yes, new members should be screened for sure! if extra mods/admins are needed to lighten the load, i'd be willing... i really want to make this a safer place. i wrote to an admin a while ago about this and got no response :(
Posted 55 months ago. (permalink)

mikeasaurus    says:

If The Counsellors aren't responding and doing any screening then I am sorry too, but my kids pics are out of the group too.... or maybe we need a new category of members: The Suspects. Sort of a quarantine place for them to cool off and go on to more healthy interests.
Any Counsellor monitoring these discussions?
Posted 55 months ago. (permalink)

Jessi Roman says:

well, with STILL no response from administration of this group, i've decided to take matters into my own hands. i've decided to remove all my photos from this group, and other kids groups i've joined and leave the groups. i've started a new group that i can feel confident about its safety b/c i'll be personally monitoring membership. i hope some of you will consider joining.

www.flickr.com/groups/a_safe_place_4_kids/

this is a comment/critique group for photos of children (not exclusive to portraits). hopefully this new community will offer an opportunity for us all to learn and grow as photographers with out worry of inadvertantly exploiting our children.
Posted 55 months ago. (permalink)

:::laura::: [deleted] says:

I was just about to post photos of my kids until I read this thread. If admin. isn't going to screen members or block these people and others like them. then I'll quit this group.

paz_kallah, thank you for trying to make flickr a safer place for children and their families.
Posted 55 months ago. (permalink)

alivephotos says:

Ok, I agree that if there are people in here that are acting "weird" or are favoring pics and not having any of their own, need to be removed simply because groups are created to share and discuss pictures. But to say that your kids are unsafe because the admin is not removing them…Are you really serious? You people know that you are posting pictures on the internet, right? You do know that it makes no difference whether there are “creepy” people in the groups or not, right? They don’t even need an account to view pictures, so why would you think that removing them is going to make it safer? You are posting pictures on the internet where all can see! All they need to do is simply go to your photostream and see all of your pictures. Even if you have them “hidden” and “non-downloadable”, all they need is the static address and they can view and download your pictures all they want!!!!

There is only one sure way that you can share pictures and have only certain people see and download them, but that takes a little bit of website knowledge.
Posted 54 months ago. (permalink)

Almut fetzt [deleted] says:

What is a static adress? When I say "only for family and friends", only family and friends can see, right? And yes, of course they can print sreen and paste them in a picture program but this is quite an effort...
Posted 54 months ago. (permalink)

C. S. Jackson (out for two months - writing novel) says:

I'm thinking of removing my photographs for safety reasons. I'm starting to hear scary stories about pedophiles and certain stuff. I'm planning to pull some of mine's out of this group.
Posted 54 months ago. (permalink)

AL.astair says:

paz_kallah thanks for the good detective work, i'm pulling my pics out of this group. Thanks again for keeping an eye out.
Posted 54 months ago. (permalink)

alivephotos says:

Kasi-picture, static address is the exact location of your pictures (or any file for that matter) on the server. All they need is to know the address, in order to view your pictures. So setting them on any download setting makes no difference. If they know what they are doing, then they can see them and subsequently download them. It is next to impossible for someone to find your pictures if you have them set on family/friends only.

My point was, unless you are hiding them from everyone, taking them out of any group is pointless because people will still be able to see them and download them no matter what. If you want to make it “safer”, then either make your pictures viewable to family and friends only or don’t post them to the internet at all. Remember, if your pictures can be seen, then they can be downloaded, no matter what.
Posted 54 months ago. (permalink)

Reflexion Photography says:

I can understand how you feel here... I looked at who had faved one of my photographs, and their stream was full of porographic material. I banned them from seing all my photographs. I guess some common sence is in order as well, like keeping names of the children off the pictures and tags
Posted 54 months ago. (permalink)

bush.wendy [deleted] says:

creepy for sure :(
Posted 54 months ago. (permalink)

Petra Rettberg PhotoWerkStadt    says:

oh my goodnes.....it is an ugly matter but those who just look at pictures are the nicer ones.i used to work in a clinik for those sickppl who went for kids!

if you realy stick with this motto...portraits!!!! they are not able to relate any sexual feelings.

and by the way...there where men in that clinik with kids and family...so please dont let jerks spoil the fun of sharing joy and happy moments with many others.i have 4 kids (2 sons 2 daughters) and i would loose my mind if i only imagine it cold be a guy next door i see every morning getting his paper or even a friend of our family.thats what i call scary!

ceesd said we should leave names and locations out of the taglist..thats i good idea.is there a way to remove a picture out of the favgallery from somebody?
Posted 54 months ago. (permalink)

mikeasaurus    says:

is there a way to remove a picture out of the favgallery from somebody? Yes, you can simply block them and all favorites they have from you in their favs are automatically removed. Thats the first thing I woud do if you discover photos of your kids in an unsavory flickr users favs.
Posted 54 months ago. (permalink)

DrPix    says:

yikes...this was one of the reason I was hesitant about posting my kids' pix...but I thought maybe i was a bit paranoid...
I'm definitely taking the photos down...

Only god knows what these perverts are doing with my kids' photos...
Posted 54 months ago. (permalink)

lana baker [deleted] says:

I have now helped close down 2 kids groups that were full of paedophiles. One was called "baby bath" (yes...how sick can they get....& it was full of them & the admin didn't know she was even admin so closed it down as soon as she found out) & the other "child modelling" which was obviously a front for paedophiles.
The problem I have is whilst the admin of some groups are great (& that's easy to see by the lack of sus memberson their group....& if they answer in a reasonable time to group posts), the admin of others don't care, & spend all their time "justifying" why it's OK to leave paedophiles on groups such as these.
A friend of mine complained heavily to one such admin, & after being ignored for ages he finally sent a very long letter to her basically saying that these things happen. Instead of that he could have deleted every paedophile on the group in the time he spent emailing her. So when she kept complaining in the group posts he finally responded, by again justifying why they are on his group (& that it's the internet so things like this happen) . THEN he replied saying he didn't even want to be admin & was put admin without knowing it (didn't mention any of that in his looong email to her funnily enough).
So...don't hold your breath with one of the admins on this group!!!!!! Why...he probably doesn't know he's admin of this group either!! Need I say anymore??Only god knows why he doesn't seem to have much of a problem with it as he has alot to do with children!!
Originally posted 54 months ago. (permalink)
lana baker edited this topic 54 months ago.

forty_n_fadin [deleted] says:

Trying to rid flickr groups of pedophiles is like trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon. Every time you eliminate one, 10 more pop up.

The best thing you can do is be safe with your posts. I found a guy's flickr with just too much information in it. He has his first and last name on his profile. He has photos of his daughter Lindsey in his photostream. He has photos of her posing in front of the sign at her elementary school. With the information in his profile and photostream, I found their home, where his daughter goes to school, and her probable route to and from school. On the school's website, it tells what time school starts and is done for the day so that tells me what time she would be walking to and from school. And there's names of her daughter, her friends, nicknames and any type of informtion a person might use to convince the little girl he was safe to get into a car with. What kind of idiot is this? And in his ministry at his church, he's in charge of teaching kids about things like internet safety.

There is a middle school in my neighborhood that posts the school newspaper on the internet, complete with full names of students. Doing a phone book search of people with the last names of those students in the newspaper, one can certainly assume that someone with the same last name within two miles of that school is the parent of that student. "Ah ha! I've found one."

A Seattle newspaper recently posted an article about school kid's and internet safety. They quoted a high school student who gave a lot of good advice about internet safety. But the article listed her first and last name. Using the information in the article, I found her myspace page. From that, I found her photobucket account. On her photobucket page was a photo of her in front of her high school, with the name of the school clearly visible. Using dexknows.com, I found her father's home address and phone number. "Ah ha! I've found another."

So, the most important thing to do is be safe. Never post a photo of your children with location identifying details in it. (Name of their school, address, cross street signs, etc.) Never put your last name on your profile. If you post photos of your children, come up with "Pet" names for them that are used exclusively on the internet so if they ARE aproached by someone, they will know immediately to run away. Never post your address or phone number.

Also, pay very close attention to who your children are talking to on the internet. Teach them that if they didn't already know the person who is talking to them on the internet, (Someone they have actually met in person) they shouldn't be talking to them. I am a 50ish man but on the internet, I can be anyone I want to be. Using photos of your son or daughter, I can even be a 13 year old girl or boy. I can appear to be right in the same town as your children or across the country.

Keep in mind that yes, there are sick people who will do sick things with your children's photos but better their photos than doing those things in person. Also keep in mind that your children are being watched everywhere they go. They are being watched at the grocery store, as they go to and from school, as they play sports, as they attend a local carnival. They are even being watched by members of your church. People who are sexually attracted to children are everywhere, don't give them a road map to your home. I don't use any special tracking software and if I can find them, anyone can.

Oh, one more thing to keep in mind: If I was of a mind set to want to see lot's of photos of children, one of the first things I would do is start a flickr group about children. Suddenly, instead of having to search them out, people would be sending them to me. Cool. I might leave it as an open group or I might limit membership so I could be particlular about which types of photos are posted. So, if you are having troubles getting an administrator to delete suspected pedos from the group, perhaps that's because he doesn't want to delete himself.

Be safe.
Originally posted 54 months ago. (permalink)
forty_n_fadin edited this topic 54 months ago.

forty_n_fadin [deleted] says:

Something that confuses me is some people have limited their photos so people can't see them full sized. I'm curious as to what a pedo can do with a full sized photo that he can't do with a small one. I mean, all you have to do is click on page then on zoom and put the page at 200% and the photo is larger than it would be in full sized anyhow. Then just screen cap it and a photo that was small like on this page: www.flickr.com/photos/carynettles/1026251545/in/set-72157... is now large like this:

Posted 54 months ago. (permalink)

lana baker [deleted] says:

Gee I hope that's your photo! And not someone elses......

I totally agree with you forty_n_fading!
Another thing for parents to remember is there is NO SUCH thing as "privacy" on the computer for your kids!!!!!!!
By that I meant it ISN'T like their diary where you shouldn't read it (what harm can a diary do).......yet that is how some kids/parents treat it.!!!
Every parent should have FULL access to their childs internet sites..passwords & all! The child MUST know that nothing is private on there from their parents. That is crutial to keeping them safe!
The internet is world wide & ANYONE can access it....anyone can't access your childs diary!!
Posted 54 months ago. (permalink)

༺lifemage༻ says:

paranoia will destroy ya....

:-S
Posted 54 months ago. (permalink)

lana baker [deleted] says:

It's called "safety" lifeimage! And it doesn't take much doing.....
Posted 54 months ago. (permalink)

༺lifemage༻ says:

If someone is a 'sicko'...that is THEIR problem, NOT mine or my child's. This group has...what? like 16'000 members? Are we going to go door to door and pass judgment on every member? I just block the people I don't want to interact with. The witch hunt doesn't help anyone...it just promotes fear and paranoia.
Posted 54 months ago. (permalink)

sweetthings [deleted] says:

I just discovered one. I am not going to put the name here, if you want to e-mail me I'll be glad to give it to you.
I discovered this "guy" but clicking on all the people that have saved my pictures as their favorites. Big flag, you like my photo enough to save it but you can't leave me a comment that you like it that much? Sure enough this guy has NINE pages of little girls and inappropriate shots of women saved as his favorites. Really nothing of his own work in his photostream. I saw a lot of familiar pictures there so I'm just suggesting that we check out who is saving our pictures/children.
I am sick to my stomach.
Posted 54 months ago. (permalink)

lana baker [deleted] says:

lifeimage it may be their problem but if they favourite a photo of mine & suddenly it has 26,000 views compared to 20 views on my others, then that makes it obvious that the photo is being used by a whole group of them (I'm using this as an example....of what I have seen on these kids groups) so then it becomes my problem.
It isn't a witch hunt...it's only common sense (very normal) to NOT want them on the kids groups. Fair enough this group may be too large but on others groups it is very easy to keep a check on members & delete the bad ones. I have just done that on other groups & 2 have been closed altogether because they were a front for paedophiles. If the people who post their childrens photos on there dont know then they should be warned.
Sweetthings..that's the tip of the iceburg. You don't want to knwo what I have found....& they've all been members of kids groups!! (one group was called baby bath...how sick can they get??)
Posted 54 months ago. (permalink)

BC'sMom says:

I personally try to go through and check the people that add me, if they belong to any questionable groups, I just block them.
Posted 54 months ago. (permalink)

TenaciousR    says:

ukmde2 just favorited one of mine. His other favorites are of children in inapproprate undress and poses. The big question is WHY would someone take a picture of their daughter shirtless or in their underwear and post it? And why would they allow someone to favorite it?
Posted 53 months ago. (permalink)

ShuBoxPix [deleted] says:

Nowhere is 100% safe to post... you just have to investigate who is favoriting your photos and adding you as a contact etc... We have considered leaving Flickr many times but have decided to use the F&F settings, screen who our contacts are and investigate everybody who favs or adds us as a contact and the ones we do not feel good about, they are blocked.
I cannot and will not question why parents post certain kinds of photos as everybody is different and their views and feelings on things may be different from ours not to mention this is a place on the World wide web and we all know there are many cultures in this world... when i do see a photo that does concern me for the child's sake I do send the poster a lil note asking them to consider using the F&F settings to protect the child but I do not get ugly about it... Im sure there are some that question why I post what I do, as we all know some people believe that we should not share our kid's photos at all.
We love Flickr, have learned so much from good friends we have made here and will be here far longer than the pervs who drop in to get us upset.... they will not win and they will be judged for their actions one day. Be careful, be smart but don't let them win !!
Posted 53 months ago. (permalink)

lana baker [deleted] says:

I have received abusive emails because of my stance on this subject. Not to mention after alerting one group about it all I was made one of the admins but the other admin is being difficult (thinks we shouldn't judge other members..) & wants me to quit as admin!!
.I think what disgusts me the most is the kids photos where they have thousands of views (whilst the others on their stream have around say 20 views) & are favourtied by all the perverts......I emailed a few people to let them know as I assumed they wouldn't realise....but unfortunately I think some of the not only DO realise, but have them on there for that purpose. One guy posted naked photos of his nephew...& every time i comment he deletes my comment, but keeps the sick comments on there. (The sexual comments). I wish the parents of his nephew knew.......
I know it's part & parcel of the internet but as long as some of us still believe in doing something about the problem (as in admins of kids groups keeping an eye on the members).
Originally posted 53 months ago. (permalink)
lana baker edited this topic 53 months ago.

GLC Fotograffix (Just call me Geezr) says:

I came across one yesterday with 24 photos of his little girl. There were bikini shots, panty shots and all done in suggestive poses. His profile said he and his wife loved his sexy 8 year old. What the heck is a sexy 8 year old? How does an 8 year old become sexy? And why would anyone find her sexy, unless he was posing her suggestively? I suggested he look into how the guys from WeBe Web are spending some time in jail for photos like that.
Posted 53 months ago. (permalink)

L8o    says:

Just a FYI ...


Another Flickr member is making me uncomfortable. What can I do?

You can block them.

People you block can't interact with you or your photos. In practice this means they:

* Can't comment on your photos. All comments on your photos that they make are deleted.
* Are removed as your contact, and you are removed as theirs. They can't add you as a contact again.
* Can't add your photos as favorites. Any of your photos marked as their favorites are removed.
* Can't blog your photos
* Can't add notes or tags. Any notes and tags they added to your photos are removed.
* Can't send you FlickrMail

There are three ways to block a person:

1. Click the "Block [membername]" link on the person menu
2. Click the "Block this person?" link on their profile page
3. Delete a comment on one of your photos. (You'll see the option to block them, too.)

To see the people you've block on your block list, click the link at the bottom of your Contact List.

People you choose to block are not notified that you've blocked them.

You can release the blocked person anytime. Go to your "Contact List" under "Contacts" in the main menu. Removing the block does not restore anything that was deleted when you blocked them.

(Incidentally, we used to have a slightly less robust block mechanism that simply prevented people from commenting on your photos. Anyone who you had ignored like this - before July 27, 2005 - will now be blocked, but none of the robust block rules listed above apply to them. If you want them to, you'll need to block them again.)

[Note: The actual 'blocking' of an individual occurs immediately, but the removal of comments, favs, etc., may take up to three hours given the nature of Flickr task queuing - larger photostreams will take longer to scrub than small ones, but blocking does not keep people from visiting and viewing your photostream!]


Other helpful topics:

- Reporting Flickr 'Abuse'
[Note: this link can be found on the bottom of every Flickr page.]

- Where can I see other people's photos?
[Note: It follows that your photos are accessible to others in this same way. Use wisdom.]

- What if I don't want everyone to see my photos?

- Copyright Protection?
Originally posted 53 months ago. (permalink)
L8o (a group admin) edited this topic 53 months ago.

JJ20009 says:

that's so creepy, that's why i've been hesitant to put a lot of my angels pics up, they really should have stricter rules
Posted 50 months ago. (permalink)

Amy Krogen Photography says:

I've had alot of these types add my kids photos to there favs. I go to there page and block them right away. It sucks because I don't know if the have already saved the image to their computer....GROSSS!!!!! I hate to even image what they would do w/ them.
It makes me want o take all my pictures off!!
Thanks for bringing this up and I will start adding their links to this page. I already blocked the links that you posted above!!
Thanks Again,
Amy
Posted 50 months ago. (permalink)

aeflock says:

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I have removed all of my kid photo's from any childrens group.
This is so sickening and sad.
Posted 50 months ago. (permalink)

aeflock says:

yes! Post as many other people as you can so I can block them as well.
Posted 50 months ago. (permalink)

Sof1a    says:

Thank you so much Paz yes post as many as you can...
I have blocked so far the ones you've posted... it sickness me to know there are people out on flickr...very disgusting
Posted 50 months ago. (permalink)

bassam_guy says:

Block people? Flickr does not do that. You can only block accounts. A pedo can simply create/use another account. We can only protect our identities - not our posted pictures.
Posted 50 months ago. (permalink)

Rebecca Pettigrew says:

Iyeah it's gross. yeah it's wrong, but...

So you blocked THAT ACCOUNT, oh look, he just created another one, and is still looking at pictures of kids!

And to be completely honest, if a nasty pervert is looking at pictures of my kids, I'd rather not know about it. As long as he's not toughing my actual child, I'm doing my job! (of course if that happens... mine will be the last children he ever touches...)
Originally posted 50 months ago. (permalink)
Rebecca Pettigrew edited this topic 50 months ago.

kells-photos says:

i completley agree with alive photos.you are posting pictures onto the INTERNET it is your responsability as a parent or gardian to decide on the contect of the images you post onto the world wide web!
i am personally uncomfortable with labeling people sicko pervert pedophille - your oly evidence being they have nothing available to you ? yes i would prefer it if flickr did not allow sexually explicit groups , but it does , and everybody using flickr is well aware of this.
sexually explicit groups are not illegal, each persons sexual prefrence is up to them i have personally seen one guy labled a perve because he was gay !!!
moniter people who are faving your pics by all means , but before you go on your crusade be certain these people are a threat to our kids otherwise is just slander,
Posted 49 months ago. (permalink)

L8o    says:

Seriously people, do you not read the content provided here by the CHILDREN'S PORTRAITS group? I can't believe you are still falling into the traps set by the original posters of these 'perv' discussion topics. There is no reason to be concerned about posting your pics here. There never has been. Do your job by evaluating 'what' you post to flickr/the internet, and evaluate anyone who faves the photos you do publish. That's it. :`)

Once again, if any member here has concern about content, activities, members, please flickr mail ME rather than create/post to these discussions, which only serves to provide genuine Pervs with additional tag content (keyword qualifiers) to find their next source/subject!! Think about it!! . :`)

- paz_kallah: Your first mistake was presuming that because this group's admin didn't comment on every one of your posts, they weren't doing their job. Here's a thought: Please do your job by a) reporting suspicious members to Flickr Abuse, and b) pointing those you intend to alert to utilize the Flickr Abuse tool instead of writing inflammatory content that incites and terrorizes your fellow Children's Portraits members into leaving this excellent, safe group for one of your own making - Methinks you missed your "members warning" ... READ the group description and rules pages. :`)