My name has been out on the Internet since 1996, when I--as a first time user of the Internet--made the mistake of signing my name to a public "Visitor's List" to a library somewhere in New York state. I can't find that web page anymore, but I know it was still out there a few months ago. In fact, the whole library's website seems to be gone now. But that's not important. My point is, my name has been floating around on the Internet for one reason or another for more than a decade now, and search results on my name have always returned perfectly appropriate links.
Until now.
I googled myself just a few minutes ago to see what appeared (Yes, it's vain, but come on--you've done it before, too!). I was fine for several pages, but then a few pages into the links I found one called "high school girls room" that appeared--based on the text on google--to link to a virtual tour of our high school that students in my Web Design class completed back in 2001. Two questions popped into my mind when I saw this link: 1) Why was this virtual tour still online? and 2) Why was this "high school girls room" page linking to our virtual tour? I clicked the link, and lo and behold, I got a screen full of nudity. The page had a number of scantily clad (or unclad) teens. To drive traffic to the page and get the page to appear in search results like the one I had run, the bottom of the page was filled with text that had been pulled from various sites, all text having the words "high school girls room" in them somewhere. Our virtual tour of the high school included the "Girls Locker Room" and the web page said "Copyright 2000-2001" and then had my name and the name of the school where I worked at the bottom of the page, so all four of the necessary words appeared and a link to our page was added to this porn site. Since my name was also in there, the offending page showed up in Google when I searched my name.
So now I'm associated with porn. And I have two reactions: 1) I'm disgusted and a little shocked. I also feel a little naked and exposed. It's sort of like getting mugged, or maybe being scammed out of a gallon of gasoline. 2) On the other hand, it's about time, porn people! What have you been waiting for? It's been 12 years!
When I get a chance I'll go to the district website and delete that virtual tour--It shouldn't be online anymore anyway as it's inaccurate. Hopefully that will in time remove me from the porn page. If not, I don't guess there's a lot I can do about it.
And no, I'm not going to make a link to the offending page on here! If it's really that important for you to see, google my name in quotes and you'll eventually find it yourself. But be warned: If you do go there, I didn't proceed any further, so I have no idea if the site is safe or if it's going to try to install a virus or spyware on your computer. I'd hate to see anyone's computer crash because this post made them curious.
On the other hand, it serves you right, pervert.
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