Warning to Flickr Porn Smurfs

NOTE to the 80% of people who are great Flickr member and potential Flickr Friends.
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Don't let my RANT below about the abuses of a few people here on Flickr PREVENT YOU from adding me as Flickr Friend.
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Decent, sensible and considerate Flickr Friends and would-be Contacts can go directly back to the ABOUT ME section in my Flickr Profile: sunbuns on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/people/sunbuns

Otherwise, keep reading.

*****************************How to be a good Flickr Community member (and my potential friend - instead of being a PORN SMURF.

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What is a Flickr Porn Smurf?

Sorry to start out 2008 on a harsh note.. but I'm tired of having PORN SMURFs -- Flickr people who just want to be my friend ONLY for the sake of get to my private porn collection -- WITHOUT offering anything at all in return.

 

I despise selfish, greedy and lazy people. Anyone without any kind of photos themselves (not even Net favorites or plain old snapshots) or with almost no photos borders on the kind of person with one of those three qualities (whom I am loathe to pacify or even tolerate). I can be generous to allow someone who has no pics or who is NEW to Flickr (18 or over) to have 'friend' status for private access to my photostream even if they don' t (yet) have any photos uploaded. Hey, most (but not all) of of my photostream is just Net stuff anyway, although very extensive and very organized (unlike most anybody I've ever seen actually).



Further, the second best thing about Flickr is the 'real' people whom you can befriend. The (first) best thing is NOT the porno, the truly great real photography and photographic artwork. So I don't want to waste time and energy deleting invitations from schmucks, smurfs and beggars.(worse schiesters). I'd rather use my Flickr time (more like my Flickr Addiction) to enjoy good photography (both general, artistic, and erotic) and communicate with the interestingly good people who made them (or share them).

 So... receiving dozens of junk mails that are anonymous, impersonal canned invitations to join a meaningless ego-pumping porn-photo 'pool' party from somebody with whom I have never even spoken or even SEEN their photos or received any comments about my own pics or (porn collectiion) is an insult and an affront to the spirit of Flickr 'friendship'.

Running a group should be a leadership role:

Moreover, I take a very different attitude (and stricter) to would-be 'leaders' -- people who assume that by just starting a Flickr group (a leadership behavior), it gives them some kind of rights, authority or influence -- without demonstrating an equally serious commitment to that job or any real comprehension of their responsibilities AS A LEADER and apparently without feeling required to show much personal integrity either - are simply smurfs (not worth the paper their fakes asses are printed on!).

Someone with no photos themselves (or who doesn't share them with me) and who then CREATES one more meaningless Flickr porn group just to 'have access to' (or pool) others peoples' hard-earned photos is a slacker. When he or she has the gall (or lack of balls) to invite his or her so-called Flickr Friends to that group , it becomes painfully obvious that the person is an unthinking, inconsiderate Flickr termite (smurf - worse than a slacker threefold - in my opinion) [ I don't call them 'cockroaches' because even cockroaches don't cause the total destruction of wooden houses to the extent that 'termites' do. Termites are social - group oriented creatures and can only survive by eating wood (cellulose) - something that few (if any) other creature can even digest. These slime mold -- (we could call them "pod people").

Managing Too Many Groups is Dumb and Impossible 


Don't try to tell me too that somebody with less than a few hundred (or even a couple of thousands) of Net porn pics has the time to adequately administer 10 or more ( some pornfreaks have many more) various and sundry 'subprime' porno Flickr groups. How does doing that give anything to the Flickr community? You can look at them a several weeks and months hence and see that the only people who have joined them (in large majority) are similar Flickr termites - who have no photo of their own. There is rarely any decent or timely communication going on inside the majority of those (usually porn) groups. It is simply a bothersome nuisance that serves no other purpose than ego-gratification. and does nothing useful except hassling us and spamming us via our Flickrmail and email inboxes. These so called 'group leaders' are just bottom-feeders and while (I guess) they are necessary ,they don't deserve to have such lofty titles (as Flickr Group Administrator).

I believe their behavior clearly brands them as selfish, greedy and lazy people. With no other recourse to deal with these people, I will simply REMOVE them from my CONTACTS henceforth. I don't wish to be hassled about my decisions either. Once you've corrected your personality (and Flickr) 'problem,' you're free to invite me to be a Flickr contact again at any time in the near (or far) future.

Rebuttals? - While you can argue my logic, your actions speak louder than words.

The typical retort (response / rebuttal) by people I have confronted about this goes something like this: " Well. what's your problem anyway? Just delete the damned Flickrmail then you won't be bothered again because you'll not get another invitaion. " Oh yeah? Like DUH! It is so not true. On the very next day (or week) the same person or one of dozens of similar Flickr slime-bucket types creates another 5 to 10 dumb-ass 'public or private groups' and then sends out his or her (almost no women in fact do this) thousands of Flickrmail spams .(Some people evidently collect Flickr friends like bottle caps.) What's just as bad are the NON-COMMENTS that are simply invitations by Flickr Group Admin-termites to add a 'chosen' photo to his group.

If there were just a few of these Flickr smurfs and a just few messages or comments per week, I might not have exploded like this. But in their heyday (last December 2007), I got anywhere from 10 - 30 or more such messages a day (invitations to join or to send a certain pic to their group via a comment invitation), so I can't and won't just IGNORE the problem. Just deleteing those 20-30-50 email/Flickrmails and hope they go away is NOT working. Obviously, you should be able to sense that from my very first lines above........ . I am going on the warpath:



MISSION: Flickr House-Cleaning
My mission (if you choose to accept it) is to eradicate the mold and the termite (more like interminable Flickr smurfs) pests before they infest and ruin the WHOLE House of Flickr. [I hope a few people will get and appreciate the irony (intended humor) of these words].

I had left a strong warning posted from Dec 19-Jan 9 to this effect. I realize that the 'smurfs' I will l be targeting in the disinfestation will probably never even read (or aren't capable of reading) what I write on my profile page.

Still.. I will not be deterred.. the mission must be accomplished... May the Force be with me!

Tantata Tantata tatitan.... Tantan Tooooon Tiiinn Tantitin Tiiiin Toong Tantitan Tiiin Toon TatataTin... <( Star Wars Theme (music) is heard faintly in the distance...)

I will now begin putting my Flickr house-cleaning resolutions into practice. It's a right I've earned. I have 45,000 photos uploaded and now over 180,000 views of my photostream. I am a paying Flickr member, too -- well into the second year of my pro account. I have also 'donated' pro accounts to more than one worthy 'newbie' photographer.

Repeated again ...so LISTEN UP! DO NOT INVITE ME OR MY PRIVATE PHOTOS TO ANY GROUP THAT YOU YOURSELF HAVE NOT FIRST CONTRIBUTED 50 or more photos. I will remove SUCH slackers FROM MY CONTACT LIST.
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Now we resume our regularly scheduled programming.


WARNING 2 : STATE you are OF LEGAL AGE (18 years old or older) Don't add me unless you will NOT be offended by nudity or male arousal / sensuality. You should be responsible for your own personal behavior foremost, but please protect and honor MY US legal responsibilties, too. I don't think it's IMMORAL in the least and welcome anyone but, nevertheless, the US Congress has a somewhat different value system and the legal authority and power to enforce their injunctions. Flickr seems bound to help upholding those laws - for which I can't blame them (it's a company - owned by Yahoo after all).
Now for some other good advice, read my second article:
How to make and keep a safe Flickr account.

Kelly (Flickr: sunbuns http://www.flickr.com/people/sunbuns )

Ironic Airport Encounter - Helping out a Teen

My plane dropped into PHX airport on Dec 31 at 9:30am and while waiting for my connecting flight to San Diego, I met this very cute (and apparently str8) high school teen boy-jock next to me in the airport lounge. He started the conversation because there was a lone sparrow flying around in the waiting area. He was also going to San Diego but was on stand-by... without much hope of getting home until an evening flight (according to the US Airways ground staff).

We kept talking - I was in a generous and talkative mood.. he seemed to be a genuinely sweet kid and showed interest when I mentioned where I was traveling from (and to). We got into a conversation about his future career possibilities and I encouraged him to consider trying to actualize his dreams and to actually get into medical school - not just sports therapy.



His parents had sent to Phoenix for a week-long professional league baseball camp. He is still a sophomore in high school. We also got on the topic of gun control and he was claiming that Arizona' less strict gun control laws and restrictions on private citizens owning and bearing arms were a much stronger deterrent to illegal hand guns than in his native state of California. We were both enjoying the lively banter... and the sparrow still kept flying around -- in and among all the busy in the busy airport lounger - to our amusement.

A bit later, the airline gate staff called for anybody who had no checked luggage and who would be willing to give up their seat to go on another flight (actually an earlier one that had been delayed in departing). I told the kid (Steven age 15) that I was going to go on that flight so that he could get a seat. I was just about ready to adopt him when he said that he wanted to come with me (nothing 'sexual' intended I presume). He followed me up to the other gate but I made him go back and stay with the flight that had his bag.

He kept saying he enjoyed talking to me...... I was very flattered.


So after a rather long and unanticipated wait again on the jetway, this plane eventually departed and the again still-further delayed flight reached San Diego only a few minutes before the one that Steven (hopefully) was on.

I couldn't help striking up a conversation with the woman next to me. She and her daughter were returning from a visit to her family (parents) in Phoenix and she had only been able to get this flight - since evidently everything was completely booked all day long to San Diego. We figured it probably had something to do with increased air travel to the greater LA area for the New Year's Day Rose Parades (and / or Bowl games).


 This plane was supposed to have departed at 8:45 or so, but due to mechanical trouble (Uh oh!) it had been delayed until a nearly 11:00am departure. Now I was sitting on it, and waiting impatiently for it to depart, wondering if Steven, the high school hottie (he makes Zac Efron look like a dork).

Oh well.. I wondered if I should have encouraged him to come along and catch this flight - instead of taking a chance that my giving up my flight on that flight would actually benefit him. There seemed to be plenty of extra seats on this flight. I could have insisted (as Premier Exec) that Steven's bag be pulled and that he get on this flight with me -- so we would have had a chance to get to know each other better.

He really was a sweet, affable young man. He dreamed of being an athlete, but he was also realistic about his chances of becoming a professional one. So his 'backup' career was to become a sports injury rehabilitation therapist. Maybe the idea of massaging injured athletes' muscled legs and bulky arms or broken bones was appealing to him.. the thought of which certainly got my juices stirring.

When the plan was landing, I realized that my other flight should be landing at about the same time.



Although I thought better of it (for a moment), I know I just had to find out if he had made it or not to San Diego on that flight. So I asked at the gate where we deplaned and found out what gate his planed had landed at. By the time I got there, the passengers had already disembarked so I ran to baggage claim.

There he was waiting around the baggage carousel for his bags.. It first he appeared not to notice me or to not recognize me.. but I waved anyway. I seemed strange that he would look surprised to see me. Then it dawned that he was actually worried to see me. He'd changed this shirt (maybe just taken off his team jersey) and removed his baseball cap - more like he was trying to disguise himself. It made me realize that his parents had probably warned him of the possibility of a my being a stalker or a child molester roaming the airport in Phoenix, trying to pick up teen boys.

Maybe it wasn't anything like that at all... since he probably had assumed by earlier 'flight' had longer ago arrived -- well before his - but in reality our planes landed just minutes apart.

Despite all these thoughts flashing through my head, I knew I really done what I did for him - as a selfless act. I wasn't going to let his possibility misconstruing my act prevent me from greeting him. I didn't let those fears deter me...so I came up to him smiling and told him I just want to know if he'd make it safely and on that flight. I explained that my flight did leave Phoenix until just little while before his - so that why we landed just minutes apart. He seemed pre-occupied. Maybe he was afraid I'd grab him .. he was not the same boy who had so easily and self-confidently spoken to me just a couple of hours before.

He kind of stumbled as if he didn't know what to say.. and I shook his hand and said goodbye, and good luck. There was not even a word of polite gratitude. I know my 'act of kindness' was probably not that critical -- maybe a lot of people had given up their seat and changed flights or whatever.. so he might very well have be able to catch it as a stand-by passenger. I felt I learned a slightly bittersweet lesson. People can accept the act of a good Samaritan, but they don't actually appreciate the Samaritan coming back to seek any recognition or acknowledgement.

It was strange how an act of kindness can sometimes be misconstrued. I don't have any real evidence that he felt that way - -but i seemed so apparent in his reaction to seeing me suddenly appear in San Diego - he looked shocked or suddenly fearful. I just knew he was thinking the worst was about to happen.

Later that night when I discovered that my red-eye flight to Chicago had been cancelled, I thought to myself "No good deed goes unpunished."

I hadn't told anyone this story - and just remembered it when I thought of Abe (some I know who lives in Phoenix - an online-only acquaintance) whom I accidentally found that as a friend of a friend on a popular social networking site). I told him by e-mail privately but later decided to write it as a blog entry because it also strikes at the root of something that really bothers me about American society - the Victimization of the American Teen. We hear nothing more powerfully damaging to our psycho-social status (as gay males) than to be lumped into a category of CHILD MOLESTER. The fear of 'child molestation' is now so pandemic that it is affects how ALL men and women either as parents, teachers, or just innocent bystanders are treating (or ignoring) the education and socialization of children, adolescents and young adults.

I will some day write more about this issue.

 

Asian Guys Freeballing - Dialogue

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