SO Unbelievably Pissed Off Right Now

I can’t even describe how upset I am right now. It makes me want to get rid of the blog entirely.

CootieBoy was just in here with me, and I was surfing through some old posts on this site. I came upon a post written about 7 years ago that had a comment from a VERY popular mommy blogger. I was surprised that this particular blogger had even BEEN to this website, much less commented, because she’s *that* popular. When I hovered over the link, I saw it was the blogger’s old domain that she no longer uses – she has long since upgraded to a site domain more in keeping with her online mommy persona.

So without even thinking, I clicked on the old link, to see if the link was still active in any way.

BIG mistake. BIG BIG BIG mistake. Especially since CootieBoy was sitting here with me, waiting patiently for me to switch over to PlayhouseDisney for him to play some online games. Because the site that came up was p()rn. And not only that, but the landing page had MANY MANY graphic pictures. MANY. MY FOUR YEAR OLD SON WAS RIGHT HERE AND SAW IT.

And of course, our computer is ancient and not working well lately, so merely clicking on the “X” in a panic to close the page doesn’t result in the browser immediately closing the page. Our computer is so old that when you click on the “X” to close the page, it waits at LEAST ten seconds to consider your request. So here we sat, me trying not to freak out externally to bring attention to what was on the computer screen, while also trying to distract CB from looking at the computer screen at all, AND trying to get this stupid browser to shut down.

What’s crazy is that I think the pictures were SO graphic that the boy didn’t even really know what he was looking it. At least, that’s what I hope. Even *I* didn’t know at first what I was looking at until I saw what the WORDS on the page said. That’s when my heart sank even as the bile rose in my throat. But the boy didn’t ask what was on the computer screen, and *did* become preoccupied with a piece of paper on our desk while I was trying to get the browser to shut down. So I’m hoping that it was such a strange group of pictures that it seemed like gibberish to him and not worth giving a second thought.

But I’m so pissed right now. And no, I don’t blame the mommy blogger – it was a domain she owned seven years ago. It was a domain that she probably hasn’t used in five years. But it was popular enough at the time that I’ll bet the minute it expired someone bought it in the hopes of generating a LOT of unknowing traffic from those who didn’t realize the mommy blogger had moved on.

And so I wonder how many OTHER links are here at Cootiehog that have long since died out, but have been taken over by those who have less-than-pure intentions? As I said, it makes me want to pull the plug.

It’s bad enough that I live in constant fear that my kids will be exposed to inappropriate content when surfing the net, despite all our best intentions. But for ME to be the one that inadvertently exposes my son because of a seven-year-old comment on this website, well, that’s just horrifying.