Man behind 'rack' Facebook page says sorry

An Otago University student has been forced to shut down his 'Rack Appreciation Society' Facebook page. Photo / NZPA

The Otago University student behind a "Rack Appreciation Society" Facebook page where members shared explicit pictures of young women has spoken for the first time and says he is sorry to anyone upset or harmed by the page.

Sean McDonald's page attracted more than 2000 members before it was shut down last week. The page is currently under investigation by Otago University Proctor Simon Thompson after an official complaint was made.

The page was slammed by Rape Crisis Dunedin who said the page, which featured topless photos of women allegedly without their consent, was "exploitative, demeaning, and degrading to women".

But Mr McDonald said the page was never "at any stage" meant to be used for sharing photos of local women.

"It was created purely for a recreational purpose where people were able to share bikini-clad models and other professional pictures on the internet with their friends," he told the Herald.

"As soon as someone stepped over the line and started posting pictures of their ex-girlfriends, a few people saw that as an opportunity to publish what they thought would be appropriate onto the page."

He said that was when things "started to get out of control".

"The page was immediately taken down as soon as I heard it was causing problems."

He said removing the page quickly was problematic because he had to remove each member individually.

Mr McDonald said he had been unfairly targeted and "ridiculed" and had nothing to do with the offending photos being posted. But he took the blame for the distress the page caused.

"As the administrator of this page, I do take full responsibility as it wouldn't of happened in the first place had I not created it," he said.

"I am sincerely apologetic to all the people who have been affected in a negative way and would have taken it back given the opportunity."

Mr McDonald had stern advice for anyone else setting up similar Facebook pages.

"To everyone who intends to create pages like this, I strongly advise you to firstly have the right intentions. Because to have someone's privacy breached is horrible and should never happen under any account. Secondly, it needs to be administrated properly which is what I had failed to do. Just be respectful and think before you act."

He wanted to apologise to the women whose photos appeared on the page without their permission.

"I truly empathise with all of the victims, and am sorry to anyone that was harmed."