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Farewell, ‘Boston T People’: Now where will people post unflattering photos of T riders? – Metro US

Farewell, ‘Boston T People’: Now where will people post unflattering photos of T riders?

Boston-area commuters suffering from wardrobe malfunctions and bad hair days can breathe easy, because after just four months, an online forum aimed at poking fun at the T’s most unfortunate and odd-looking riders has been taken down.

In September, Metro first reported that a 22-year-old T rider created a “Boston T People” Facebook page for people to submit and poke-fun-at candid photographs of unsuspecting passengers.

The creator of Boston T People, who asked not to be named, recently deleted the controversial page, saying it was becoming “stressful” for her.

“The more people that were looking at it the more I felt obligated to post certain content,” she said. “It was fun for a while, but it was nothing more than moving on to other things.”

She also said that media attention “caused a lot of problems” for her and her family.

In November, the page creator said an official website – bostontpeople.com – would be up and running within weeks, but that project has also been shut down.

The Boston T People Facebook page had racked up hundreds of fans since its creation, but not everyone was pleased.

After breaking the story, Metro received feedback from angry readers, and the page’s creator reported a wave of backlash, including death threats.

Metro reader Constance Woodbury described the newspaper’s September article as “sick,” and said the creator was “cruel” to create Boston T People.

“I cannot believe that the “MBTA is going to allow pictures of their paying customers to be presented on a Facebook page for all the world to look and laugh at regardless of their appearance,” Woodbury said in an email to Metro.

According to T officials, publicly posting “funny” or “cruel” photos of riders does not break any of the MBTA’s policies.

“Our riders are a creative bunch,” MBTA Spokesman Joshua Robin said. “We are happy the T is an outlet to express their creativity.”