Chilling Message to Me From an Admitted Pedophile That I Want All Mom Bloggers to See

Yesterday, at 11:56 p.m., from a location/IP address that purpously cannot be tracked, an admitted pedophile left me the following chilling comment in response to my recent post titled: Pedophiles, Stalkers and My Sold-Out Kids Hating Me - Just the Tip of My Mom Blogging Fears:

"There are many reasons why you shouldn't use real names on the internet and the 'evil pedos!' aren't the main reason.

When did a paedophile become a child molester? Do you understand the difference? Do you care?

With the merging of the terms 'paedophile' and 'child molester', people become more concerned than they should be about paedophiles and less concerned than they should be about child molesters.

I know you'll be concerned that a paedophile has found your blog, but I'm not attracted to kids younger than 8 anyway, nor do I engage in sexual activity with children.

I also have images from external servers turned off in my browser to prevent IPs being logged on external servers, so you don't need to worry about me (OMG!) seeing pictures of your kids.

The fact is that paedophiles (and that doesn't mean 'child molesters') will find your blog, because there are more of us than you believe.

You shouldn't use real names on the internet, regardless of whether you're concerned about 'paedophiles'. "

I didn't get a wink all night and in the morning switched my children's names to quirky pseudonyms.

Did I let fear get the best of me? Did I let the anonymous, untrackable admitted pedophile win? Yes, I believe I did. But if my (over?) reaction saves my precious children from a very real, quite potential threat, then I'm positive I did the right thing.

Now onto the work of removing ALL of my children's real names from all of my postings. Thankfully I only have to sift through a month or so of postings on my newbie blog.

While I don't wish comments from an admitted pedophile on any mom bloggers, I'm somewhat thankful that this happened to me because it will forever, somewhat sadly, alter and safety filter the words and images I choose to use when revealing information about the three smallest people I love and protect the most.

I know it’s odd but I can't help but feel guilty for innocently showing off cute images and anecdotes of my kids in such a carefree way in the first place. Did I do something wrong? Was I an irresponsible parent?

It's sad that mothers can't simply share our life stories with one another, and SAHM and working mom bloggers so need to hear each other to know that they are not alone in their beautiful chaos, without fearing twisted adults who prey on children. Without fearing that our children’s images will become eye candy for pedophiles and child molesters.

I enthusiastically started 8 Cm Deluded only five or so weeks ago and last night I seriously considered forever pulling the plug on it. And it's not off the chopping block yet. I won’t decide until my nerves calm.

By the way mister anonymous pedophile who left me bone-chilling comments, I did learn the difference between a pedophile and a child molester. Since my recent education at dictionary.com, I don't feel any wiser, just sicker:

child molester: a man who has sex (usually sodomy) with a boy as the passive partner [syn: pederast, paederast] Hey, I'm sadly sure that women are child molesters as well?

pedophile: noun Psychiatry. an adult who is sexually attracted to young children. Also, pedophiliac.