Texas - Creative Adopt-A-Drain Project Derailed By Link to a Sex Toy Store

It was a good project with the best of intentions made more fun with the creative engagement of the people- until someone with a dirty mind messes things up.

Houston started a program named Adopt-a-Drain two weeks ago to get the community involved in efforts to prevent future flooding and to also maintain neighborhood storm drains and make them litter-free.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">PSA: You can Adopt-a-Drain in the city of Houston! And name it ANYTHING! (h/t <a href="https://twitter.com/televisionmaker?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@televisionmaker</a>) <a href="https://t.co/ewA6q6y3Lv">https://t.co/ewA6q6y3Lv</a> <a href="https://t.co/o2Sryt0rtL">pic.twitter.com/o2Sryt0rtL</a></p>&mdash; Keaton Fox (@keatonfox) <a href="https://twitter.com/keatonfox/status/991450981660585986?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 1, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Anyone in the community is welcome to volunteer to “adopt” a drain in town and ensure its cleanliness. The project gained even more momentum and excitement when people were given the chance to name their drain. Clever, creative and catchy names came up including “Don’t Drain on my Parade”, “Drains on a Plane”, “Blue Eyes Crying in the Drain”, and “Happiness and Drainbows.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The city of Houston started an adopt-a-drain program to help drainage. Adopt a drain and name it anything you want. No checks. No rules. What could go wrong? <a href="https://t.co/ewA6q6y3Lv">https://t.co/ewA6q6y3Lv</a> <a href="https://t.co/hMIZrQdiUr">pic.twitter.com/hMIZrQdiUr</a></p>&mdash; Keaton Fox (@keatonfox) <a href="https://twitter.com/keatonfox/status/991358449047998465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 1, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Such entertaining names, however, went down the drain, no thanks to a dirty hyperlink that forced the city to strip the names from the website and change the otherwise fun rules.

Someone adopted more than 200 storm sewers and named them after an online sex toy retailer. The city then was forced to disable a feature that allows residents to view the clever nicknames people have given to the drains they have adopted after public work employees noticed that people were being directed to the website of a Phoenix-based Bad Dragon where it sells hand-made dishwasher-safe, hypo-allergenic sex toys.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Snakes on a Drain, Happiness &amp; Drainbows; these are just some of the clever names people came up with for the Adopt-A-Drain program that have since been removed from the website. On <a href="https://twitter.com/KPRC2?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KPRC2</a> at 5, reps with public works explain why a dirty hyperlink forced them to change the rules. <a href="https://t.co/GrQAVxad6t">pic.twitter.com/GrQAVxad6t</a></p>&mdash; Brittany Jeffers (@KPRC2BrittanyJ) <a href="https://twitter.com/KPRC2BrittanyJ/status/993969021648297985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 8, 2018</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Now I understand why there were only 4 or 5 that could be mentioned on TV yesterday evening <a href="https://twitter.com/MelanieLawson13?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MelanieLawson13</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ArtRasconABC13?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ArtRasconABC13</a>, &quot;Some we can&#39;t mentioned on TV&quot;, always cuz of that one person, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/smh?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#smh</a>.Good afternoon <a href="https://twitter.com/HellerWeather?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HellerWeather</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/adoptadrain?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#adoptadrain</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/numerounoviewer?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#numerounoviewer</a> of all <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/abc13eyewitness?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#abc13eyewitness</a> <a href="https://t.co/WyEiiQdkaF">pic.twitter.com/WyEiiQdkaF</a></p>&mdash; Luis Martinez (@luisito11martin) <a href="https://twitter.com/luisito11martin/status/992170820620439552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 3, 2018</a></blockquote>

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It is not yet clear if an employee or anyone connected to the said business including a customer is involved in the said questionable act as the company has not granted an interview with the local media yet.

Whoever is behind the said “dirty link” has done considerable damage, especially since the program was just getting people’s attention and cooperation. Houston Public Works spokeswoman Alanna Reed said: “They literally took down the system for all of us.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The city is not censoring the list of names.<br> <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonPWE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HoustonPWE</a> pulled down the Adopt-A-Drain names because a party pooper hacked the system and unfortunately created a bunch of inappropriate drain names🤐<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KeepItClean?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KeepItClean</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DontDrainOnMyParade?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DontDrainOnMyParade</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DontDrainOnMeBro?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DontDrainOnMeBro</a> <a href="https://t.co/L5iCIVPfww">https://t.co/L5iCIVPfww</a></p>&mdash; Mary Benton (@IAmMaryBenton) <a href="https://twitter.com/IAmMaryBenton/status/992158030425935872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 3, 2018</a></blockquote>

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More than 500 drains have been adopted before the Bad Dragon sewers fiasco. More than 115,000 storm are still available for adoption.

The Adopt-a-Drain website is still up but the nickname for the adopted drains have been hidden temporarily. Officials are working to fix the system with added restrictions including the number of drains to be adopted and the type of nicknames to be allowed.

Source:

https://www.click2houston.com/news/adopt-a-drain-program-changed-after-user-posts-inappropriate-link

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/houston-adopt-a-drain-suspended-hacked-sex-toy-12894621.php