This is my most popular Flickr photo. I loved it before it attained that status, and I still love it, but every time someone new favorites it, it sets that love a little off-balance. Someone else's appreciation shouldn't diminish my own, but it gets under my skin, because either they're missing the essential point of my posting in favor of their own, or they see right into what I meant, and if that's the case I feel as though they're climbing between my ribs to breathe from my lungs and mouthe my heart... 

Hypothetically, I have no problem with people interpreting my pictures however they choose. In fact, I like to consider that an essential part of any art. Maybe this is why certain work should stay private, no matter how many people would like it if it were made public.

I talked with my friend Alison about why she never shares photos on the internet, and she says it's because they become less hers in the sharing, and it made me wonder why I do... in general, to be honest, it's to get some kind of reaction, good or bad, because otherwise no one ever sees them... but if getting a good reaction sparks this in me... can that really be why? 

There are clearly many why's involved.