The page sparked controversy over Spring Break, causing parent and student concern and inspiring nearly a dozen similar pages.

As senior Tori Pankey puts it, she was enjoying her spring break when she logged on to Facebook. What she saw put her in tears. A picture of her was being compared to Miss Piggy, the Muppets character. She had never been put in such a situation.

Female students at Fossil Ridge High School, including Pankey, found their pictures on the Facebook profile “Fossil Chicks” last weekend. The pictures of the FRHS girls, taken from their Facebook walls without permission, were under an album referring to the girls as “sluts.” The term is defined as “a promiscuous woman; especially a prostitute,” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. According to a message that went out to parents and staff members from school administration, the creator of the page claimed that it was “just a joke.” The page—along with similar pages from other local high schools including “Fossil Chickss,” “Warning: Nasty chicks of foco,” and “Impala Confessions”—was shut down as of March 25, according to FRHS dean Mr. Wulff.

Administrators became aware of the situation on March 23. In a “weekly topics” e-mail, parents were informed of the situation and provided with resources on cyber bullying. Officer Larkin and the administrative team are currently working on the case.

According to Officer Larkin, the issue is case-by-case, and some instances may be considered forms of harassment depending on the action with specific girls and pictures. If the creators’ identities are determined, they will still not be released to the public due to federal laws against releasing names.

A wide range of reactions came from the creation of the page. Some, like junior Morgan Hoog, were confused. “Anyone that knows me knows I am not a slut. I have a boyfriend who I love very much and I don’t hook up or sleep around.” Hoog confirms that she was never asked permission to use her photo.

However, there are others who found nothing wrong with the page. Senior Maddie Pike sent in her own picture of her friends and herself to the page. “It was a joke so we could laugh at ourselves a little.” Pike did understand the reaction from girls whose pictures appeared on the page without their consent. “Slut can be offensive and a down right mean thing to say.”

As a result of the “Fossil Chicks” page, pages like “The Gorgeous Girls of Foco,” “Fort Collins Finest,” “Fossil’s Finest,” and “FRHS Beautiful Girls” appeared on Facebook as a counter to the negative connotation associated with the first page. According to creators of the pages, each page’s main goal was to fix the situation “Fossil Chicks” created and to make girls feel better about themselves.  “Every girl, no matter who they are or what they do is beautiful,” said the creator of “FRHS Beautiful Girls,” who wishes to remain anonymous. “I strongly believe that no girl deserves to feel shame, ugly, or be called a slut or any other derogatory name.”

Page creators all plan on trying to get up as many pictures of different students as possible, but cannot guarantee posting every student’s picture. “I really want to include everyone and just bring happiness to people,” said the creator of “Fossil’s Finest,” also anonymous. “I don’t want anyone to feel left out.”

Taylor Werning from Rocky Mountain High School created “The Gorgeous Girls of Foco” to recognize girls in the community “deserving a shout out,” along with pictures. She also has problems getting posts up due to school work and puts up compliments for multiple girls within one post to cover more girls. “I want to get this out there so many more girls are recognized for being amazing.”

“Fossil’s Finest” and “The Gorgeous Girls of Foco” are getting permission for pictures, while “Fort Collins Finest” does not and “FRHS Beautiful Girls” ask that people message the creator to tell them to not use their picture.

Many students are happy about the pages and enjoy participating in recognizing their classmates. However, other students worry the pages will not have the desired effect. “The fact is even though [the pages] are made to compliment, it is still using the appearance of girls to get a reaction out of the community,” senior Carson Rideout said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy at what they’re working for, but what about the girls that don’t get put on there? Now they’re questioning what people think of their appearance and we’re back to where we started.” Hoog agrees, stating, “It’s better to ‘live and let live.’”

Girls aren’t the only ones getting attention. “Hott Guys in Fort Collins” posts pictures of boys in Poudre School District. “Fossil Confessions” posts anonymous confessions from FRHS students, claiming “No one can see who posted it, not even the admin.” “Fossil Derps” posts pictures of students making funny faces. “FoCo Biches” posts pictures of dogs with captions.

The creator of “FoCo Biches” was offended by the “Fossil Chicks” page and reacted by creating a page to make the situation lighter. “I wanted to make people laugh! I was hoping people misstated the name for girls, not dogs.” The profile currently has 37 friends and has not received any criticism yet.

According to Officer Larkin, the best way to stop cyber bullying is to report it and stay out of it. Inappropriate posts should be printed out, and students should also file an abuse report with Facebook. If it’s believed to be criminal, file a police report as well. According to Larkin, one of the most important steps is to “block and not engage, because when you engage, you’re feeding. That’s exactly what the people want.” This includes talking about the page, friending or liking the page, or engaging in conversation with page members.

The police department offers Internet classes every first Tuesday of the month to educate both parents and teens on the dangers of the Internet and how to deal with them. The presenters are detectives that work on these kinds of cases; the next class is April 2.

Editor’s Note: Tomas Muelling and Abbie Hanawalt contributed to this story.