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This article was published 7/8/2013 (2598 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WPGPARKINGFAIL.COM A car parked at the Northgate mall Saturday straddles the line, taking up two spots.

Memo to brazen Winnipeg parking violators: Smile for the camera.

In the last few weeks, a website devoted to "publicly shame and embarrass fellow Winnipeggers for less-than-stellar parking attempts" has become a viral hit.

WPGParkingFail.com has attracted more than 10,000 hits and dozens of postings since the site went online July 22.

The site is the brainchild of a 32-year-old Winnipeg entrepreneur whose pet peeve has been drivers who take up two spaces, park on sidewalks or jam fire lanes.

"It doesn't drive me completely nuts," said Paul, who did not want to give his last name to keep his anonymity.

"But maybe people will think twice about taking up a couple of spots. They might not care about a parking ticket but they might not want their friends and family see they're parking like a fool."

Already, Paul has received five or six photos a day of potential violators. He usually posts three or four. On a slow day, the site -- which has a built-in Twitter account -- attracts 300 page views. A busy day is closer to 5,000 hits.

"It's definitely a very common tick with people," he said.

"They get really, really angry about how people park the way they do."

Paul's favourite postings to date include an SUV parked on the sidewalk at the Montana's restaurant in St. Vital. But this just in: A Volkswagen at the Winnipeg zoo taking up two handicapped spaces -- and then blocking the driver's door of a car parked in the designated handicapped spot.

Interestingly, Paul said the impetus for the site came from reading a story in the Free Press last month about North End residents who put up signs near Burrows Avenue threatening to post pictures of cars they believe contained men looking for prostitutes.

Pictures of those cars were posted on the Facebook page of a Burrows Avenue homeowner.

Paul thought: "Why don't I do that with terrible parkers?"

At first, Paul posted pictures of the parkers on his Facebook page, but the immediate response encouraged him to seek a domain name and set up his own page and Twitter account.

"I can't believe it's taken off like this," he said. "I had no idea."

Paul didn't want to get his picture taken or have his last name used for the story. Neither does he post the names of photographers who submit photos.

"I'm finding it fun to be anonymous," he said. "It's a mystery. Nobody really knows who's taking their pictures."

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca