Drew Curtis
Drew Curtis | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Luther College |
Occupation(s) | Publisher and writer |
Years active | 1993–present |
Known for | Founder of Fark |
Partner | Heather Curtis |
Children | 3 |
Drew Curtis (born February 7, 1973) is the founder and an administrator of
Fark
Fark began in 1993 when Curtis was in England, sending links back to his friends.[1] Curtis registered Fark.com in 1997 but did not begin posting links on the site until 1999.[2][3] The first story on Fark was a news article about a fighter pilot who crashed while attempting to expose his buttocks to another fighter pilot.[4] Since then, the site has become one of the most popular link dump sites on the internet[2] with nearly 50 million pageviews a month.[1] As of 2006, the site was getting over 2,000 link submissions every day.[5] It was the first indie blog to earn one million dollars a year in profit[1] and its classifieds section alone generates as much as $40,000 per year.[6]
Although Fark is a million-dollar business, Curtis takes a yearly salary of $60,000. The rest of the money goes to the site's legal 'war chest' and to pay other expenses.[6]
Under Curtis, Fark has purposely shied away from the Web 2.0 mantra of total user control.[5]
I don't care what anyone says, the masses are morons. You can't count on them to pick good stuff. Just check out Network TV to see what the masses want for entertainment. It all sucks. Don't even get me started on how they vote for elected officials. There's certainly a place for that kind of thing but it's not on Fark.[5]
According to Curtis, Web 3.0 will be "something called Good Editing."
In 2006, Curtis was featured on the cover of Business 2.0 magazine as the feature in a story about successful websites.[1] Lexington Weekly named him one of their businessmen under 40 to watch.[2]
On November 28, 2007, Curtis filed an application to trademark the phrase "not safe for work" a common phrase on Fark.[8] His application was denied.
It's Not News, It's FARK
Curtis published his first book,
Curtis's book peaked at #12 on
Personal life
Curtis graduated from
Gubernatorial campaign
Curtis announced his candidacy on January 23, 2015, for the
State Auditor campaign
In January 2019, Curtis filed to run as a Democrat for the post of State Auditor for Kentucky.[20] Faced with a primary against three other Democrats,[21] he withdrew on April 11, 2019, citing "other commitments". Due to his late withdrawal, Curtis' name remained on the primary ballot, but votes in his favor were not counted.[22] The primary was subsequently won by Democratic candidate Sheri Donahue,[23] who lost by a 14.62% margin in the general election to incumbent Republican Mike Harmon.[24]
References
- ^ CNNMoney.com. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
- ^ a b c Silcoff, Mireille. "LYPA Rising Stars". Lexington Weekly. Archived from the original on November 13, 2010. Retrieved June 6, 2008.
- ISBN 978-1-59240-291-5. Retrieved January 14, 2010.
- ^ "Panel of Web Community Founders: Utter Defiance of the "Venture Capital" Model". guykawasaki.com. February 22, 2007. Archived from the original (Online video) on May 25, 2009. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Media Orchard Interviews Drew Curtis of Fark.com". ideagrove.com. July 14, 2006. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
- ^ NPR. May 7, 2007. Retrieved June 6, 2008.
- ^ Nagesh, Gautham (June 29, 2010). "Fark creator says wisdom of crowds is overrated". The Hill. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
- ^ "Not safe for work". trademork.com. July 12, 2007. Archived from the original on December 13, 2007. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
- ^ "It's Not News, It's Fark (Kindle Edition)". Amazon. 2010. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
- ^ Manjoo, Farhad (June 26, 2007). "News you can abuse". Salon.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
- ^ Shafer, Jack (October 4, 2007). "Fark Founder Flattens Fourth Estate". Slate.com. Retrieved June 6, 2008. "For all its insight, Curtis' book has gotten scant attention from the mainstream press."
- ISBN 978-1592403660.
- ^ "Drew Curtis '95, Fark.com creator, to speak on campus Oct. 7". Luther College. Archived from the original on December 10, 2012. Retrieved May 9, 2012.
- ^ Hawkins, John (2010). "An Interview With Fark's Drew Curtis". rightwingnews.com. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
- Lexington Herald Leader). Retrieved May 9, 2012.
- ^ Curtis, Drew (May 11, 2012). "Personal communication from Drew Curtis via Fark.com discussion boards". Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- FoxNews.com. January 26, 2015.
- ^ "Drew & Heather Curtis: Citizen Candidates". Archived from the original on July 21, 2010. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
- ^ "Interactive: Ky. Governor election results by county". Lexington Herald-Leader. November 3, 2015. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
- ^ "31 file for statewide office in Kentucky ahead of deadline". Associated Press. January 29, 2019.
- ^ "A full list of candidates for statewide offices in 2019". January 29, 2019.
- ^ "Kentucky race for auditor draws 3 Democrats against GOP incumbent | Lexington Herald Leader". Archived from the original on June 11, 2019.
- ^ "Sheri Donahue wins Democratic nomination for Kentucky auditor". www.wkyt.com. May 22, 2019.
- ^ "Kentucky Auditor election, 2019". Ballotpedia.
External links
- Drew Curtis at TED
- Drew Curtis interviewed on the TV show Triangulation on the TWiT.tv network