Encyclopedia Dramatica
Type of site | Wiki, forums and parody |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Owner | .online: Joint Ownership
.com: Sherrod DeGrippo |
Created by | Sherrod DeGrippo[3] |
Revenue | Advertising and donations |
URL | https://encyclopediadramatica.online |
Commercial | No |
Registration | Optional (required to edit pages) |
Launched | .com: December 10, 2004[3][4] .ch: April 15, 2011 |
Current status | Online |
Encyclopedia Dramatica (ED or æ;
Its articles lampoon topics and current events related or relevant to contemporary internet culture in an encyclopedic fashion. It often serves as a repository of information and a means of discussion for the internet subculture known as
On April 14, 2011, the original URL of the site was redirected to a new website named "Oh Internet" that bore little resemblance to Encyclopedia Dramatica. Parts of the ED community harshly criticized the changes.
History
DeGrippo Era (.com)
Encyclopedia Dramatica was founded in 2004 by Sherrod DeGrippo, also known by the online pseudonym "Girlvinyl".[3][9] DeGrippo joined LiveJournal in 2000 and became enthralled by the behavior of some of its members:
People were accessible and it was bidirectional. Voyeurs and exhibitionists were able to interact in a way that was normalized. That's why I started ED. It was mostly just personalities that were just so nuts and fascinating.[26]
She became involved in the LJdrama community, which covered stories on LiveJournal gossip. When the community was banned from LiveJournal, they created their own website. In 2002, two LiveJournal users, Joshua Williams (aka mediacrat) and Andrewpants, became intimately involved with each other. After they broke off their relationship, LJdrama decided to document the resulting drama. Unflattering photographs of Williams were spread on the web, and Williams considered this to be harassment. He threatened legal action, traveled to Portland, Oregon, in order to speak to LiveJournal's abuse team, and reported the alleged harassment to a local TV news station.[27] DeGrippo created Encyclopedia Dramatica in order to "house some information from livejournal and some drama about hackers Theo de Raadt and Darren Reed."[25]
Encyclopedia Dramatica characterized itself as being "In the spirit of
The targets of this trolling come from "every pocket of the Web",
Articles at Encyclopedia Dramatica were particularly critical of
According to Sherrod DeGrippo,
As long as something wasn't submitted as illegal or an abuse complaint, I didn't even see it. Wikis are something that you either closely, closely monitor and manage, or you just let it go.[40]
Predating sites like the former
2010 ownership by Evers
In March 2010, a "Joseph Evers" was recognized as the owner by ABC News, reporting on the site being blacklisted by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.[10]
The
On December 8, 2010, Encyclopedia Dramatica deleted its article on Operation Payback.[43] On the same day, Facebook deleted its Operation Payback page, and Twitter suspended Operation Payback's account.[44] An anonymous source told Gawker that the Encyclopedia Dramatica article was deleted as the result of court orders.[43]
In June 2020 it was reported by
2011 establishment of Oh Internet
DeGrippo reportedly "came to hate" Encyclopedia Dramatica.[47] She had hoped that ED would return to its roots and focus on LiveJournal drama.[48] Furthermore, according to her, Encyclopedia Dramatica never turned a profit during the time she owned it, due to its content putting off advertisers.[49]
On April 14, 2011, the
In a question and answer session at the
Cleary (.ch)
From April 2011,
Moore (.se)
Garrett E. Moore later became the fork's owner.[24] Moore reported difficulties in securing a host for the website.[24][58]
On March 19, 2012, encyclopediadramatica.ch was shut down for a short time due to a "DNS block". On March 21, 2012, the site moved to a Swedish domain name, at encyclopediadramatica.se, instead of a domain in Switzerland as before. The site's Facebook account later addressed the block, stating that it was because "we didn't keep up our end of the nic.ch user agreement contract stating that we had to keep a mailing address and phone number in Switzerland."[59]
Moore told an interviewer for The Daily Dot in July 2011:
People take themselves too seriously, they can't laugh at anything. We make fun of everything. I make fun of skinny white computer nerds, but I am one.[24]
When asked about "abusive content", Moore stated that he removes it when he sees it, then further explained:
I'm not going to leave a 14-year-old girl's address up on a page cause some dipshit got mad at her and made an article. But if you dress up like a fox and wear diapers and then take pictures of it? That's fair game, sir.[24]
In a September 2011 interview with The Daily Dot, Moore defended his community's belief in
Gizmo games
In January 2013, a video game created by user "gizmo01942" came to the attention of the media. The game, Bullet to the Head of the NRA, was controversial because the player could take aim and shoot at members of the
Aztec High School shooting
On December 7, 2017, 21-year-old William Atchison opened fire at a high school in Aztec, New Mexico, killing two before committing suicide. Atchison had been a site admin on Encyclopedia Dramatica (posting under the name AlGore) and had an obsession with mass shootings.[12]
Reception
The website received mainstream media attention after Jason Fortuny used Encyclopedia Dramatica to post photographs, e-mails and phone numbers from 176 responses to a
Wikipedia's evil twin. It's a site where almost every article is biased, offensive, unsourced, and without the faintest trace of political correctness. A search through its archives will reveal animated images of people committing suicide, articles glorifying extreme racism and sexism, and a seemingly endless supply of twisted, shocking views on just about every major human tragedy in history.[5]
In 2006, "a well-known band of trolls"[9] emailed Encyclopedia Dramatica's creator, DeGrippo, demanding edits to the protected (i.e. locked) article describing them. After she refused to do so, the trolls ordered taxis, pizzas, escort services and sent death threats and threats of rape to DeGrippo's apartment.[9]
Encyclopedia Dramatica became a "favourite target for critics, who accuse Anonymous of propagating hate,"[35] for allowing alleged members of the group to sometimes use the website as a platform. Through this association, Encyclopedia Dramatica received incidental coverage when actions by members of Anonymous led to the arrest of an alleged pedophile,[64] when they demonstrated against Scientology in London;[65][66] when a member of the group broke into the e-mail account of former Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin,[67] and when a member of Anonymous claimed credit for an attack on the virtual Second Life headquarters of former presidential candidate John Edwards.[68][69] The convergence of Encyclopedia Dramatica with the anti-Scientology campaign of Project Chanology was noted by technology journalist Julian Dibbell.[70]
The celebration and archival of the "raids" organized on
subjectivity—then the trolling will proceed.[23]
On December 16, 2008, Encyclopedia Dramatica won the People's Choice Winners category for favorite wiki in Mashable's 2nd Annual Open Web Awards, with wikiHow as the runner-up and Wikipedia coming in 3rd.[72]
In December 2008, a message on Encyclopedia Dramatica asked for donations and claimed that the website was under attack and had lost its advertisers.[73]
In January 2010, the Encyclopedia Dramatica article Aboriginal was removed from the search engine results of Google Australia, after a lawyer filed a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission saying its content was racist.[11] A search on terms related to the article produced a message that one of the results has been removed after a legal request relating to Australia's Racial Discrimination Act (RDA).[74][75] The publicity surrounding this served to raise the profile of the site.[76] In March 2010, it was reported that the Australian Human Rights Commission had notified the site by e-mail that according to Australian law, the article Aboriginal could be in breach of Sections 18C and 18D of its RDA.[14]
In 2020, a Canadian court heard Alek Minassian, perpetrator of the
Lawsuits
In 2016, a United Kingdom court determined an ED user must pay £10,000 in libel damages for making false statements about a former Labour councillor.[79]
In 2017, a suit was launched against the website seeking US$750,000 for alleged copyright infringement.[80] The "life-threatening"[81] suit is by millionaire Jonathan Monsarrat.[82] Monsarrat's suit was dismissed in December 2017, with the judge ruling that the three-year statute of limitations for copyright infringement had expired before the lawsuit was filed.[83]
See also
References
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- ^ a b c d "About Encyclopedia Dramatica". Encyclopedia Dramatica. Archived from the original on January 6, 2018. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
Encyclopædia Dramatica was created December 8-10th 2004 while girlvinyl was impatiently awaiting the delivery of her new ibook [sic]
- ^ "EncyclopediaDramatica.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info – DomainTools". DomainTools.com. Archived from the original on November 6, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
Creation Date: 2004-12-08T18:01:34+00:00
using WHOIS function - ^ a b Paget, Henri (March 9, 2010). "Interview: Encyclopedia Dramatica moderator". ninemsn. Archived from the original on October 1, 2012. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
- ^ Jardin, Xeni (June 2, 2012). "Canadian politician: My internet spying bill would help us catch serial killers like Luka Magnotta". Boing Boing. Archived from the original on June 2, 2012. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
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æ: Encyclopedia Dramatica.
- .
- ^ a b c d e f g Schwartz, Mattathias (August 3, 2008). "Malwebolence". The New York Times Magazine. Archived from the original on April 18, 2009. Retrieved August 1, 2008.
- ^ a b "Dramatica owner refuses to remove 'racist' content". ABC News. March 18, 2010. Archived from the original on January 13, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
The site's owner, Joseph Evers, has blogged that Encyclopedia Dramatica will "never be censored in any way". Mr Evers says the site's owners "laughed" when they discovered they were on the Australian Communications and Media Authority's list of websites to be banned under the Government's planned internet filter.
- ^ Sydney Morning Herald. January 15, 2010. Archivedfrom the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved May 14, 2011..
- ^ a b Collins, Brandy Zadrozny, Ben (December 15, 2017). "New Mexico School Shooter Had Secret Life on Pro-Trump White-Supremacy Sites". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on December 15, 2017. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
{{cite web}}
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"Dramatica owner could face charges". Nine News. March 16, 2010.
Paget, Henri (March 16, 2010), Dramatica owner could face charges, ninemsn, archived from the original on March 22, 2010, retrieved March 16, 2010. - ^ a b Dibbell, Julian (September 21, 2009), "The Assclown Offensive: How to Enrage the Church of Scientology", Wired, Wired Magazine, archived from the original on December 7, 2009, retrieved November 27, 2009.
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- ^ a b Mitchell, Liam (April 24, 2013), Kroker, Arthur; Kroker, Marilouise (eds.), ""Because none of us are as cruel as all of us": Anonymity and Subjectivation", CTheory (eJournal), vol. Theory Beyond the Codes, Pacific Centre for Technology and Culture, tbc051, archived from the original on July 1, 2013, retrieved April 16, 2021
- ^ a b c d e f g h Eordogh, Fruzsina (July 26, 2011). "Encyclopedia Dramatica's seething satire is back". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. Retrieved July 28, 2011.
- ^ a b Read, Max (April 16, 2011). "What Happened to Encyclopedia Dramatica?". Gawker. Archived from the original on May 14, 2011. Retrieved April 19, 2011.
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- ^ a b Tate, Ryan (December 8, 2010). "Noose Closes Around Pro-Wikileaks Vigilantes". Gawker. Archived from the original on August 12, 2011. Retrieved July 30, 2011.
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New evidence uncovered by the Canary Mission, an anti-Semitism watchdog site, has revealed that Auernhaimer has another pseudonym, "Joseph Evers," who was listed as the owner and creator of a racist website and Wikipedia parody site called Encyclopedia Dramatica created in 2010. Since 2010, Evers has been wanted by Australia's Human Rights Commission for violating the country's Racial Discrimination Act in connection to his creation of the racist website.
- ^ a b Stryker 2011, p. 142.
- ^ Stryker 2011, p. 141.
- ^ Stryker 2011, p. ¶12.31.
- ^ LaCapria, Kim (April 15, 2011). "Encyclopedia Dramatica gone for good". The Inquisitr. Archived from the original on April 19, 2011. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
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- ^ a b Eordogh, Fruzsina (September 6, 2011). "Encyclopedia Dramatica is back up but still experiencing drama". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on March 31, 2012. Retrieved September 9, 2011.
- ^ Fruzsina Eördögh (March 21, 2012). "Encyclopedia Dramatica suffers minor outage". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on February 25, 2013. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
- ^ Schreier, Jason (January 16, 2013). "Someone Made A Game In Which You Shoot The Head Of The NRA". Kotaku. Archived from the original on August 24, 2016. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
A member of the Encyclopedia Dramatica forums has created a game called Bullet to the Head of the NRA, a rudimentary first-person shooter that lets you shoot NRA boss Wayne LaPierre. Released yesterday, Bullet to the Head of the NRA seems to have been designed just to piss people off. "Share this everywhere, especially gun-nut and anti-game websites," creator and forum user gizmo01942 writes. "Also see if you can't send it in to the NRA somehow, like through the feedback on their website or something." ED forum user gizmo01942 is also developing a game based on the Sandy Hook shooting, he says, in which you'd go into the Connecticut school and shoot kids. This NRA game is a demo, he writes. It will be a bonus level in the Sandy Hook shooter.
- ^ Akers, Royce (February 9, 2015). "An Idiot Made a Game Called 'Muhammad Sex Simulator". vice.com. United Kingdom. Archived from the original on April 18, 2015. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
Is Muhammad Sex Simulator 2015 the same sort of "satire"? In a statement on internet forum Encyclopedia Dramatica, gizmo01942 took responsibility for the game
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Monsarrat is now suing Encyclopedia Dramatica for alleged copyright infringement and seeking a total of $750,000 in damages.
- theoutline.com. Archivedfrom the original on January 2, 2018. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
Encyclopedia Dramatica, which is currently facing a life-threatening copyright lawsuit, is an ad-supported cesspool of surreal troll humor founded by online provocateur Sherrod DeGrippo in 2004.
- abovethelaw.com. Archivedfrom the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
Out there in meme-culture, a major lawsuit is happening. Encyclopedia Dramatica, "Wikipedia's evil twin," is being sued by Jonathan Monsarrat, an eccentric millionaire.
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Further reading
- Stryker, Cole (2011). Epic Win for Anonymous: How 4chan's Army Conquered the Web. New York: ISBN 978-1590207109.
External links
- Media related to Encyclopedia Dramatica at Wikimedia Commons
- Quotations related to Encyclopedia Dramatica at Wikiquote