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| == Types of content == | == Types of content == | ||
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| Most ED articles have a "negative point of view" to encourage ], ], and other kinds of humor mocking the article's subject. Articles are not required to be referenced or have any basis in fact. | Most ED articles have a "negative point of view" to encourage ], ], and other kinds of humor mocking the article's subject. Articles are not required to be referenced or have any basis in fact. | ||
Revision as of 20:09, 16 July 2006
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Encyclopædia Dramatica (ED) is a MediaWiki-based wiki launched on December 10, 2004, by Sherrod DeGrippo, an administrator of LJ Drama, as a Misplaced Pages-style collection of LiveJournal events and Internet memes.
History
Encyclopædia Dramatica's history began when LiveJournal blogger and LJ Drama co-founder James Lee from Seattle, Washington, started using Misplaced Pages and created an article about LiveJournal blogger Grayden Rayne (former legal name Joshua Williams). The article was subsequently deleted, despite LiveJournal users, including members of LJ Drama, lobbying to keep the article.
LiveJournal user and LJ Drama administrator Sherrod DeGrippo heard of the deletion of the LiveJournal-related article, and, as a response, came up with the idea of creating Encyclopædia Dramatica so LiveJournal users could write about "the internets". DeGrippo stated in a Misplaced Pages discussion that " vanity pages and personal flame wars on wikipedia is the reason Encyclopedia Dramatica exists".
In January of 2006, the hacking group Bantown used Encyclopædia Dramatica to announce they had hacked 900,000 LiveJournal accounts exploiting cross-site scripting vulnerabilities in LiveJournal's core code.
Since its creation, Encyclopædia Dramatica has grown to over 3200 articles.
Types of content
Most ED articles have a "negative point of view" to encourage sarcasm, hyperbole, and other kinds of humor mocking the article's subject. Articles are not required to be referenced or have any basis in fact.
The Encyclopædia Dramatica makes sporadic attempts to weed out wiki pages that are "unfunny", a term for which the encyclopedia has its own particularized definition. The administrators may ban users who in their personal viewpoint create "unfunny" articles; this viewpoint varies from administrator to administrator. Because the MediaWiki software blocks IP addresses as well as user accounts, those who share an IP address with a banned user will also be blocked. The site's policy, as currently written, does not protect users from being banned by the administrators. The site has not made the effort to ban open proxy servers, so banning based on IP address does not always work.
Example themes include:
- Articles about the world's countries that identify the number of 7-11 stores (and thus, Slurpee availability) as an important marker of world status
- Criticism of Misplaced Pages
- Controversial social commentary
- Display of sexual images
- Drama from LiveJournals and websites. For instance, April Furs Day on 4chan.
- Internet celebrities
- "Internet Law", with a crash course on libel, slander and copyright as applied to web forums
- "Old memes" such as "in the ass", "16 year old girls", "13 year old boys", "42", "7-11," and "At least 100 years ago".
- Mocking subcultures like emo, goths, the self-important, and various computer and internet-related subcultures revolving around things from programming to gaming.
- Mocking of furries.
- Presenting an article as encyclopedic, while delivering satirical commentary or criticism.
- Purposeful misinformation
Controversy
- Many of the articles on Encyclopædia Dramatica are directly related to the users of LiveJournal, the world's largest blogging community. Critics have charged that articles that caricature people exaggerate the facts for the purpose of humor may border on personal attack at times. The flare-up when these users come to Encyclopædia Dramatica to edit their own articles or threaten to employ litigation to remove the content provides additional humor (or lulz) to those who visit the site.
- In August 2005, a DMCA notice was issued to Uncyclopedia and Misplaced Pages seeking the removal of a picture of Sherrod DeGrippo and, for Uncyclopedia, the Encyclopædia Dramatica logo because the current copyright notice, which had been changed after the pictures were used on Misplaced Pages and Uncyclopedia, states that they were not authorized to host these images.