The OhInternet Forums are now open to everyone! Register today!
Also remember to join IRC, learn about it here.

Encyclopedia Dramatica

A once noble pursuit of lulz, corrupted by immature elements.

ED wallpaper.jpg

 
 

Summary

Encyclopedia Dramatica (or ED) was a NSFW website which hosted a forum and a wiki similar to Wikipedia, except with the intent to archive lulz instead of trivia about anime and Star Wars. Encyclopedia Dramatica was the precursor of Oh Internet.

The wiki initially covered dramatic events occurring on LiveJournal and similar sites but quickly expanded to cover other websites and IRL events. The site became infamous for its no-holds-barred take on everything, and was seen by many as an unlikely leader in supporting free speech.

The site also hosted a blog that contained status updates and posts about Encyclopedia Dramatica in the news.

Encyclopedia Dramatica's reputation included negative attributes, but, it had been used as a reference by sites hoping to document internet drama and memes.

 
“ 		 

Done in the spirit of Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary, Encyclopædia Dramatica's purpose is to provide a central catalog for the e-public to view parody and satire of drama, memes, e-pals and other interesting happenings on the internets. The goal is to provide comprehensive, reference-style parody, to poke fun at everyone and everything on the internet.

While the articles themselves are mostly satirical jabs at Internet users (both individually and in groups) and phenomena, bear in mind that the Encyclopædia Dramatica itself is a parody of a much less funny online encyclopedia. As such, ED articles tend to make fun of the supposed objectivity and accuracy, elitism, and stupid edit wars of such sites. In other words, expect blatant, biased lies, and expect boring truths to get deleted quickly.

ED's third purpose is to catalogue Internets phenomena. In this role, it's actually a fairly good reference for dramatic events and things like memes and netspeak, provided you bear in mind the first two purposes and take what you learn with a Girlmecha-sized grain of salt.
 

„
 

—Encyclopedia Dramatica, on itself;

Origins

Founded in late 2004, ED was initially created in response to the actions of the well-known bureaucracy of Wikipedia, which barred a group of LJ Drama admins and users from creating an article about Mediacrat, who had gotten into arguments and legal tussles with Jameth and Andrewpants during the previous summer. Wikipedia admins refused to allow the article, citing notability concerns, despite a large section of the internet knowing of the battles and perpetuating them.

The site's title was coined by 33mhz on Jameth's journal. On the inaugural installation and first operational night of ED, Scarlet and jeremyjx were added as moderators, with others following. Once the site was posted on LNN, its audience and content grew exponentially.

Eventually, the site was overrun with chantards, who exploited the site's freedom of speech approach, until the site closed in April, 2011. This was done with a heavy heart by the site's owner, Girlvinyl, who managed this untenable situation for several years. After the site closed, several sites attempted to mirror Encyclopedia Dramatica's content. These sites were soon overrun by the same chantards who ruined Encyclopedia Dramatica itself.

Current status

On April 16, 2011, ED evolved into Oh Internet. The forums section is currently in beta, and our blog no longer covers things like site news and status updates; instead, the blog now covers internet culture.





Facts

  • Founded in December, 2004.

Images

ED's OS-tan-esque mascot, Æ-tan.

Another image of Æ-tan.

Former SysOp OldDirtyBtard's Dramatica tattoo.

The original purpose of ED.

ED's logo.

Some deviantART user's thoughts on ED.

ED being cosplayed





Related Pages

Ae-tan
Anonymuncule
EDiot
Encyclopedia Dramatica Forum
Oh Internet
WhatPort80

External Links


This article is part of a series on websites.
You can find additional websites here.
Explore our other categories for information on different subjects!
Retrieved from "http://ohinternet.com/Encyclopedia_Dramatica"