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Encyclopædia Dramatica is a wiki, running MediaWiki software.[3] Launched on December 9, 2004, it satirizes both encyclopedic topics and current events, especially those related to or relevant to Internet culture. The wiki has been the subject of media attention given its focus on trolling and use of shock value, as well as its criticism of other Internet communities. It is also associated with the Internet subculture Anonymous. Some of the content on Encyclopædia Dramatica is sexually explicit or disturbing, including uncensored material taken from shock sites.[4]
ContentEncyclopædia Dramatica was founded in 2004 by Sherrod Degrippo also known as "Girlvinyl".[1][2] It characterizes itself as "[d]one in the spirit of Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary".[2] The New York Times has characterized the wiki as "an online compendium of troll humor and troll lore"[5] that it labeled a "troll archive".[5] C't, a European magazine for IT-professionals, noted the site's role in introducing newcomers to the culture of /b/ board of 4chan, a notorious Internet forum.[6] An author[who?] has said that it is a platform from which to initiate "exchange between the sensitive and the cruel" in order to achieve the "joy of disrupting another’s emotional equilibrium" because it "intentionally disrupts online communities" whose members have an "emotional investment" in them.[5] Encyclopædia Dramatica defines trolling in terms of doing things "for the lulz" (for laughs),[7] a phrase that it qualifies as "a catchall explanation for any trolling you do".[7] The targets of this trolling come from "every pocket of the Web",[8] to include not only the non-corporeal aspects of Internet phenomena, (e.g. online catchphrases, fan pages, forums, and viral phenomena), but also real people (e.g. amateur celebrities, identifiable internet drama participants and even Encyclopædia Dramatica's own forum members).[8][9] These are derided in a manner described variously as "coarse", "offensive", "obscene",[10][11] "irreverent, obtuse, politically incorrect",[12] "crude but hilarious",[8] "crude and abusive".[13] The material is presented to appear comprehensive, with extensive use of shock-value prose, drawings, photographs, and the like. The emotional responses are then added to the articles, often in similarly derogatory or inflammatory manner, with the purpose of provoking further emotional response. Adherents of the practice assert that visitors to the website "shouldn't take anything said on Dramatica seriously."[12] Articles at Encyclopædia Dramatica are notably critical of MySpace[10] as well as users on YouTube, LiveJournal, DeviantART, and Wikipedia. In The New York Times Magazine, journalist Jonathan Dee described it as a "snarky Wikipedia anti-fansite".[9] Shaun Davies of Australia's Nine Network has called it "Wikipedia's bastard child, a compendium of internet trends and culture which lampoons every subject it touches."[12] The site "is run like Wikipedia, but its style is the opposite; most of its information is biased and opinionated, not to mention racist, homophobic, and spiteful, but on the upside its snide attitude makes it spot-on about most Internet memes it covers."[14] This coverage of Internet jargon and memes has been acknowledged in the New Statesman,[15] on Language Log,[16] in C't magazine,[6] and in Wired magazine[8] - where it was once described as the wiki "where the vast parallel universe of Anonymous in-jokes, catchphrases, and obsessions is lovingly annotated".[17] In 2006 a group of trolls emailed the owner, DeGrippo, demanding edits to the protected 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.[1] In December 2008, the site claimed they needed donations as they were under attack and had lost its advertisers.[18] Attention  In the mediaThe website received mainstream media attention after Jason Fortuny used Encyclopædia Dramatica to post photographs, e-mails and phone numbers from one hundred and seventy-six responses to a Craigslist advertisement he posted in 2006, in which he posed as a woman seeking sexual encounters with dominant men.[3][5] The website is known for serving as a platform for members of the group known as "Anonymous", making Encyclopædia Dramatica a "favourite target for critics, who accuse Anonymous of propagating hate."[12] Through its association with members of Anonymous, Encyclopædia Dramatica received incidental coverage when actions by members of the group led to the arrest of an alleged pedophile,[19] when they demonstrated against Scientology in London;[20][21] when a member of Anonymous broke into the e-mail account of former vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin,[22] and when a member of Anonymous claimed credit for an attack on the virtual Second Life headquarters of former presidential candidate John Edwards.[23] The convergence of Encyclopædia Dramatica with the anti-Scientology campaign of Project Chanology was noted by technology journalist Julian Dibbell.[24] AwardsOn December 16, 2008, Encyclopædia Dramatica won the People's Choice Winners category for favorite wiki in Mashable's 2nd Annual Open Web Awards (with runner-up being WikiHow).[25] References
See alsoExternal links
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