Encyclopedia Dramatica

2009-04-08T12:39:46Z

Far2: New page: '''Encyclopædia Dramatica''' ('''ED''') is a MediaWiki-based wiki launched on December 9, 2004 [http://reports.internic.net/cgi/whois?whois_nic=encyclopediadramatica.com&t...

'''Encyclopædia Dramatica''' ('''ED''') is a [[MediaWiki]]-based [[wiki]] launched on [[December 9]], [[2004]] [http://reports.internic.net/cgi/whois?whois_nic=encyclopediadramatica.com&type=domain], by Sherrod DeGrippo [http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Encyclopedia_Dramatica] as a central catalog for the world to view comprehensive, reference-style [[parody]] and [[satire]] of drama, [[memes]], and other interesting happenings on the [[internet]]. [http://encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Encyclopedia_Dramatica:Community_Portal]

Since its creation, according to automatically generated statistics, Encyclopædia Dramatica has grown to over 90,000 articles as of October 2008, with over 66,000 registered users.<ref name=stats>[http://encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Special:Statistics Encyclopedia Dramatica statistics page]</ref>,<ref name=EDmemberlist>[http://encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php?title=Special:Listusers&limit=1000&offset=0 Encyclopedia Dramatica member list]</ref> According to [[Alexa Internet]], "The articles in this parody of an encyclopedia explain things in a funny and not necessarily correct way".<ref name=alexapage>[http://alexa.com/data/details/main?url=encyclopediadramatica.com Alexia details page]</ref> and the site ranked 3,350th<ref name=alexarank>[http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?q=&url=encyclopediadramatica.com Alexa traffic ranking]</ref> as of the October 2008 Internet traffic ranking.

==History==

Encyclopædia Dramatica's history began when [[LiveJournal]] blogger and LJ Drama co-founder James Lee from [[Seattle, Washington]], started using [[Wikipedia]] 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.[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Mediacrat]

LiveJournal user and LJ Drama administrator Sherrod DeGrippo heard of the deletion of the LiveJournal-related article{{fact}}, and, as a response, came up with the idea of creating Encyclopædia Dramatica so LiveJournal users could write about "the internets"{{fact}}. DeGrippo stated in a Wikipedia discussion that "[avoiding] vanity pages and personal [[flame war]]s on wikipedia [sic] is the reason Encyclopedia Dramatica exists".[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Michael_Everson&diff=prev&oldid=12893918]

In January of 2006, the [[troll organization]] [[Bantown]] used Encyclopædia Dramatica to announce they had hacked 900,000 LiveJournal accounts exploiting cross-site scripting vulnerabilities in LiveJournal's core code.<ref name=bantown>[http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2006/01/account_hijackings_force_livej.html Washington Post Reference to ED]</ref>

== Types of content ==
{{content}}
{{OriginalResearch}}
{{Unreferencedsect}}
Most ED articles avoid a "neutral point of view" [http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/ED_is_not#ED_is_Not_Neutral] and encourage [[sarcasm]], [[hyperbole]], and other kinds of humor mocking the article's subject.{{fact}} ED articles are not required to be referenced or have any basis in fact.[http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Encyclopedia_Dramatica:Basic_Rules]

The Encyclopædia Dramatica makes sporadic attempts to weed out wiki pages that are are deemed to be "unfunny" or not dramatic enough. [http://encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Category:Crap]s site, which is to document humor and drama on the internet. Any article listed here could be deleted at any time by a mod. [http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Unfunny] The administrators may ban users who in their personal viewpoint create "unfunny" articles;[http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Unfunny#Unfunny%20ED%20users] this viewpoint varies from administrator to administrator.{{fact}} The site's [[policy]], as currently written by [http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/User:Girlvinyl#Bad_Cop Girlvinyl], does not protect users from being banned by the administrators.{{fact}} The site has not made the effort to ban [[open proxy]] servers, so banning based on IP address does not always work.{{fact}}

Example themes include:

*Criticism of Wikipedia, its editors, admins, and policies. [http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Wikipedia][http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Wikipedia_Policies_and_Guidelines][http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Completely_irrelevant_history]
*Social and political commentary [http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Liberalism][http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Conservatism]
*Display of sexual images [http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Sex][http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Porn]
*"Drama" from [[LiveJournal]]s and [[website]]s. [http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Mediacrat][http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/LJ_Drama][http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/April_Furs_Day]
*[[Internet phenomenon|Internet celebrities]] [http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Jameth][http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/The_great_emo_suicide_meme_of_2005]
*"Internet Law", with a crash course on [[libel]], [[slander]] and [[copyright]] as applied to web forums [http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Internet_Law]
*"''Old memes''" such as "in the ass", "16 year old girls", "13 year old boys", "42", "7-11," and "At least 100 years ago".[http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Old_Meme]
*Mocking subcultures like [[Emo (slang)|emo]], [http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Emo] [[Goth subculture|goths]], [http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Goth] the "self-important", [[http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Unwarranted_Self-Importance]
*Mocking various computer and internet-related subcultures revolving around things from programming to gaming [http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Zerg_Rush].
*Mocking of [[Furry fandom|furries]]. [http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Furry] [http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Category:Furry_Shit]
*Presenting an article as encyclopedic, while delivering satirical commentary or criticism. [http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Palestine]
*Purposeful misinformation [http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Ann_Coulter] [http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Hillary_Clinton]
*Trolls [http://encyclopediadramatica.com/User:Gregory_Kohs]
*Whining/threatening [http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Image:I_will_smack_a_legal_suit_so_hard_against_you.png]
*Doing it wrong [http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Image:Hiding_libel_for_the_time_being.png]

== Reviews ==
{{Self-published|newsvine column}}
"I love Encyclopedia Dramatica, just like I love Uncyclopedia, alternate views on Wikipedia." - [[Newsvine|Newsvine]] <ref name=hewsvinereview>[http://shaolintiger.newsvine.com/_news/2006/03/14/132384-another-alternative-wikipedia-encyclopedia-dramatica Newsvine.com review of ED]</ref>

== References ==
<references/>

== See also ==
*[[LiveJournal]]
*[[Uncyclopedia]]
*[[Kamelopedia]]

== External link ==
*[http://encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Main_Page Encyclopedia Dramatica]

[[Category:MediaWiki websites]]
[[Category:Online encyclopedias]]
[[Category:Wiki communities]]
[[Category:Wiki parodies]]

MyWikiBiz - User contributions [en]

Encyclopedia Dramatica