Encyclopedia Dramatica Founded

2004

Date: 10 December 2004 · Place: encyclopediadramatica.com (later .se, .rs, .online) · Figures: Sherrod DeGrippo (Girlvinyl), founder · the LJDrama crowd, early editors · Tags: Wiki, Hostile 01. Wikipedia for the Cruelty Sherrod DeGrippo, a 26-year-old infosec analyst writing as Girlvinyl, launches Encyclopedia Dramatica on 10 December 2004 as a wiki spin-off from LiveJournal drama coverage. The brief is Wikipedia's format aimed at internet subcultures, with no neutrality, every entry written in maximum bad faith. Articles document /b/ raids, furries, otherkin, MySpace celebrities, and individual targets in vicious detail. The site is the era's hostile archive, the place where the chans' inside-baseball is written down. 02. The Reference Book for /b/ Encyclopedia Dramatica becomes /b/'s working memory. Rules of the Internet, Pool's Closed, the entire taxonomy of cancer-on-/b/-today: ED writes them up. The site is also a documented harassment vehicle. Multiple lawsuits, multiple defamation actions. DeGrippo sells the site in 2011; it has bounced between hosts and registrars for fifteen years since. The cultural function (a hostile dictionary for image-board culture) outlasts every individual domain. Sources • Sherrod DeGrippo interview, Wired (2007) • KnowYourMeme, Encyclopedia Dramatica • Wayback Machine, encyclopediadramatica.com captures 2005-2011