Talk:Internet phenomenon/Arc-Feb2006

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Contents

[edit] deletion

Please don't delete this article! I love it!! 71.12.169.132 20:31, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] first talk

Categorized by relative date of phenomenon compared to others, from earliest to most recent.

Really. To me it looks like it's almost in alphabetical order, but it's messy. Looks all mixed up. – Kaonashi 13:07, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)

If Homestar Runner is going to be removed, then I'm tempted to remove Red vs. Blue and OS-tan from the list too, since I believe they are too "comprehensive" to be considered a fad. However, I think the broad term of "internet phenomenon" is more inclusive of more than just "fads" and I think everything there needs to stay.

Also, I think they need to be organized alphabetically, since it's really hard to pin down these things in chronological order.

[| Black people love us.com] is a touchy internet phenomenon in infancy.

[edit] Stop adding "Ignorant Immigrant"

66.108.43.127 and 66.65.125.6, You, who are most likely the same person, can not continue adding this entry every time someone deletes it. You are the only person that has added this item to the "Internet Phenomenon" page. I do not know what your relation to this site is, but you obviously have a strong connection to it. Please understand that you can not continue to add this item to this page. (At least without strong clause.) I encourage you to read up on What Wikipedia is not -- especially the no propaganda clause. There are very few guidelines for this site. Please understand and follow them. ConCuu 03:12, 15 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Dancing Banana?

Sorry folks, that's really a dancing pencil in the Peanut Butter Jelly Time video. If you don't believe me track down a little-known Sega CD game titled "Wild Woody". The main character is, indeed, a pencil, and this is the game that the sprite is taken from.

Are you sure? They don't look anything alike. [1] The Sega CD game is a 16-bit game, I doubt it is from there. Also, if the creator says it's a banana... it's a banana. [2]. (But it's a moot point since it's not listed as a phenomenon anymore...)

[edit] I completely give up

Every time I try to organize this article alphabetically and clean it up, it keeps getting reverted, entries are deleted and duplicated at will, and...dang it, I give up!

Please note that I am NOT an inexperienced user and these are not the results of inadequete time in the sandbox. These problems almost seem to be more the result of too many people fiddling with the article at once .

I don't know, we've had bugs like you describe before, but it doesn't seem like there were any edit conflicts here. I didn't have any trouble sorting the list.. maybe there's an issue with your computer? Rhobite 05:34, Dec 7, 2004 (UTC)
This article still needs some serious cleanup, and I suggest to leave that tag there until someone proves to be courageous enough to go and do all the necessary work. Also, after we find a good standard for this article, it should be enforced in order to prevent new additions from corrupting the article's appearance.--Kaonashi 01:37, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I hope I helped in some part by re-categorizing information. Did my best in alphabetizing it as well. If my changes stick, I will try to clean up the style and add more information.--Anonymous 04:53, Apr 25, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Future Reference

I guess this is a good time to point out that any and all future entries should be done in alphabetical order.

[edit] more than a fad

I must agree internet phenomenon is more than fad. It's true true that many of them 'fade away' but quite a few of them have more impact then a fad would. Salad Fingers spawned quite a few parodies, making it more then funny flash. Internet phenomenon should be an event that originated and to a degree limited to internet. I think the definition should be modified, or expended.

Martian Kyo 08:35, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I agree. I would have changed the definition myself, but I don’t know what it really should be...
Another problem I noticed is that it’s becoming easier to create duplicates...
A last problem with this page is that it is really subjective...
--Anonymous 10:17, Apr 28, 2005 (UTC)
The more i read this article the more i realized it missed the mark entirely, phenomenon should be something that's more specific to the internet, one of the definitions of phenonmenon i found was ' a remarkable development'. Most of these things aren't, salad fingers and homestead runner are funny but they aren't unusual enough to be classified as such. If I was to rewrite this page i would make it much more general. Internet Phenomenon would be blogs (not a blog but blogs in general), leet speak (hax0rz and all that), wiki technology, filesharing technologies and even MMO's. These are 'remarkable developments' in internet flash movies are funny but hardly a development. This has basically become and internet meme page.
Martian Kyo 16:34, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)
The phenomena you are listing sound more like Internet tools and Internet subcultures. (Which wouldn't be that bad to add, I suppose). And I guess we could get rid of a lot of the crappy or borderline entries out there. (Which I'm partially to blame for). But I think it would be a mistake to kill entries like the "Hampster Dance" or "JibJab" just because they aren't remarkable developments. For a brief moment in time -- and for no logical reason -- people went nuts over this stuff. The websites, animations, and videos that gathered huge followings based on word of mouth alone are truly phenomena.
--Anonymous 08:26, May 01, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] memetic terminology

Why must we use dubious memetic terminology in articles not directly related to memetics or meme theory? As we all know, it's yet to be seen whether memetics is a proto-science or a pseudo-science, and so, out of respect for this ambiguity, we should treat it with a little more skepticism especially in theoretically objective articles. What must be said can almost always be re-worded without the ideological terms which tacitly promote a still controversial theory. --Maprovonsha172 22:05, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

Come to think of it, I think I may have been on the right track in this article. When I explained why changing the wording to uphold the NPOV made sense, there were no rebuttals, yet someone changed the wording back anyway. So I placed the NPOV-template. Perhaps I should do that for all unnecessary usages of memetic terminology, as no Meme Theory advocates seem to be able to comprimise in order to maintain a NPOV on this site.
I may be outnumbered but I'm still right. --Maprovonsha172 23:31, 9 May 2005 (UTC)
I haven't rebutted you because I am having difficulty keeping up with your one-man crusade against memetics- unlike you, I actually watch and edit other pages, so that means my time is not monomaniacally focused (but while I am arguing against you, I am glad to see that you are getting a hang of the basics on Wikipedia- kudos, it generally takes people a while to figure out how to use brace templates.) And what you think is 'right' on Wikipedia doesn't really matter- it is what others think right is. If your case can really hold water, I suggest you stop screwing around with any and all articles that mention the word 'meme' and simply take a vote or request arbitration or something of that nature. And this is not a POV or biased article- as used 'meme' is perfectly accurate and widespread, and it even mentions that it is but a concept, providing a link to the meme article where a reader could find more criticism. --maru 00:00, 10 May 2005 (UTC)
You say that the use of the word meme is widespread and accurate, I would admit (as I've seen here) that it's widespread but that doesn't mean that it's accurate. I don't know any proper argument (let alone scientific evidence) that proves memetic's accuracy. I think I've shown on the discussion page to Meme that we have quite a few reasons to question it's accuracy.

Moreover, you say that "it even mentions that it is but a concept." But look at the category 'Internet memes!' There it certainly isn't presented as a concept, but gospel truth! Of course to say that there definitely is such a thing as an 'internet meme' presupposes the existence of memes to begin with which is still a question yet unanswered.

And, I didn't say I think I'm right, because I know that wouldn't matter; I said I am right and I will know that until (when/if) you show me that I'm not. My arguments against using memetic terminology on Wikipedia still stand, and I see no reason for doubting them. It's yet to be seen whether memetics is accurate, or even useful, so using words like meme or counter-meme or meme-plex is actually taking sides on a controversial issue. I'm not trying to be asshole (believe it or not) but I just thought that this is a problem on Wikipedia and I should do my best to put it straight. I really like Wikipedia and I value it as a quick reference very highly but we can't expect anyone to trust it as such if we don't do our best to maintain the NPOV policy, which means being very cautious when dealing with controversial topics like Creationism, Intelligent Design 'theory' and yes, Meme Theory.

P.S.-Thanks for the kudos.Maprovonsha172 01:59, 10 May 2005 (UTC)

Heh- presumed correct until proved wrong, right? But I find it difficult to really argue against you since your arguments seem to consist largely of:
  • 'But it hasn't been proven yet, and so any mention which doesn't spend several paragraphs reiterating that it is a new and controversial theory is POV and un-Wikpedian!'
and
  • 'See a certain forum discussion (except my provided link doesn't go actually there)'.
See why I'm getting a little frustrated? And adding to my frustration is a certain sense that you are not arguing in good faith- it feels like you've come to Wikipedia solely to enforce your views on memes in the face of fairly wide-spread support (I won't say unanimous, since I recollect one user who sorta/kinda agreed with you. But I don't remember which user because you have taken this battle to *so* many diffent pages! I mean, I think I've added about 20 pages, talk included to my watchlist just to watch for your edits!); my sense here is reinforced by looking over your user edits and seeing how many were not meme-related. There appears to be... Hm... (expand the list)... a little Latin stuff, and a little Campbell stuff. That's it.
But one more thing! I've noticed in my own comments, and other people's comments, that we seem to differentiate between two meanings of 'meme'. The first one is simply a descriptive term, dealing with 'ideas which are popular and get spread alot'. This seems to be the meaning most meant, like in 'Internet Phenomenon' or 'Internet memes'. It seems perfectly harmless and NPOV to me, as it is descriptive, like 'apple' or 'bicycle'. Is your beef with this definition?
Or is it with the more elaborate definitions, the ones which see 'meme's as replicators equal to genes, the ones which form the basis for a nascent field, the sorta definition/meaning intended by Blackmore, Dawkins, Wright and etc. ? The definitions which try to explain many features of humanity and how it deals with information, and its cultures and religions and organizations? Is your beef with this group of definitions (I say group rather than a single definition since the people working in memetics are not exactly as in sync as photons in a laser, savvy?)?
I think if we can separate this out and analyze it, we can avoid a wasteful edit war, with all its concomitants. If you are against the second, I think we can work it out, but if you oppose both definitions, then we've got a problem.
Please respond and clarify this issue; I really don't want to engage in a war- I'd rather work out a compromise and not sour a potentially useful contributor, but I will if I have to. --maru 02:16, 10 May 2005 (UTC)
What maru said. The usage of the word "meme" in its Internet context is an indisputable fact. Now if you'd like to work on putting a paragraph in the "memetics" page which explains the semantic difference between its strict scientific definition and the popular definition it's taken on, I would absolutely be in favor of working with you on that. I think obviously there's a disconnect here. You need to understand that the word "meme" has evolved beyond that strict "memetics" definition - and whether you like it or not, it's a term in common, widespread usage around the world and is not POV in any way. --FCYTravis 04:38, 10 May 2005 (UTC)
I've answered many of these in my most recent post on the Talk:Memes discussion page. As far as the link, I didn't know it didn't work. The link I put on the Memetics discussion page does work; I'm sorry for any confusion about that. --Maprovonsha172 14:32, 12 May 2005 (UTC)
Yes, well, we'll continue the discussion there. (I noticed that the working one was on the Meme page just a little while ago myself. I woulda noticed sooner, but I assumed they were all broken, which only further added to my frustration.) --maru 16:13, 12 May 2005 (UTC)
Had you considered trashing this page and replacing it with "memeage," the pop term for all kinds of replicating items found online, and dispense with the eighty-some examples? Examples are fun and all, but they're not a description. Just a thought.--Biddy563712:24 8 July 2005

[edit] Exploding dove

what about Randy Johnson and his fastball that hit a dove and instantly let it explode, Bird Beanball? That video pretty much went around the world via internet. --Abdull 22:31, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

I don't think it should be here... it's not exclusive to the internet. I remember that clip shown on tv A LOT. It pretty much went around the world via TV.

[edit] Tank Man

Should the Tank Man be included in the list of phenomenons?

Not an INTERNET phenomenon. He is definitely a cultural icon.

I think there should be a list of criteria for what qualifies to be an internet phenomenon -- and, do these phenomenons tend to be funny in nature? Is that a necessity? This should be explained.

Prank flashes (there is a list of them in Wikipedia somewhere) should also be listed; this include prank flashes that are obscene or just scary (like the Red Room story). I don't know if these sites should be mentioned separately, or just list one umbrella-term for all of the prank flash sites. The latter could be effective, because readers could then click on a link to the Wikipedia list of prank-sites.

I like the umbrella approach. Let's stick with that... with all applicable topics.

There is another internet phenomenon missing: Keyra Agustina. You can't deny her celebrity status within the internet culture. She was also featured on Howard Stern because of her popularity. Can't see what category she would fit in however... Maybe pictures? Or, you could create a section of Celebrity internet phenomenons.

She's back as "Augustina" (there was a duplicate article, and they got rid of the duplicate without a re-direct)

[edit] Are all these notable?

A lot of the links here seem like they may be not terribly notable. Andre (talk) 00:54, August 3, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Removed links

Following an example of List of webcomics, a notable website or person must have an article. So I removed the following entries, until proved notable.

BTW some of them happen to be not internet phenomena at all. Having a online video does not make thing an "internet" one.

[edit] People

  • Brian Collins, whose entertainingly bad performance as a sports anchor coined the phrase "boom goes the dynamite" and led to an appearance on CBS. (original video)

[edit] Videos

  • Bell Ringer on ESPN - A ESPN football game showing a man ringing a bell really fast that looks like he's masturbating due to the camera angle and his facial expressions. [3]
  • Broom Dance - A video of a kid in his underwear dancing with a broom [4]
  • Chocolate Milk Kid - A kid playing Rainbow Six, and leaves his Mic on while yelling at his mother for chocolate milk.
  • The Rawker - videos of a shirtless, long-haired middle-aged man singing classic-rock songs unaccompanied in his house, apparently recorded on videotape by the man and left in a music store in hopes of attracting a rock band to hire him as their singer. Site also features remixes of the man's vocals with backing music added by fans of the site.
  • Rock Paper Saddam [5]
  • STFU - A girl who does a bad job of singing, and then when she stops she is whacked from behind by a colleague who wants her to STFU. Link to video here.

[edit] Animation-based

  • Big Ass Titties - video which fantasizes over Lindsay Lohan, Halle Berry, Mariah Carey, Angelina Jolie, and various other celebrities' "big ass titties". View the official website here.
  • How to Open a Door, Anime Style - a stick figure tries to open the door by pushing, using brute force and variety of weapons, but at the end the door is opened only by pulling. [6]
  • I Hate Yuo Myg0t 2 - a flash animation of a Counter-Strike player who blames 'hacking' (especially that of myg0t) for his lack of skill. He is then tricked into downloading a Counter-Strike 'hacking' program off of myg0t which infects his computer (warning: contains foul language). [7]
    • I personally think this one is noteable.. damn near everyone at my school knows about it. -WindFish 05:10, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
  • Joe Cartoon [8] - A Web site featuring bizarre and (comically) violent interactive Flash animations, most of which feature cute but despicable small animals being put into blenders, microwaves, light sockets, aquariums filled with piranha, etc. (Similar to The Simpsons' "Itchy and Scratchy Show").
  • Nature Calls - A tree cursing at a bird and eventually killing it. [9]
  • Peanut Butter Jelly Time - A dancing banana that moves about the screen during a rap about peanut butter and jelly. Link to one version of the video here.
    • I'm glad that someone cleaned up this site, but I wonder about the "not in Wiki, shouldn't be listed" rule. I think this flash is a phenomenon.. but there really isn't much about it to warrent a seperate page on wiki. Then again, if we allow one exception to the rule, the flood-gates will open again and the site will look bad again.
  • The Six Flags adverts starring the Six Flags mascot Mr. Six. Article and clips can be found here.

[edit] Images

  • Ceciliantas - an EverQuest II player whose "cybering" was revealed by screenshots from an invisible player in the same room
  • Everywhere girl Reported often in the Inquirer about the stock photo usage gone wild. A specific university girl image appears in various institution and company adverts.
  • Jowling - a jowler is a photo of someone shaking their head very quickly. See Jowlers.com for examples.
  • Keep Sharpies Away From Mexicans - A photo of two girls, of Mexican descent, who have drawn exceptionally dark and asymmetrical eyebrows on their faces.
  • Moshzilla - a girl moshing at a show
  • Phooning - Introduced by John Darrow in 1999. A phoon is standing in a running position in an otherwise normal picture.

[edit] Websites

  • Black People Love Us
    • This one is somewhat old (archive.org's first entry is in 2002) and still popular to this day. Definitely a notable meme. 75,400 Google results when searching for the exact phrase "black people love us". --Aleron235 19:47, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
  • Consumption Junction
  • Crying, while eating - Users submit 30 second videos of themselves crying while eating food.
  • The Death Clock - Where you can personalize your clock for a countdown to your death
  • Dickcream - a website containing various amusing video loops set to music, many of which have circulated around the Internet. Click here for front page and here for song/video selection (click any number at top except date).
  • Ignorant Immigrant - Website featuring photographs that are distributed memetically throughout the web
  • Mentally Incontinent - The world's (or at least, the internet's) first ever reader-edited book. Chapters are voted on by the site's members. Known mostly for The Wal-Mart Story and the PeTA Cows Story (The Cows... They Talk!).
  • Vin Diesel Fact Generator - A list of humorous "facts" about the actor Vin Diesel.
  • Y2Khai - One Loc'd Out Asian Going Crazy!
  • Zefrank.com - A website that is a fun way to waste one's time with due to the many games, interactive toys, pictures and videos presented on it. Zefrank.com is known for its "How to Dance Properly" video.
  • Human Descent - a site full of morphed images created by Martin. Visit the gallery!
    • Ok, several of these are definitely popular memes. Black people love us has been passed around a lot, it's a moderately popular one. Consumptionjunction is a popular website to link to for movies and stuff, but I'm not sure if I'd consider the site itself a meme, since it's really a repository for memes. Crying while eating was actually part of a contest in "virulent/contagious marketing", I think it won second prize, next to this fake GPS tracking thing in a pair of panties (that should probably also be put in as a meme). You should read the contagious media website, it is the one that ran the contest, it links to published articles in newspapers about "black people love us" and links to the contest page. I've seen a few people use death clock a few years ago, not as big, but still a meme. Dickcream seems to be more of a repository for memes, not a meme itself. y2khai was (still is?) a moderately popular meme at one point, I actually remember showing my friends that in 2001, it's basically an asian guy in an elvis suit doing rap in these weird flash videos. I can't speak for the rest of what's here, but it's possible they may be valid memes as well. I may create articles for these, especially the "contagious media" ones, since they've actually been in the mainstream press. Nathan J. Yoder 09:20, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Personal sites

  • Fully Ramblomatic - Personal website of Benjamin 'Yahtzee' Croshaw, a British teenager who rambles, reviews and entertains.
  • Peter Pan's Home Page - Personal site of Randy Constan, an adult man who likes to dress up like Peter Pan.
    • That peter pan website has been passed around a lot, for obvious reasons. Nathan J. Yoder 09:12, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Blogs

[edit] Text-based

Common! Bloodninja needs his own entire article, you think he is not a phenomenon? check this google search for "bloodninja"

I think there was a wiki entry for Bloodninja at one point... but it wasn't that good and got deleted. You can try to re-write the entry yourself or put in a footnote to Cybering. There really isn't much to say about it for its own separate page though.
  • HELP - I BURNED MY GIRLFRIENDSS COOTER was the name of a joke created by a user named "ssl" on the IGN Vestibule [10] Internet forum about a 22-year-old requesting assistance after burning a teenage girl's genitals. A screenshot of the post can be found here. Although the original thread was deleted, a slightly modified version of the post was entered into this forum.
  • Kurt Vonnegut's supposed 1997 "wear sunscreen" commencement address at MIT, widely circulated on the Internet. In fact, the commencement speaker at MIT in 1997 was Kofi Annan and the putative Vonnegut speech was an article published in the Chicago Tribune on June 1, 1997 by columnist Mary Schmich.
  • The Musical Baton - A chain letter requesting bloggers to talk about their music and to pass the topic to five other bloggers

[edit] Advertising

[edit] News events

  • The September 11, 2001 Attacks is considered to be the first major event to be followed by a mass audience on the internet. It spawned hordes of e-mails, especially about a pair of Nostradamus predictions which were later announced to be hoaxes.
Plainly false statement. mikka (t) 16:59, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] More

More removed:

the "O rly owl" is a fairly prevalent meme started on 4chan, someone should make an article on it. I've even used image macros myself with it. Nathan J. Yoder 09:08, 30 October 2005 (UTC)
  • Big Trouble in Little China - devoted to the Jack Burton movie.
  • Miko Miko Nurse - a japanese game's song made into an animutation and a few other web animations and movies
  • ilovebees.com, A.K.A. the Haunted Apiary, a viral marketing campaign/virtual reality game launched to advertise Halo 2.
  • Lee Hotti (not his real name) — Became the subject of hundreds of photochops, dozens of YTMNDs, a website, and even an eBay auction after appearing with friends in a photo posted to an internet forum. Was singled-out as a target of mockery and personal attack for his over-the-top choice of style - fake tan, plucked eyebrows, heavily-gelled hairstyle, and wearing (what appears to be) women's earrings. The original thread 'Pic of me and mah boys up in Jersey' garnered a whopping 2,000,000 visits in under 23 days, owing largely to the sudden popularity of Lee HoTTi.
  • toothpaste for dinner
I removed this since it was just a webcomic, and not a webcomic that particularly stands out that it should be listed on this page. There are others that have had a large impact on web culture, such as Penny Arcade, PvP, or the original webcomic ( Doctor Fun). I believe that it would be better to set a rule that links to the general idea such as "Webcomic" should suffice instead of duplicating an existing "List of" on this page. If "toothpaste for dinner" is that important to be on this page, then do what was similar to what is listed here for "shock sites", where the most popular are mentioned.

[edit] Why is newgrounds here?

80.58.2.236 says... "(To those who keep removing its entry, it's there because, as well as being a phenomenon itself, it's hosted things such as Elian Wassup, All Your Base, Numa Numa & Salad Fingers.)"

I'm not disputing that Elian Wassup, All Your Base and Salad Fingers are phenomenons. (I've never heard of Elian Wassup, but that's besides the point.)
But what's Newgrounds part in this? They are just a web host. Weebl and Bob are hosted on Nildram servers. Perhaps they should be listed as a phenomenon too? --Billpg 23:54, 19 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] A source for all of these sites, plus many more

I happen to know a site which lists all of these. It is called ourstrangeworld.com. Matau 15:02, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] All your base are belong to us?

I don't see this anywhere in the article, surely this is a notable internet phenomenon? --anon

All your base are belong to us yes and is in the. mikka (t) 18:51, 13 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Missing? Or not fads?

I was looking for some outside documentation to back up this entry, and this article [13] got my attention. Are we missing some big items here? Or do they not fit this definition? (Or worse yet, should the definition change)

Here are a few that came to my mind that are possible additions:

  • Blogger? This one I kinda see more of a hosting site for potential phenomenons, rather than one itself.

ConCuu 21:03, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

The O RLY link in the article is merely a redirect back to the article. Why? 203.26.177.2 14:29, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Agustina & Others

What is the reason Keyra Agustina has been removed again? And I have also noticed that the internet's most downloaded women have also been removed. All are eligible to being internet phenomenons.

[edit] Newgrounds Redux

I still think Newgrounds, being as it is very very popular, should be included in the Websites section of this article. It seems more of an internet phenomenon than even some other links listed here.

[edit] Christmas Lights

The christmas lights video has received news coverage, and has spread widely across the net. I'm of the opinion it belongs on the list Elijya 17:34, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

I agree. I believe Miller Brewing Company even uses it in one of their new commercials. --Klaser 17:38, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Best of the Web '05

CNN.com had a "Best of the Web '05" newsclip which listed the following:

  • The Star Wars Kid (remixes/tributes)
  • Brian Collins & "Boom Goes the Dynamite"
  • SNL: "The Chronic of Narnia Rap"
  • Chin2
  • "Will You Go To Prom With Me"
  • Back Dormitory Boys (or Chinese Backstreet Boys)
  • Numa Numa

I would imagine that some of the ones missing should be added. (Perhaps not the SNL skit, but the others are sure better than a lot of other stuff currently listed). ConCuu 00:29, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

I agree, its tough to argue with a nationally recognized media outlet's take on what was big in '05. --Wootonius 20:09, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 2: electric boogaloo

I am now going to add, again, the 2: electric boogaloo meme reverted by Mikkalai with no comment. Obviously the notability of these phenomena is a subjective thing, so that one particular person has not heard of them is not reason enough not to include a particular one. Look at this Google search. If it is still not to be included, please explain why. Arru 16:29, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Defining internet phenomena

I think many items on this page clash with the definition given. At least according to the definition, the criterion for inclusion is that it was something previously unknown that has become well-known, often suddenly and fleetingly, because of the internet.

So, how to listed items hold up when subjected to the criteria of (i) obscurity; (ii) fame; (iii) caused by internet.

  1. The Howard Dean scream: certainly it became notable, but almost immediately and largely through television. I don't think simply popularity on the internet is sufficient (though it is necessary). Then, popular websites could count as phenomena. Also, it gained its currency largely through television. Perhaps a television phenomenon, but not really an internet one.
  2. A lot of the animation-based ones are trickier. Certainly, they are popular and exist because of the internet. But how does is this distinguished from, say, Google as a popular phenomenon? Maybe a different page on internet animation?
  3. Examples of what I would call the purest internet phenomena would be John Daker and The Star Wars kid. The "item" (in both cases) exists prior to its placement on the internet in obscurity and rose to fame because of the internet. The Star Wars kid even more so, gaining currency outside of the internet. Howard Dean almost is the opposite of this: gained currency on TV and then became popular on the internet.
  4. What about the Farting Preacher? Certainly, popular on the internet. But wasn't this originally designed as a humorous series of video tapes?
  5. Text and image-based phenomena also seem like something different. What distinguishes them, say, from internet "slang" or "catch-phrases"? Are catch-phrases really the same thing as phenomena? Is this page just a "Popular Things on the Internet" page? I mean, I do appreciate this page, but perhaps think that developing criteria for internet phenomena (a short series of questions, for instance) would help bring focus to the page. I actually don't object to any of the items listed here being on wikipedia, but I think this page either needs to be divided for the definition at the top re-thought.

--Hamiltonian 06:17, 12 January 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Chuck Norris

Lately there has been a lot off buzz about Chuck Norris, should we add him --Perfection 00:22, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Falling Sand Game?

Should the Falling Sand Game be included in the page? I wasn't sure, so I'm asking here. --Dch111 03:26, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

I'd say so. Its become very popular in such a short time, its worth being mentioned at least. Plus it has a page on wikipedia already, so yes. DemonWeb 18:12, 16 February 2006 (UTC)
Would it go under "Things?" I'm not sure of the category. If anyone knows where it goes, they can put it there because I might not be back for awhile. --Dch111 00:25, 19 February 2006 (UTC)