Editing Encyclopedia Dramatica (section)

===DeGrippo (.com)===
[[File:Encyclopedia Dramatica historical logo (2005–2010).png|thumb|right|Encyclopedia Dramatica's historical logo (2005–2010))]]
Encyclopedia Dramatica was founded in 2004 by Sherrod DeGrippo, also known by the online [[pseudonym]] "Girlvinyl".<ref name="ed:about" /><ref name="schwartz">{{cite news |last= Schwartz |first= Mattathias |title= Malwebolence |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?pagewanted=all |work= The New York Times Magazine |date= August 3, 2008 |access-date= August 1, 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090418133749/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date= April 18, 2009 |url-status= live |df= mdy-all }}</ref> DeGrippo joined [[LiveJournal]] in 2000 and became enthralled by the behavior of some of its members:

<blockquote>People were accessible and it was bidirectional. Voyeurs and exhibitionists were able to interact in a way that was normalized. That’s why I started ED. It was mostly just personalities that were just so nuts and fascinating.{{sfn|Stryker|2011|p=137–139}}</blockquote>

She became involved in the LJdrama community, which covered stories on LiveJournal gossip. When the community was banned from LiveJournal, they created their own website. In 2002, two LiveJournal users, Joshua Williams (aka mediacrat) and Andrewpants, became intimately involved with each other. After they broke off their relationship, LJdrama decided to document the resulting drama. Unflattering photographs of Williams were spread on the web, and Williams considered this to be harassment. He threatened legal action, traveled to Portland, Oregon, in order to speak to LiveJournal's abuse team, and reported the alleged harassment to a local TV news station.{{sfn|Stryker|2011|p=137-139}} DeGrippo created Encyclopedia Dramatica in order to "house some information from livejournal and some drama about hackers [[Theo de Raadt|Theo DeRaadt]] and Darren Reed."<ref name="gawkerinterview">{{cite web |last=Read |first=Max |title=What Happened to Encyclopedia Dramatica? |url=http://gawker.com/5792738/what-happened-to-encyclopedia-dramatica |publisher=Gawker |date=April 16, 2011 |access-date=April 19, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514145854/http://gawker.com/5792738/what-happened-to-encyclopedia-dramatica |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |df=mdy }}</ref>

Encyclopedia Dramatica characterized itself as being "In the spirit of [[Ambrose Bierce]]'s ''[[The Devil's Dictionary]]''."<ref name="ed:about" /> ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]'' recognized the wiki as "an online compendium of troll humor and troll lore"<ref name="schwartz" /> that it labeled a "troll archive".<ref name="schwartz" /> ''[[C't]]'', a European magazine for [[Information technology|IT]] professionals, noted the site's role in introducing newcomers to the culture of [[4chan#/b/ imageboard|4chan's /b/]], a notorious Internet imageboard.<ref name="himmelein" /> Encyclopedia Dramatica defines trolling in terms of doing things "for the ''[[lulz]]''" (for laughs),<ref name="tsosis" /> a phrase that it qualifies as "a catchall explanation for any trolling you do."<ref name="tsosis">{{citation
 |last         = Tsotsis
 |first        = Alexia
 |title        = My Date With Anonymous: A Rare Interview With the Elusive Internet Troublemakers
 |url          = http://www.laweekly.com/2009-02-05/columns/my-date-with-anonymous-a-rare-interview-with-the-illusive-internet-troublemakers/
 |periodical   = LA Weekly
 |access-date   = August 11, 2009
 |date         = February 4, 2009
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20090612031524/http://www.laweekly.com/2009-02-05/columns/my-date-with-anonymous-a-rare-interview-with-the-illusive-internet-troublemakers/
 |archive-date = June 12, 2009
 |url-status     = live
 |df           = mdy-all
}}.</ref>

The targets of this trolling come from "every pocket of the Web",<ref name="dibbell">{{citation
 |last         = Dibbell
 |first        = Julian
 |date         = January 18, 2008
 |access-date   = August 11, 2009
 |title        = Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame on Griefers, the Sociopaths of the Virtual World
 |periodical   = Wired
 |volume = 16
 |issue        = 2
 |url          = https://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/magazine/16-02/mf_goons?currentPage=all
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20090512194229/http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/magazine/16-02/mf_goons?currentPage=all
 |archive-date = May 12, 2009
 |url-status     = live
 |df           = mdy-all
}}.</ref> to include not only the non-[[wikt:corporeal|corporeal]] aspects of [[List of Internet phenomena|Internet phenomena]], (e.g. online catchphrases, fan pages, forums, and [[Viral phenomenon|viral phenomena]]), but also real people (e.g. amateur celebrities, identifiable [[internet drama]] participants and even Encyclopedia Dramatica's own forum members).<ref name="dibbell" /><ref name="dee" /> These are derided in a manner described variously as "coarse", "offensive", "obscene",<ref name="mitchell" /><ref>{{citation
| author = Staff Writer<!-- *assumed*. Citation was incomplete -->
| title = 2 Do: Monday, December 26
| periodical = Chicago Tribune RedEye Edition
| page = 2
| date = December 16, 2005}}.</ref> "irreverent, obtuse, [[political correctness|politically incorrect]]",<ref name="davies" /> "crude but hilarious",<ref name="dibbell" /> and "crude and abusive".<ref name="peckham">{{citation
 |first        = Charles H.
 |last         = Peckham
 |title        = Encyclopedia Dramatica
 |url          = http://www.newsreview.com/chico/encyclopedia-dramatica/content?oid=620760
 |periodical   = Chico News & Review
 |date         = February 7, 2008
 |access-date   = May 16, 2008
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20141206010824/http://www.newsreview.com/chico/encyclopedia-dramatica/content?oid=620760
 |archive-date = December 6, 2014
 |url-status     = live
 |df           = mdy-all
}}.</ref> The material is presented to appear comprehensive, with extensive use of [[shock value|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."<ref name="davies" />

Articles at Encyclopedia Dramatica are particularly critical of [[MySpace]]<ref name="mitchell">{{citation
| last = Mitchell | first = John
| title = Megabits and Pieces: The Latest Teen Hangout
| periodical = North Adams Transcript
| date = May 20, 2006}}.</ref> as well as users on [[YouTube]], LiveJournal, [[DeviantART]], [[Tumblr]], and Wikipedia. In ''The New York Times Magazine'', journalist Jonathan Dee described it as a "[[wikt:snarky|snarky]] Wikipedia anti-fansite".<ref name="dee">{{citation
 |first        = Jonathan
 |last         = Dee
 |title        = All the News That's Fit to Print Out
 |url          = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/magazine/01WIKIPEDIA-t.html?pagewanted=5
 |periodical   = The New York Times Magazine
 |page         = 5
 |access-date   = August 11, 2009
 |date         = July 1, 2007
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20141206011023/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/magazine/01WIKIPEDIA-t.html?pagewanted=5
 |archive-date = December 6, 2014
 |url-status     = live
 |df           = mdy-all
}}.</ref> Shaun Davies of Australia's ''[[Nine Network]]'' called it "Wikipedia's bastard child, a compendium of internet trends and culture which lampoons every subject it touches."<ref name="davies">{{citation
 |url          = http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/459249/critics-point-finger-at-satirical-website
 |title        = Critics point finger at satirical website
 |periodical   = 9-News
 |last         = Davies
 |first        = Shaun
 |access-date   = August 11, 2009
 |date         = May 8, 2008
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110605124923/http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/459249/critics-point-finger-at-satirical-website
 |archive-date = June 5, 2011
 |url-status     = dead
 |df           = mdy-all
}}.</ref> 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."<ref name="douglas">{{citation
 |url=http://gawker.com/346385/what-the-hell-are-4chan-ed-something-awful-and-b
 |title=What The Hell Are 4chan, ED, Something Awful, And 'b'?
 |periodical=ValleyWag
 |access-date=August 25, 2008
 |last=Douglas
 |first=Nick
 |date=January 18, 2008
 |publisher=gawker.com
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724081826/http://gawker.com/346385/what-the-hell-are-4chan-ed-something-awful-and-b
 |archive-date=July 24, 2008
 |df=mdy
}}.</ref> This coverage of [[Internet jargon]] and memes had been acknowledged in the ''[[New Statesman]]'',<ref>{{citation
 |url          = http://www.newstatesman.com/scitech/2008/06/cat-pidgin-language-hai
 |title        = A lesson in hai culture
 |last         = Hogge
 |first        = Betty
 |date         = June 5, 2008
 |access-date   = June 11, 2008
 |periodical   = The New Statesman
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080612165551/http://www.newstatesman.com/scitech/2008/06/cat-pidgin-language-hai
 |archive-date = June 12, 2008
 |url-status     = live
 |df           = mdy-all
}}.</ref> on [[Language Log]],<ref>{{citation
 |url          = http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004508.html
 |contribution = Lol-lexicography
 |title        = Language Log
 |access-date   = August 25, 2008
 |last         = Zimmer
 |first        = Benjamin
 |date         = May 18, 2007
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080610060846/http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004508.html
 |archive-date = June 10, 2008
 |url-status     = live
 |df           = mdy-all
}}.</ref> in ''[[C't]]'' magazine,<ref name="himmelein">{{citation
| last = Himmelein
| first = Gerald
| title = Das Trollparadies
| periodical = C't
| pages = 100–101
| date = February 28, 2008}} [http://epicwins.blogspot.com/2008/03/trolls-paradise.html online copy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529152810/http://epicwins.blogspot.com/2008/03/trolls-paradise.html |date=May 29, 2010 }}.</ref> and in [[Wired (magazine)|''Wired'']] magazine.<ref name="dibbell" />

According to Sherrod DeGrippo,

<blockquote>As long as something wasn’t submitted as illegal or an abuse complaint, I didn’t even see it. Wikis are something that you either closely, closely monitor and manage, or you just let it go.{{sfn|Stryker|2011|p=140}}</blockquote>

Predating sites like the former [[Cheezburger Network]] (now known as [[Know Your Meme]]) by several years, Encyclopedia Dramatica was the first encyclopedia dedicated to the memes and "mean-spirited trolling"{{sfn|Stryker|2011|p=¶12.30}} of 4chan culture.{{sfn|Stryker|2011|p=¶12.11|ps=For several years, Encyclopedia Dramatica was the only place to go to read about 4chan culture.}}