A Brief History of Goatse

[livius drusus]

I found this article downright fascinating: Finding Goatse: The Mystery Man Behind the Most Disturbing Internet Meme in History. You Internet old timers probably know all about the backstory -- Hell, pea was probably involved -- but the first time I saw our stretched out friend was at IIDB ca. 2000.

The article does not embed the picture, btw, although it does link to it.

The first step came when the famous image from the file was plucked off of Usenet by a group of online friends called the Hick crew. By all accounts, Hick members were that special geek brand of technically brilliant poop joke-tellers. They were teenage hackers, programmers, pranksters, and internet fanatics, mostly men, who made their home base on the website Hick.org ("The Hick.org farm") and shot the shit in chat rooms.

The Hick.org website was managed by Matthew Miller, a notorious computer programmer known online as "Skape." Miller would eventually make his name developing Metasploit, a powerful tool for finding vulnerabilities in software, and he now works for Microsoft's security team in Seattle. A giant cow's face with a human mouth greeted visitors to Hick.org, which also hosted the official site of the "Firm Penis Corp."

By 1998, the Goatse image had become a running joke in the Hick crew, used to screw with one another and their enemies. One of their favorite pranks, according to former Hick associate Orin Heidlberg, was to invade Christian chat rooms and scroll endless links to the image until the room emptied and they could use it for themselves.

[Waluigi]

I don't remember when I first saw goatse, but yeah, it's been a long time. Gosh, even Usenet seems like another life, it was so long ago. And AOL chat rooms, ICQ, Napster, etc. etc.

The Internet was a lot of fun back then.

[Qingdai]

Today searching for goatse images has gone into the world of DIY crafting.

goatse | Search Results | Regretsy

[Demimonde]

I remember my first goatse. I was in a coffee shop on a public computer, as was the fashion in those days. It was supposed to have all kinds of filters and what not to prevent porn from getting through. Once I remember researching hermit crabs and I wanted to find out how to determine their sex. "Sexing hermit crabs" made it go apeshit. (Now that is a rule 34 I do not want to see.) But goatse sailed right through the program.

I was a delicate Pollyanna kid back then and it shocked the hell out of me. Fast forward a couple of years and I was passing Lemon Party around like candy. The internet is a weird and wonderful contact zone.

[wei yau]

I realize that by saying this, I am now going to have to never click on any link ever posted in the FF...but, I've never seen goatse.

[livius drusus]

That's kinda sweet. It gives your custom title a whole new meaning too.

[Sock Puppet]

I heard/read about it for years before I finally saw it. I actually saw Tubgirl first, the other, somewhat later Super Infamous Image. When I finally saw it I thought, "Oh, is that all." There is nothing new in anal spelunking under the Sun.

[Waluigi]

How sad is it that goatse is no longer shocking? What does that say about the average Internet citizen?

[Sock Puppet]

Well, it can still be shocking under the right circumstances. If somebody had it as a desktop background, I'm p. sure I wouldn't yawn and casually keep looking for their browser shortcut.

[MonCapitan2002]

I remember first seeing Goatse on the RPGFan message boards over a decade ago. There was a troll who liked to post links to Goatse and Tub Girl on a semi regular basis. I am ashamed to admit that I was caught by the link more than once.

I eventually learned to preview links before clicking on them. In some ways, Tubgirl is worse, though. I'd also rather not think about what the model for the photo had to to be able to produce the material she ejected out of her body.

[erimir]

She had to receive an orange juice enema. Or something along those lines.

[MonCapitan2002]

Originally Posted by erimir

She had to receive an orange juice enema. Or something along those lines.

Don't take this the wrong way, but a part of me is crying for having learned that. I could have happily spent my life ignorant of that fact. In this case, curiosity killed the cat and satisfaction failed to bring it back.

[erimir]

Originally Posted by MonCapitan2002

Don't take this the wrong way, but a part of me is crying for having learned that. I could have happily spent my life ignorant of that fact. In this case, curiosity killed the cat and satisfaction failed to bring it back.

You know, all things considered, that's actually pretty tame.

I can't really think of any significantly less disgusting explanations for how that picture got made, other than assuming that it's actually coming out of a hose.

[ShottleBop]

I've never seen Goatse, either. TubGirl, yes--but not Goatse. Until seeing this thread, I thought it was a reference to "goat sex."

[ZEZOZE]

that was an interesting article indeed!

and to continue on to the next paragraph from the three you chose to quote:

"That was a dark time in my life," Heidlberg told me. She'd been inducted into the crew on the strength of a satirical website she made. "That's what I did in high school. There were certain channels we would kind of bully. 'Christian Singles' was one of them and 'Jesus' was one of them."

which i thought was a nice add because who else would do that to people...except giant assholes?

[livius drusus]

I can't believe there are two people on the Internet that haven't seen goatse, never mind two people just in this wee corner of it.

[ShottleBop]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

I can't believe there are two people on the Internet that haven't seen goatse, never mind two people just in this wee corner of it.

[Pan Narrans]

Three, actually.

* Pan Narrans is going to check all links very carefully from now on

[MonCapitan2002]

I really don't want to know what the more disgusting explanations are. Well, I guess there's photographic manipulation for a less disgusting option.

[Ohm]

I remember "Goatsex" from Stileproject.com, before it became a porn site.

[Clutch Munny]

Oh, dear. I always assumed it was some actual goat sex thingy. Just now followed the link and saw it for the first time.




Oh, dear.

[livius drusus]

[lisarea]

Happy Goatse Day, Clutch Munny!

You Are Very Special Person... Free For Everyone eCards, Greetings from 123greetings.com

I am p. sure that ecard never ends, but you'd better watch it for a couple of hours just in case.

[MonCapitan2002]

Originally Posted by lisarea

Happy Goatse Day, Clutch Munny!

You Are Very Special Person... Free For Everyone eCards, Greetings from 123greetings.com

I am p. sure that ecard never ends, but you'd better watch it for a couple of hours just in case.

With the subject of this thread being what it is, I am far too terrified to even contemplate clicking on that link for fear of the possible horrors that may be found within.

[Waluigi]

Welcome to the Internet! Here's your offensive sexual fetish pictures!