Editing Goatse.cx

{{Short description|Internet shock site}}
{{Redirect2|Goatse|Goatsex|the computer hacker group|Goatse Security|sex among goats|Goat#Reproduction}}
{{Use American English |date=February 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2013}}
{{lowercase title}}
{{Infobox website
| name             = goatse.cx
| alexa            = 
| commercial       = No
| type             = [[Shock site]]
| language         = English
| registration     = None
| launch_date      = 1999
| current_status   = Defunct (but has mirrors)
| revenue          =
| screenshot       =
| caption          =
}}
'''goatse.cx''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|oʊ|t|s|i|_|d|ɒ|t|_|ˌ|s|iː|_|ˈ|ɛ|k|s|audio=en-us-goatse.cx.oga}} {{respell|GOHT|see|dot|see|EKS}}, {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|oʊ|t|ˌ|s|ɛ|k|s|audio=en-us-goatse.cx2.oga}}; "goat sex"), often spelled without the [[.cx]] [[top-level domain]] as '''Goatse''', is an [[internet domain]] that originally housed an Internet [[shock site]]. Its front page featured a picture entitled {{mono|hello.jpg}}, showing an image of a hunched-over naked man using both hands to stretch open his [[human anus|anus]] and expose his red [[rectum]] lit by the [[camera flash]].

The photo became an [[Internet meme]], and has been used in [[bait-and-switch]] [[pranks]], prevention of [[hot-linking]] in a hostile manner, and [[Website defacement|defacement of websites]], in order to [[Troll (slang)|provoke extreme reactions]]. Even though the image from the site was taken down in January 2004, mirror websites are widespread.

==History==
The original photograph depicts Kirk Johnson, a pornographic model who participates in extreme penetration, which is the practice of inserting large objects into the anus. The image began to spread in pornographic [[Usenet]] groups around 1997.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Chen |first=Adrian |author-link=Adrian Chen |date=2012-04-10 |title=Finding Goatse: The mystery man behind the most disturbing Internet meme in history |url=https://www.dailydot.com/society/goatse-revealed-kirk-johnson/ |access-date=2024-07-23 |website=The Daily Dot |language=en-US}}</ref> Soon after, a hacker group known as the Hick Crew found the image and began to [[Spamming|spam]] it in Christian chatrooms as entertainment.<ref name=":1">{{Cite magazine |last=Chen |first=Adrian |author-link=Adrian Chen |date=2013-04-16 |title=Goatse and the Rise of the Web's Gross-Out Culture |url=https://www.wired.com/2013/04/goatse/ |access-date=2024-07-23 |magazine=Wired |language=en-US |volume=21 |issue=5 |issn=1059-1028}}</ref> In 1999, a member of the Hick Crew using the handle "Merl1n" established the goatse.cx website to host the image so as to facilitate its spread.<ref name=":0"/>

The website gained popularity as a shock site, being described as a "[[hazing]] ritual" for the Internet in the 2000s.<ref name=":1"/> Following the success and popularity of goatse.cx, several other shock sites were created to mimic it, such as lemonparty.org, meatspin.com and tubgirl.com, each having a single shocking pornographic image.<ref name=":1"/>

On January 14, 2004, the [[domain name]] ''goatse.cx'' was suspended<ref name="CXAUPviol">{{cite web | first=Garth | last=Miller | url=http://www.nic.cx/complaints/goatse.cx/aup.noticeofcomplaint.pdf | title=Notice Regarding AUP Complaint Version 1.1 (redacted)| publisher=Christmas Island Internet Administration | date=January 12, 2004 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040531080510/http://www.nic.cx/complaints/goatse.cx/aup.noticeofcomplaint.pdf | archive-date=May 31, 2004}}</ref> by [[Christmas Island Internet Administration]] due to [[Acceptable use policy|acceptable-use-policy]] violations in response to a complaint.<ref>[http://cocca.cx/index.php/aup-complaints/cx-aup.html .cx&nbsp;– Christmas Island (.cx ccTLD) Acceptable Use Policy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519030617/http://cocca.cx/index.php/aup-complaints/cx-aup.html |date=May 19, 2011 }}. Council of Country Code Administrators. Retrieved June 15, 2010.</ref> A [[Christmas Island]] resident filed the complaint that resulted in the suspension of goatse.cx's domain name.<ref name="scotsman"/>
==Legacy==
Because many Internet users have been tricked into viewing the site or a mirror of the site at one time or another,<ref name="zug">{{Cite web | last=Johnson | first=Bob | title=The Goatse Prank | work=[[zug.com]] |publisher=Media Shower Inc. |date=December 2, 2004 | url=http://www.zug.com/gab/index.cgi?func=view_thread&thread_id=49351 | access-date=June 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041217213145/http://www.zug.com/gab/index.cgi?func=view_thread&thread_id=49351|archive-date=December 17, 2004}}</ref> it has become an Internet meme.<ref name="scotsman">{{Cite web |title=Notice Regarding AUP Complaint Version 1.1 |url=http://www.nic.cx/complaints/goatse.cx/aup.noticeofcomplaint.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040531080510/http://www.nic.cx/complaints/goatse.cx/aup.noticeofcomplaint.pdf |archive-date=May 31, 2004 |access-date=2024-11-14}}</ref>
On November 24, 2000, the Goatse page was posted to the official online [[Oprah Winfrey]] Message Boards in the ''Soul Stories'' board. Trystan T. Cotten and Kimberly Springer, authors of ''Stories of Oprah: the Oprahfication of American Culture'', said that this "seemingly considerable male intrusion drove many of the women elsewhere, and the board was retired shortly afterwards".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ElswmhzTc8cC&pg=PA59 |title=Stories of Oprah: the Oprahfication of American culture |author1=Cotten, Trystan T. |author2=Springer, Kimberly |year=2009 |publisher=[[University Press of Mississippi]] |pages=59–60, 63 |isbn=978-1-60473-407-2 |access-date=December 22, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428024840/https://books.google.com/books?id=ElswmhzTc8cC&pg=PA59#v=onepage&f=false |archive-date=April 28, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Slashdot]] altered its threaded discussion forum display software because "users made a sport out of tricking unsuspecting readers into visiting <nowiki>[goatse.cx]</nowiki>".<ref name="PHP">{{Cite book |last=Snyder |first=Chris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lVXnmsCCd3wC&q=goatse&pg=PA274 |title=Pro PHP Security |last2=Southwell |first2=Michael |publisher=[[Apress]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-59059-508-4 |page=274 |access-date=July 14, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131013011205/http://books.google.com/books?id=lVXnmsCCd3wC&lpg=PA274&dq=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2Fgoatse.cx&pg=PA274#v=snippet&q=goatse&f=false |archive-date=October 13, 2013 |url-status=live |name-list-style=and}}</ref> 

The ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' [[Wikitorial]] was introduced on June 17,&nbsp;2005, to be a publicly accessible method of directly responding to the paper's editorials; Wikipedia co-founder [[Jimmy Wales]] had consulted on the project, and on its first day contributed a "forking" of the page to accommodate opposing opinions.<ref name="Glaister">Glaister, Dan (June 22, 2005). [https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2005/jun/22/media.pressandpublishing "LA Times 'wikitorial' gives editors red faces] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170506040456/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2005/jun/22/media.pressandpublishing |date=May 6, 2017 }}." ''[[The Guardian]]''. Retrieved September 17, 2010.</ref> Prior to the feature's introduction, ''L.A. Times'' [[editorial]] and opinion editor [[Michael Kinsley]] stated that "Wikitorials may be one of those things that within six months will be standard. It's the ultimate in reader participation".<ref>{{cite news |last=Shepard |first=Alicia |date=June 13, 2005 |title=Upheaval on Los Angeles Times Editorial Pages |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/13/business/media/13lat.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130424210848/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/13/business/media/13lat.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=April 24, 2013 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> The wiki was closed two days later on June 19,&nbsp;2005, because, ''The Guardian'' reported, "explicit images known as Goatses appeared on [it]".<ref name="Glaister"/>

The practice of using goatse.cx as a "fake" link to shock friends became popular, according to [[ROFLcon]] organizer Tim Hwang in an interview on [[NPR]], because
<blockquote>it's ... the spectacle of the thing, right? You really want to be there when the person is seeing it. To the extent that there's all these sites online of sort of people taking pictures of their friends and showing them Goatse... [In photos online,] It's like thousands and thousands of people looking really shocked or disgusted. It's really great.<ref>{{cite interview |last=Hwang |first=Tim |interviewer=[[Alison Stewart]] |title=Rick-Rolling: An Action Primer for the Uninitiated |type=Interview: Transcript |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89265949 |access-date=September 16, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120122211528/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89265949 |archive-date=January 22, 2012 |url-status=live |work=[[The Bryant Park Project]], [[National Public Radio|NPR]] |location=New York, New York |date=April 1, 2008 |df=mdy-all}}</ref></blockquote>The goatse.cx image has been used by website authors to discourage other sites from [[hot-linking]] to them. By replacing the hot-linked image with an embarrassing image when hot-linking has been discovered, an unsubtle message is sent to the offending website's operators, visible to all who view the web page in question.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Powers |first=Shelley |url=https://archive.org/details/paintingweb00shel |title=Painting the Web |publisher=[[O'Reilly Media]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-596-51509-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/paintingweb00shel/page/49 49] |access-date=September 15, 2010 |url-access=registration}}</ref> In 2007, [[Wired.com]] hot-linked to another site in an article about the "sexiest geeks of 2007"; the site subsequently swapped the hot-linked image with one from goatse.cx.<ref>{{Cite web |title=One Step Backward: Playboy Asks Which Female Blogger You'd Like To See Sans Clothing |first=Michael |last=Arrington |work=TechCrunch.com |date=July 9, 2008 |via=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/09/AR2008070901983.html |access-date=September 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111112627/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/09/AR2008070901983.html |archive-date=November 11, 2012 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

In his book ''[[The Long Tail (book)|The Long Tail]]'' (2008), Chris Anderson wrote that goatse.cx is well known only to a relatively small Internet-using "subcultural tribe" who reference it as a "shared context joke" or "secret membership code". Anderson cited a photo accompanying an "otherwise innocuous article" about Google in the June 2, 2005 ''[[The New York Times]]'', in which [[Anil Dash]] wore a T-shirt emblazoned with stylized hands stretching out the word "Goatse".<ref>{{cite book |title=The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More |first=Chris |last=Anderson |publisher=Hyperion |year=2008 |page=[https://archive.org/details/longtailwhyfutur0000ande/page/182 182] |url=https://archive.org/details/longtailwhyfutur0000ande |url-access=registration |isbn=978-1-4013-0966-4 |access-date=September 16, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Loosing Google's Lock on the Past |first=Stephanie |last=Rosenbloom |date=June 2, 2005 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/02/fashion/thursdaystyles/02GOOGLE.html |access-date=September 16, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111129121500/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/02/fashion/thursdaystyles/02GOOGLE.html |archive-date=November 29, 2011 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{As of|2010|9|10|df=US}} the NYT archives index the article by keyword [https://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch?query=goatse&more=date_all "goatse"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303221517/http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch?query=goatse&more=date_all|date=March 3, 2012}}.</ref>

In June 2007, a proposed sketch of the [[2012 Summer Olympics#Logo and graphics|2012 Summer Olympics logo]] appeared on the [[BBC News 24]] broadcast and website<ref name="Reg">{{cite web |last=Orlowski |first=Andrew |date=June 4, 2007 |title=No goat sex at the Olympics, rules BBC |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/04/bbc_olympics_cx/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100607073304/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/04/bbc_olympics_cx/ |archive-date=June 7, 2010 |access-date=July 7, 2010 |work=Bootnotes |publisher=[[The Register]] |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="CollegeHumorBBCGoatse">{{cite web|url=http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1762625 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100505075147/http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1762625 |archive-date=May 5, 2010 |title=Goatse on BBC |format=Video |time=1:01 |work=[[CollegeHumor]] |date=June 6, 2007 |access-date=October 3, 2009 |url-status=dead |df=mdy }} (requires Flash; archive URL may or may not work)</ref><ref name="BBCimg">{{cite web | url=http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/43006000/jpg/_43006883_sean_stayte_416.jpg | title=2012 Olympics logo sketch | format=image | work=[[BBC News]] | date=June 6, 2007 | access-date=February 23, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081029030019/http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/43006000/jpg/_43006883_sean_stayte_416.jpg | archive-date=October 29, 2008 | url-status=live | df=mdy-all }}</ref> as one of the 12 best viewer-submitted alternatives to the official logo. In it, two hands stretched the "0" wide in "2012", as the submitter wrote, "to reveal the Olympics".<ref name="Reg"/> The sketch was later shown as part of a gallery of viewers logos on [[BBC London News]] and BBC News 24, and was subsequently removed from the website. The editor of the BBC News website acknowledged the mistake in his blog, saying his team "simply didn't spot it".<ref name="Herrmann">{{cite web |last=Herrmann |first=Steve |date=June 5, 2007 |title=Shock tactics |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2007/06/shock_tactics.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213181154/http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2007/06/shock_tactics.html |archive-date=February 13, 2009 |access-date=February 23, 2009 |work=[[BBC]] blogs |publisher=[[BBC]] |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

In June 2010, a group of computer experts known as [[Goatse Security]] exposed a flaw in [[AT&T Corporation|AT&T]]'s security which allowed the e-mail addresses of [[iPad]] users to be revealed.<ref name="WSJ">{{cite news |last=Ante |first=Spencer E. |last2=Worthen |first2=Ben |name-list-style=and |date=June 11, 2010 |title=FBI Opens Probe of iPad Breach |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704312104575299111189853840?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180116005855/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704312104575299111189853840?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection |archive-date=January 16, 2018 |access-date=June 15, 2010 |newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |df=mdy-all}}</ref> Andrew Auernheimer (alias ''[[weev]]''), a member of the group, was interviewed by the media and discussed the group's name, among other things.<ref name="CNET">{{cite news |title=Hacker defends going public with AT&T's iPad data breach (Q&A) |first=Elinor |last=Mills |newspaper=CNET News |date=June 10, 2010 |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20007407-245.html |access-date=June 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100728162316/http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20007407-245.html |archive-date=July 28, 2010 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

On September 20, 2013, the [[United States Department of Justice]] filed a response brief<ref>Response Brief for US v Auernheimer [https://www.eff.org/node/75759] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140718064310/https://www.eff.org/node/75759|date=July 18, 2014}} [https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/filenode/gov_opp_brief_weev.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606210150/https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/filenode/gov_opp_brief_weev.pdf|date=June 6, 2014}} retrieved on 30 September</ref> in the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit]] in ''[[United States v. Auernheimer]]'', an appeal in a criminal case from the [[United States District Court for the District of New Jersey]], which involved the access of AT&T customers' email addresses by Goatse Security.<ref>Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) review of US v Auernheimer [https://www.eff.org/cases/us-v-auernheimer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140703090003/https://www.eff.org/cases/us-v-auernheimer|date=July 3, 2014}} retrieved on 30 September</ref> The brief explains on page three that "The firm's name is a reference to a notoriously obscene internet shock site" and includes a footnote which reads "For a more graphic description, see <nowiki>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goatse</nowiki>."

==See also==
{{Portal|Internet}}

*[[Rickrolling]]
*[[List of Internet phenomena]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040109213953/http://www.goatse.cx/ goatse.cx], archive of original site at the [[Internet Archive]] [[Wayback Machine]]<!--Do not change to a specific date --- Keep the star in, please. Thanks.-->
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110814112623/http://news.scotsman.com/lazyguidetonetculture/Lazy-Guide-to-Net-Culture.2535852.jp "Lazy Guide to Net Culture: NSFW"]&nbsp;– ''[[The Scotsman]]''
<!-- article is not about mirrors -->
* [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/goatse Goatse] at [[Know Your Meme]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goatse.Cx}}
[[Category:1990s photographs]]
[[Category:Color photographs]]
[[Category:Defunct websites]]
[[Category:Domain hacks]]
[[Category:Internet memes introduced in 1999]]
[[Category:Internet properties disestablished in 2004]]
[[Category:Internet properties established in 1999]]
[[Category:Internet services shut down by a legal challenge]]
[[Category:Shock sites]]
[[Category:Gay male pornography websites]]