Oh No They Didn't
Encyclopedia
Oh No They Didn't, also known as ONTD, is the largest community on LiveJournal
, with over 100,000 members. The community focuses on celebrity gossip and pop culture, with most of its posts aggregated from other gossip blogs. The site formed a partnership with pop culture blog network Buzz Media
in July 2010.
The blog boasts over 300,000 page views daily, according to Popmatters
. When LiveJournal increased the comment limit on posts from 5000 to 10,000 comments, ONTD contained the first post to reach this new limit.
, the Olympics (known as "Free for All Olympics" or "FFAO" posts) and Saturday Night Live
viewing posts.
In addition to members submitting the posts themselves, ONTD relies heavily on user participation in the comments section, where members can express their opinions on posts. Members often illustrate their reaction to a particular news item by posting an animated GIF
image which represents their feelings. After the death of Michael Jackson
on June 25, 2009, according to MSNBC
, "users expressed their collective grief by posting a Fantasia Barrino
GIF, in which the American Idol
star wails and flails her arms wildly," while other users expressed concern over the continued use of a popular GIF taken from the "Thriller
" music video featuring a scene of Jackson eating popcorn, an image that is frequently posted on the community in anticipation of a controversial or "flame-worthy topic."
Oh No They Didn't's popularity has resulted in a series of spin-off communities which follow the same format, but with a different or specialized topic, such as ontd_political for politics. A comprehensive list of other communities is available here.
, Perez Hilton
and TMZ
, with a whopping 44% of the vote.
ONTD has been noted in O, the Oprah Magazine
, cited in Life & Style
, and artist Lily Allen
referenced the online community in the March 2009 issue of Playboy Magazine.
The Swedish newspaper Metro
described the community as "Gossip on steroids." The paper also noted that with a high volume of posts, the reader would "find a lot of highlights, and often before newspapers get their hands on it". The San Francisco Chronicle
wrote that the "scandal-mongering community overflows with interactive snark" and encouraged the reader to "imagine a gossip clearinghouse run by teenagers with bad attitudes and sharp tongues". The A.V. Club cited ONTD as a "favorite time-wasting website" and wrote that "the comments section can sometimes be more amusing than the posts themselves". In December 2009, the users of ONTD were derisively referred to as "jackals" because the stories posted on the blog are taken from other sources. In response, the users embraced the term and repeatedly used the term in later posts, as well as manipulating their icons to include photographs of the animals.
The Village Voice
called the community a "psychopathic celebrity news/gossip wire-of-sorts" and its users "a community of pathologically obsessive celebrity gossip sadomasochists."
, Britney Spears
, Beyonce, Christina Aguilera
and Lady Gaga
are nicknamed "stans" after the Eminem
song "Stan
". In FFAF posts, members are encouraged by moderators to ask any questions or to voice any comments or concerns about the site.
's video for "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race
".
ONTD was also the first community to break the news of Jamie-Lynn Spears' pregnancy, after leaking OK! Magazines unpublished front page cover, and was the first to report that Kirk Acevedo
had announced via his Facebook
status update that he had been fired from the Fox drama, Fringe
.
When the rumors of Jon from Jon and Kate Gosselin
's infidelity started appearing in February 2009, a photo of Jon out on town was posted on ONTD, which showed him posing with two young women in a local bar. National gossip magazines picked up the news, and a screen grab of ONTD could be seen in Star
and US Weekly
.
The most scandalous and notable events are often given nicknames to distinguish them in future posts, such as the January 2008 hospitalization of Britney Spears
, which was dubbed Hostage Brituation '08 by the community's members. This nickname was later picked up and used by Rolling Stone
. The abuse case between singers Rihanna
and Chris Brown was dubbed Domestic Disturbia '09 by the community's members, and the community was also credited with starting a meme
("Gokey is a douche") connected to some friends of American Idol
contestant Danny Gokey
's negative comments and pictures regarding fellow contestant Adam Lambert
. The forced removal of "#gokeyisadouche" from Twitter
's trending topics list prompted a discussion on Twitter's censorship.
The community was also responsible for a hoax that claimed actress Betty White
had died. After a post titled "Renner, Just Happy to Be Here" was approved to the community, the original poster edited the post to show a screen grab of a TMZ
article claiming White had died. Users displayed shock and confusion, before slowly realizing the article was a fake when not only did the source link just go to TMZ's main website, but the article mentioned "possibilities of foul play and drug abuse, and grandchildren that Betty White does not have." Community moderators deleted the post within 40 minutes, but not before "Betty White" became a Twitter trending topic. Once the hoax was discovered, fans urged each other to tweet #BettyWhiteFacts and other positive messages about White instead of spreading further death rumours.
Another notable hoax involved a fake Twitter screenshot of Michael Lohan
saying his daughter Lindsay Lohan
had an affair with Tommy Mottola
when she was 17, and that she had HIV. Though the post was quickly deleted, Perez Hilton reported on the screenshot as if it were true and other gossip sites followed. Michael believed that the screenshot was real and that someone had hacked his Twitter account, while Lindsay refused to believe her father was innocent, stating "He's a grown man and has done the exact same things on TV/interviews, why wouldn't he lie on Twitter, and everywhere else!" The moderators of ONTD later apologized for the scandal, while stating that they were "pretty appalled to learn that NONE of the other gossip or news sites that posted the story bothered to check for accuracy and have yet to post a retraction or apology for spreading such a vicious rumor."
Oh No They Didn't was briefly suspended due to an explosion in usage following the death
of Michael Jackson
on June 25, 2009. The amount of traffic the community received brought all of LiveJournal's servers down, resulting in downtime for the entire domain. During this time, members migrated temporarily to ontd once again.
LiveJournal
LiveJournal is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary. LiveJournal is also the name of the free and open source server software that was designed to run the LiveJournal virtual community....
, with over 100,000 members. The community focuses on celebrity gossip and pop culture, with most of its posts aggregated from other gossip blogs. The site formed a partnership with pop culture blog network Buzz Media
Buzz Media
Buzz Media is a company and blog network based in Los Angeles. It owns the world's largest community of pop culture websites , including Buzznet, Idolator, and Stereogum...
in July 2010.
The blog boasts over 300,000 page views daily, according to Popmatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
. When LiveJournal increased the comment limit on posts from 5000 to 10,000 comments, ONTD contained the first post to reach this new limit.
Editorial style
The community publishes an average of 150 member posts per day, with most posts getting between 100 to 500 comments on average. The community moderators post a weekly post called "Free for All Friday" (or "FFAF") which allows members to post off-topic comments. These free-for-all posts have often been expanded to include community discussion posts for important pop culture events such as the Academy AwardsAcademy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
, the Olympics (known as "Free for All Olympics" or "FFAO" posts) and Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
viewing posts.
In addition to members submitting the posts themselves, ONTD relies heavily on user participation in the comments section, where members can express their opinions on posts. Members often illustrate their reaction to a particular news item by posting an animated GIF
GIF
The Graphics Interchange Format is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability....
image which represents their feelings. After the death of Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
on June 25, 2009, according to MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
, "users expressed their collective grief by posting a Fantasia Barrino
Fantasia Barrino
Fantasia Monique Barrino commonly known as Fantasia, is an American R&B singer, Broadway and television actress who rose to fame as the winner of the third season of the reality television series American Idol in 2004. Following her victory, she released her debut single, "I Believe", which...
GIF, in which the American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
star wails and flails her arms wildly," while other users expressed concern over the continued use of a popular GIF taken from the "Thriller
Thriller (music video)
Michael Jackson's Thriller is a 14-minute music video for the song of the same name released on December 2, 1983 and directed by John Landis, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jackson....
" music video featuring a scene of Jackson eating popcorn, an image that is frequently posted on the community in anticipation of a controversial or "flame-worthy topic."
Oh No They Didn't's popularity has resulted in a series of spin-off communities which follow the same format, but with a different or specialized topic, such as ontd_political for politics. A comprehensive list of other communities is available here.
Awards and recognition
ONTD won the Best Gossip Blog award in the 2008 Weblog Awards, beating out other popular celebrity blogs like D-ListedDlisted
Dlisted is a celebrity gossip blog written by Michael K. The site originally started on January 23, 2005 as the D-List, but changed its name to Dlisted due to copyright issues with Kathy Griffin's: My Life on the D-List, a Bravo reality series following comedian Kathy Griffin.Michael K, a...
, Perez Hilton
Perez Hilton
Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr. , better known as Perez Hilton , is an American blogger and television personality. His blog, Perezhilton.com , is known for posts covering gossip items about celebrities...
and TMZ
TMZ.com
TMZ.com is a celebrity news website that debuted on November 8, 2005. It was a collaboration between America Online and Telepictures Productions, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. However, it is still affiliated with AOL News and has the AOL News logo affixed in...
, with a whopping 44% of the vote.
ONTD has been noted in O, the Oprah Magazine
O, The Oprah Magazine
O: The Oprah Magazine, sometimes simply abbreviated to O, is a monthly magazine founded by Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Corporation.-Overview:...
, cited in Life & Style
Life & Style (magazine)
Life & Style, officially Life & Style Weekly is an American celebrity gossip magazine, launched in 2004 by the Bauer publishing conglomerate....
, and artist Lily Allen
Lily Allen
Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper , better known as Lily Allen, is an English recording artist and fashion designer. She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative...
referenced the online community in the March 2009 issue of Playboy Magazine.
The Swedish newspaper Metro
Metro International
Metro International is a Swedish media company based in Luxembourg that publishes the Metro newspapers. Metro International's advertising sales have grown at a compound annual growth rate of 41% since launch of the first newspaper edition in 1995. It is a freesheet, meaning that distribution is...
described the community as "Gossip on steroids." The paper also noted that with a high volume of posts, the reader would "find a lot of highlights, and often before newspapers get their hands on it". The San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
wrote that the "scandal-mongering community overflows with interactive snark" and encouraged the reader to "imagine a gossip clearinghouse run by teenagers with bad attitudes and sharp tongues". The A.V. Club cited ONTD as a "favorite time-wasting website" and wrote that "the comments section can sometimes be more amusing than the posts themselves". In December 2009, the users of ONTD were derisively referred to as "jackals" because the stories posted on the blog are taken from other sources. In response, the users embraced the term and repeatedly used the term in later posts, as well as manipulating their icons to include photographs of the animals.
The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
called the community a "psychopathic celebrity news/gossip wire-of-sorts" and its users "a community of pathologically obsessive celebrity gossip sadomasochists."
Community Culture
Members of the community often use acronyms such as TY ("thank you"), BB ("baby) and IAWTC ("I agree with this comment"). The devoted followers of celebrities such as Lindsay LohanLindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11...
, Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
, Beyonce, Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...
and Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
are nicknamed "stans" after the Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
song "Stan
Stan (song)
"Stan" is the third single from The Marshall Mathers LP, by rapper Eminem featuring Dido. It peaked at number one in the United Kingdom and Australia. It is also included on Curtain Call: The Hits, performed with Eminem and Dido as well track 17 on Curtain Call: The Hits as a live Performance from...
". In FFAF posts, members are encouraged by moderators to ask any questions or to voice any comments or concerns about the site.
Exclusives
The most notable ONTD exclusive was the Pete Wentz photo scandal, colloquially known among members as Peengate '06, which occurred in March 2006, when nude photos of Wentz were posted on ONTD. The original poster reported that she received the photos third-hand, and that Wentz originally sent the pictures to a woman with whom he allegedly had romantic interests. This event was alluded to in a blog post by Wentz himself in December 2006. This went on to be parodied in Fall Out BoyFall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American rock band from Wilmette, Illinois, formed in 2001. The band consists of vocalist, guitarist and composer Patrick Stump, bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band released five studio albums from 2003–2008...
's video for "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race
This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race
"This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" is a song by American rock band Fall Out Boy and the lead single from their commercially successful fourth studio album Infinity on High . The song was first played on September 30, 2006 at a Philadelphia radio station, 102.1, and leaked onto the internet...
".
ONTD was also the first community to break the news of Jamie-Lynn Spears' pregnancy, after leaking OK! Magazines unpublished front page cover, and was the first to report that Kirk Acevedo
Kirk Acevedo
Kirk Acevedo is an American actor. He is primarily known for his portrayals of Miguel Alvarez in the HBO series Oz, Joe Toye in Band of Brothers and FBI Agent Charlie Francis in the science-fiction series Fringe....
had announced via his Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
status update that he had been fired from the Fox drama, Fringe
Fringe (TV series)
Fringe is an American science fiction television series created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The series follows a Federal Bureau of Investigation "Fringe Division" team based in Boston, Massachusetts under the supervision of Homeland Security...
.
When the rumors of Jon from Jon and Kate Gosselin
Jon & Kate Plus 8
Jon & Kate Plus 8, named Kate Plus 8 from the sixth season on, is an American reality television series airing on TLC. It is produced by Figure 8 Films about the Gosselin family, consisting of parents Jon and Kate and their eight children: fraternal twins and sextuplets...
's infidelity started appearing in February 2009, a photo of Jon out on town was posted on ONTD, which showed him posing with two young women in a local bar. National gossip magazines picked up the news, and a screen grab of ONTD could be seen in Star
Star (magazine)
Star is an American celebrity tabloid magazine.-History:Star was founded by Rupert Murdoch in 1974 as competition to the tabloid National Enquirer with its headquarters in New York City. In the late 1980s it moved its offices to Tarrytown, NY and in 1990 Murdoch sold the magazine to The Enquirers...
and US Weekly
Us Weekly
Us Weekly is a celebrity gossip magazine, founded in 1977 by The New York Times Company, who sold it in 1980. It was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986. The publication covers topics ranging from celebrity relationships to the latest trends in fashion, beauty, and entertainment...
.
The most scandalous and notable events are often given nicknames to distinguish them in future posts, such as the January 2008 hospitalization of Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
, which was dubbed Hostage Brituation '08 by the community's members. This nickname was later picked up and used by Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
. The abuse case between singers Rihanna
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...
and Chris Brown was dubbed Domestic Disturbia '09 by the community's members, and the community was also credited with starting a meme
Meme
A meme is "an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena...
("Gokey is a douche") connected to some friends of American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
contestant Danny Gokey
Danny Gokey
Daniel Jay "Danny" Gokey is an American country music singer and church music director from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the third place finalist on the eighth season of American Idol...
's negative comments and pictures regarding fellow contestant Adam Lambert
Adam Lambert
Adam Mitchel Lambert is an American singer, songwriter, and actor from San Diego, California. In May 2009, he finished as the runner-up on the eighth season of American Idol...
. The forced removal of "#gokeyisadouche" from Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
's trending topics list prompted a discussion on Twitter's censorship.
The community was also responsible for a hoax that claimed actress Betty White
Betty White
Betty White Ludden , better known as Betty White, is an American actress, comedienne, singer, author, and former game show personality. With a career spanning seven decades since 1939, she is best known to modern audiences for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and...
had died. After a post titled "Renner, Just Happy to Be Here" was approved to the community, the original poster edited the post to show a screen grab of a TMZ
TMZ.com
TMZ.com is a celebrity news website that debuted on November 8, 2005. It was a collaboration between America Online and Telepictures Productions, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. However, it is still affiliated with AOL News and has the AOL News logo affixed in...
article claiming White had died. Users displayed shock and confusion, before slowly realizing the article was a fake when not only did the source link just go to TMZ's main website, but the article mentioned "possibilities of foul play and drug abuse, and grandchildren that Betty White does not have." Community moderators deleted the post within 40 minutes, but not before "Betty White" became a Twitter trending topic. Once the hoax was discovered, fans urged each other to tweet #BettyWhiteFacts and other positive messages about White instead of spreading further death rumours.
Another notable hoax involved a fake Twitter screenshot of Michael Lohan
Michael Lohan
Michael Lohan, Sr. is the ex-husband of Dina Lohan and the father of Lindsay, Michael Lohan Jr., Ali, and Cody Lohan.-Early life:...
saying his daughter Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11...
had an affair with Tommy Mottola
Tommy Mottola
Thomas Daniel "Tommy" Mottola is an American music executive, co-owner of Casablanca Records in a joint venture with the Universal Music Group. He is the ex-husband of Mariah Carey and is married to Mexican singer Thalía...
when she was 17, and that she had HIV. Though the post was quickly deleted, Perez Hilton reported on the screenshot as if it were true and other gossip sites followed. Michael believed that the screenshot was real and that someone had hacked his Twitter account, while Lindsay refused to believe her father was innocent, stating "He's a grown man and has done the exact same things on TV/interviews, why wouldn't he lie on Twitter, and everywhere else!" The moderators of ONTD later apologized for the scandal, while stating that they were "pretty appalled to learn that NONE of the other gossip or news sites that posted the story bothered to check for accuracy and have yet to post a retraction or apology for spreading such a vicious rumor."
LiveJournal downtime
In January 2009, ONTD became the first LiveJournal community to surpass 16,777,216 (224) comments. This exceeded LiveJournal's previously-unknown limit on comments. This resulted in almost a week of downtime for the community, while LiveJournal worked to fix the issue. A second community, ontd, was created and members posted and commented there until the issue was fixed.Oh No They Didn't was briefly suspended due to an explosion in usage following the death
Death of Michael Jackson
On June 25, 2009, American singer Michael Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication after he suffered a respiratory arrest at his home in the Holmby Hills neighborhood in Los Angeles. His personal physician, Conrad Murray, said he found Jackson in his room, not breathing, but with a faint pulse,...
of Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
on June 25, 2009. The amount of traffic the community received brought all of LiveJournal's servers down, resulting in downtime for the entire domain. During this time, members migrated temporarily to ontd once again.