100 Greatest Internet Moments
November 8, 2005 12:00 PM   Subscribe

100 Greatest Internet Moments
posted by kirkaracha (61 comments total)
 
kottke. waxy. meep meep.
posted by balinx at 12:21 PM on November 8, 2005


Sissyfight still exists ? !
posted by R. Mutt at 12:27 PM on November 8, 2005


What about All Your Base? That may be the single greatest moment. Either that, or the moment I had the other day. I was walking down the street when all of the sudden, BANG, he hit me on the head. It was Dick Cheney. He should be part of every discussion that has the word "greatest" in it. Doesn't matter what it is. Greatest internet moment. Greatest penishead. Greatest duplication of Spinoza. It's all Cheney, all the time.
posted by panoptican at 12:28 PM on November 8, 2005


#101 - Peter H posts "Penis" as his 1000th comment on the Internet website Metafilter.com
posted by Peter H at 12:32 PM on November 8, 2005


Unintentionally.
posted by Peter H at 12:32 PM on November 8, 2005


Zombo.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 12:36 PM on November 8, 2005


I can think of two immediate images that belong on the thumbnail list.
posted by Peter H at 12:37 PM on November 8, 2005


glaring (gaping?) goatse omission.
posted by rxrfrx at 12:39 PM on November 8, 2005


That's the first image of two that came to mind, yes.
posted by Peter H at 12:40 PM on November 8, 2005


What about...???
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:41 PM on November 8, 2005


That's the first image of two that came to mind, yes.

That's what I thought.
posted by rxrfrx at 12:44 PM on November 8, 2005


Khaaan!
posted by The Jesse Helms at 12:49 PM on November 8, 2005


Khaaan!

That and the Badger/Mushroom thing are definitely the highlights of the internet thus far.
posted by Pollomacho at 12:56 PM on November 8, 2005


Oh, yes, and of course the Hamster Dance.
posted by Pollomacho at 12:56 PM on November 8, 2005


I didn't see Mahir, who may well have been the very first "Internet sensation", or the Dancing Baby.
posted by briank at 1:00 PM on November 8, 2005


Peter H writes "That's the first image of two that came to mind, yes."

Maybe they mean "The greatest family Internet moments".
posted by nkyad at 1:00 PM on November 8, 2005


Did he miss "You're the man now, dog"? Though perhaps that's more recent than most of his picks.

And, as it's "Internet" moments and not "WWW" moments, there is a distinct lack of great USENET moments. I don't know if there were any great Telnet or Gopher moments, but who knows. And I would love to see "Great Moments in FTP". First intarw3b pr0n download!!1!
posted by GuyZero at 1:01 PM on November 8, 2005


briank, Mahir was on there. Near the top I believe.
posted by GuyZero at 1:02 PM on November 8, 2005


"The greatest family Internet moments".

Ha, there's no room in family for LOVE?
posted by Peter H at 1:06 PM on November 8, 2005


scary thought : these are the things we'll be reminiscing about to our grandchildren.
posted by crunchland at 1:06 PM on November 8, 2005


Ah, there he is. I was expecting a different photo.
posted by briank at 1:06 PM on November 8, 2005


these are the things we'll be reminiscing about to our grandchildren

"I remember back in ought-five there were only a handful of sites in the MetaMediaConglomerate (TM)..."
posted by Pollomacho at 1:18 PM on November 8, 2005


JibJab's 2004 political cartoon probably belongs on the list. It wasn't quite at the level of All Your Base or Hamsterdance, but it translated to the real world... helped demonstrate just how integrated the Net and the regular social landscape are becoming.
posted by Malor at 1:20 PM on November 8, 2005


Metafilter ate my balls.
posted by afx114 at 1:25 PM on November 8, 2005


What the fuck is an "Internet moment"?

A utilization? (e.g. Email)

A website? (e.g. Metafilter)

A resource? (e.g. Google Earth, Amazon Search Inside, IMDB . . .)

A communication? (e.g. Salon, blogs . . .)

A service? (e.g. eBay, AskMe)

An entertainment? (e.g. Homestar Runner, The Onion)

An innovation? (e.g. Ultima Online)

An indulgence? (Porn, rotten.com . . .)

Free shit? (Napster, "MAME . . .)

A meme? (_ ate my balls, All your Base)

A darling? (Where is Raed?)

A way of experiencing (e.g. 9/11 . . . as experienced on the Net)

I don't think anything as impossibly variegated as the Internet can be reduced to something as vague as "moments", and to the extent it can, I'm sure its amazingly different for each person for the truly "best" stuff, because like real life, there are the officially important "moments" that many people share (e.g. Kennedy getting shot), but the really important "moments" are the ones that only a few people share, like childbirth. For instance I'm sure that guy who found his grandfather's house in Austria on AskMe had a "moment" that far exceeds the shallow "moments" that actually reverberated through the Internet, like Star Wars kid. And yet which one will go down in the supremely lame annals of "Internet History"?
posted by dgaicun at 1:27 PM on November 8, 2005


Yes, Kennedy getting shot = Star Wars kid. This will be on the test.
posted by dgaicun at 1:34 PM on November 8, 2005


Definitely missing are "X ate my balls" and "Walter Cronkite spit in my food."

I'm not sure how popular it got, but at least among my circle of friends, you'd have to include Tokyo Breakfast.

That JibJab 2004 campaign thing was so dumb, I can't believe how well it was received by most people. At a time when serious criticism of serious stuff was most needed... it just piled on with "these two guys in this election are so silly." Pissed me off.
posted by rxrfrx at 1:37 PM on November 8, 2005


Whoever made that site is a fucking pussy!
posted by I Foody at 1:41 PM on November 8, 2005


I thought it was when alt.binaries added a zip page feature so you could wake up in the morning to freshly zipped pr0n on your 4gig hard drive because the 28k modem took all night. thank god for dsl. Hsu Qi(Chi) was popular way before the transporter. oops, so I've been told.
posted by tzelig at 1:49 PM on November 8, 2005


thanks for that insightful commentary, Foody.
posted by crunchland at 1:56 PM on November 8, 2005


I remember dialing into DDS from my parents' house in 1994 - to Amsterdam from our The Hague suburb, so basically a long-distance call - on a 28k modem, to Telnet my email using PINE (not that I had any) and hang around a silly cult MOO with complete strangers. Ah, the days.

So, let the criticisms for the particular choices in the link be what they may, what are your favourite personal Internet moments?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 2:15 PM on November 8, 2005


was joe cartoon mentioned? what about napster? what about the cartoons about napster?
posted by Hands of Manos at 2:38 PM on November 8, 2005


I miss Mahir.
posted by emjaybee at 2:40 PM on November 8, 2005


Yes, Kennedy getting shot = Star Wars kid. This will be on the test.

I think Kennedy got shot when Tinkerbell found a girlfriend
posted by Peter H at 2:57 PM on November 8, 2005


No Cambridge Coffee Pot? "They who forget history are predisposed to repeat it". Or, like, whatever. Ahistorical Punks.
posted by Rumple at 3:09 PM on November 8, 2005


This list reads like it was put together in 2003—in fact, I'd believe that it was, if not for the references to the "Creep" video and the return of Leisure Town.
posted by jenovus at 3:13 PM on November 8, 2005


There is a good mix of stuff there, big "happenings" plus stuff that is just cool. It reads a little like "The ALTERNATIVE Top 100 moments!1" in that it shoots a little lower, is more personal...and I (the average internet joe) actually recognize half the stuff and agree with it being there. Having said that it does have some of the crap that makes all these lists and nobody wants to see again....I kiss you, Mr T etc. And anything featuring PBF is good.
posted by fire&wings at 3:23 PM on November 8, 2005


Huh. I'm kinda surprised the exploding whale didn't make the list. Hamsterdance is there, the bbq is there. So where's the exploding whale? It feels like it should be there.

there is a distinct lack of great USENET moments.

Okay, well, here's one that seemed amusing at the time.
posted by sfenders at 3:30 PM on November 8, 2005


Yes, Kennedy getting shot = Star Wars kid. This will be on the test.

Can you imagine the "Where were you when ..." threads?
posted by dhartung at 3:47 PM on November 8, 2005


Absent Kaycee Nicole?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 4:00 PM on November 8, 2005


Leeeeeroy Jeeeenkins!
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:12 PM on November 8, 2005


And where was the friggin hamster dance?
posted by snsranch at 5:06 PM on November 8, 2005


I also thought of "Wazzzzup?", but in both cases I'm confusing Greatest with Worstest.
posted by snsranch at 5:07 PM on November 8, 2005


Dear Internetters:
The Hampster Dance was retarded. You may now stop bringing it up. And yes, the "badger, badger" thing was just as dumb. You shame us both by championing it.
posted by klangklangston at 5:17 PM on November 8, 2005


I still have the Leroy Jenkins soundfile saved on my computer. Yes. Where was he?

(At least I have chicken.)

When I get older, these "internet moments" are going to be the memories I tell the younsters about. Yikes.
posted by Kloryne at 5:35 PM on November 8, 2005


-youngsters-

(off to play the soundfile for the 1000'th time. still cracks me up.)
posted by Kloryne at 5:36 PM on November 8, 2005


I enjoyed the link, thanks.
posted by arcticwoman at 5:59 PM on November 8, 2005


Yeah, I feel bad because my comment sounded pretty negative, when i was just making thought. I'm enjoying the site though - discovering a rather impressive Radiohead video. I also have a question:

Where are these "volunteer editor" selected best Dysfunctional Family Circus comics that Bill Keane quashed? Wayback doesn't even have them through the link provided, but surely some outlaw corner of the Net preserved them as originally intended. I don't care how Bill Keane and his lawyers feel about it - I want to read them.
posted by dgaicun at 6:14 PM on November 8, 2005


Like I'm clicking on a bunch of pictures to find out if the Great Renaming or September that Never Ended is up there.
posted by kenko at 6:29 PM on November 8, 2005


And where was the friggin hamster dance?
Right here.

I liked the Superfriends Wassup parody. [.mov] From The Ultimate Whassup Collection, which has a staggering number of over 100 parodies.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:29 PM on November 8, 2005


"The Hampster Dance was retarded."

Well, yes. But that ridiculous page that the write-up links to isn't much like the original Hamster Dance.
posted by sfenders at 6:43 PM on November 8, 2005


I think the McDonalds domain name was the only non-WWW item on the list. The whole thing is pretty much a complete waste of time, which seems somehow appropriate.
posted by sfenders at 6:52 PM on November 8, 2005


but then pokey makes it all okay
posted by sfenders at 7:10 PM on November 8, 2005


I really should put the time in one of these days to find out what ever happened to Bernadette Taylor.
posted by Mitheral at 8:15 PM on November 8, 2005


Oh man, Radiskull!

(dreamy, far away look...)

Wow, that takes me right back, just like a nearly forgotten smell or something. crazy.
posted by NortonDC at 9:20 PM on November 8, 2005


In 1997, Hein made a web site - and accidentally coined a phrase that became part of our national cultural heritage.

"Jump the Shark."


Yes. Boy. Accidental.
posted by dreamsign at 9:57 PM on November 8, 2005


I think by "Internet" it means "World Wide Web". Because I didn't really see any great telnet, or ftp, or IRC, or e-mail moments on there.
posted by Eideteker at 10:32 PM on November 8, 2005


off to play the soundfile for the 1000'th time. still cracks me up

I'm guessing you've already seen the original video clip, right? Anyone who's ever played video games can relate to Leroy and his poor teammates.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:38 AM on November 9, 2005


Next up: great moments in SNMP.
posted by sfenders at 5:58 AM on November 9, 2005


I just can't believe GYWO didn't make the cut
posted by TedW at 7:16 AM on November 9, 2005


I love Cliff Stoll
posted by Gable Oak at 9:20 AM on November 9, 2005


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