Encyclopedia Dramatica:Address to the State Follow Up

Typical 4chan users.

Dear Dramacrats, Republolicans, and EDiots alike; I've made a mistake.

In the previous address that was on the Mainpage, I slurred all Chan users as Chanfags. This was a grave mistake, as it led to an attempted DDoS attack on ED, from a few /i/nsurgents from 420chan. While I think that their reaction reeked of butthurt, I will also agree that I should have picked my words more carefully. The *Chans are a great force of the internet, and ED would rather have you folks as allies, as opposed to enemies. You face the same problem that we here at ED were facing; a harsh onslaught of Newfags. I referenced the biggest influx of morons as coming from 4chan, because technically, your newfags were spilling over here.

But you are not to blame for that. Nor are those people who break Rules 1 and 2, since as we all know, they were written by Newfags and Gaiafags who want to keep /b/ all to themselves, thinking they could stop people from talking about 4chan. The problem there is mods who don't give a shit, and fail to ban unfunny combofags, and various other cancers that are killing /b/.

Veteran 4channers, and other chans alike, if you want your secret community of hackers on steriods to continue to flourish with bountiful harvests of lulz, you must get moot to start caring again. Or at least, get him to hand off 4chan to someone who might care. If enough of you speak up, he might actually do something. Might as well give it a shot, since sitting back and calling moot a faggot isn't going to make /b/ and 4chan any better or any funnier (not that there's anything wrong with calling Moot a faggot).

While I'm talking about 4chan, I would like to address another misconception that's been flying around; the idea that without 4chan, ED would not exist to this day. This is not true. Although many people from the Chans come here to read up about memes and the like, when ED first came up, it specialized in Live Journal and DeviantART drama. And as time wore on, furries, and the whole scope of Web 2.0 (MySpace, YouTube, etc.). Encyclopedia Dramatica is more than a version of Wikichan that gets more traffic. It's home to all sorts of internet drama.

There's also the concern that some Channers have expressed, regarding our extensive catalog of 4chan memes, and how we're contributing to the cancer that is killing /b/ by teaching the kiddies what these memes are about. To counter this, we will work to put disclaimers on all meme related articles, alerting the underage b&s lurking on our site, that simply understanding these memes does not make you hip and cool, and does not mean you're one of the cool kids.

Newfags and Gaiafags alike: the only way you won't come under fire for using these memes carelessly, is by lurking more, and understanding that the Chans are more than just a bunch of worthless catch-phrases, certified hip and savvy by the cool kids. So please, do the internet a favor and simply lurk moar. Examine what others do, and ease your way into the Channer culture as easily as possible. If you simply lurk more than you participate, you can reverse the cancer that is killing /b/, and just maybe, squelch it for good. Remember though: ED does not revolve around the Chans. But we are grateful for your patronage, and hope there are no hard feelings from the last post.

But I digress. The original post on the front page was about something more important; cleansing ED, and raising the bar of quality. I stress to all of you new users, not to write articles by stringing together memes of all different sorts (be they from 4chan, Wikipedia, or ED), and actually be funny, and come up with original content. Because a funny ED, is a better ED.