Happy 25th Anniversary to Fark.com!
One of the internet’s original hubs for bizarre links is celebrating its 25th birthday this month. It all started with a quirky photo of a squirrel with unusually large nuts.
In October 1999, Fark.com emerged as a platform showcasing offbeat stories paired with clever user-submitted headlines that often outshined the originals.
Founder Drew Curtis revealed that before transforming the site into its current form, he used a picture of a squirrel with massive testicles as a temporary placeholder.
Initially, Curtis frequently used the term “fark” as a substitute for profanity in his daily conversations. In 1997, he registered it as a domain name upon learning that the internet was running out of four-letter domain options.
“I had no clear vision for the site at the time, so I went with the squirrel photo,” Curtis shared with JS.
Over time, Curtis decided to curate a space where he could share peculiar news stories he stumbled upon, a talent that he told Ace Magazine “was a genuine skill in the era of print and early digital media.”
With its unique approach of recaptioning news stories with alternative headlines, Fark evolved into a hub for all things unconventional, hoping to be a central repository for everything Not News.
Interestingly, Curtis noted that over the next 25 years, Not News gradually encompassed the entire news landscape, unintentionally absorbing the entire news cycle.
Although Fark’s popularity initially grew at a gradual pace, the site experienced a significant surge following the events of September 11, 2001, when many websites struggled to stay online.
Curtis explained, “We managed to withstand the pressure and witnessed a doubling of traffic during that period.”
While the real-time experience did lead to a shift in the site’s content post-9/11, Fark eventually returned to its roots of sharing quirky news stories with enhanced headlines.
Despite challenges from AI-generated content, Curtis believes that recent algorithm adjustments on social platforms have made Fark more valuable to users seeking obscure and underreported stories.
Join the celebration of Fark’s 25th anniversary on October 12 with a live event in Lexington, Kentucky, where epic threads from the site’s history will be highlighted.
Notable fans of Fark include Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, TV personality Conan O’Brien, and humorist Dave Barry, with reports of veteran journalist Dan Rather enjoying browsing the site as well.
As Fark continues to navigate the evolving digital landscape, Curtis remains dedicated to providing a unique platform for offbeat news and stories.
Source: JS
