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YTMND

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Yourethemannowdog.com, the original YTMND site.

YTMND (ytmnd.com) is a website community that centers around the creation of YTMNDs, which are pages featuring a juxtaposition of a single tiled image, a looping sound file, and a large zooming text to result in an excited reaction from viewers. YTMND is also the general term used to describe any such site. YTMND is an acronym of the phrase "You're The Man Now, Dog!"

Origin

The yourethemannowdog.com website was created in 2001 by Max Goldberg. It consists of a repeated photo of actor Sean Connery and, in large zooming text, "YOURE (sic) THE / MAN NOW / DOG.COM". A recording of Connery saying "You're the man now, dog!" from the film Finding Forrester repeats continuously.

The site inspired others to create similar sites with other movie and television quotes. At first Goldberg maintained a list and mirror of these sites but the list started to get very large. In 2004, rather than continuing to maintain the list, Goldberg created ytmnd.com. His new site lets anyone become a member and create their own YTMND by uploading a sound file, uploading a graphic file and optionally entering text to display. Very quickly the site caught on in popularity and became an internet phenomenon when major weblogs began linking to the now infamous YTMND Captain Picard tribute which has received over 1.1 million views as of August 2005 (see external links).

History

When YTMND first opened, newly created YTMNDs were unmoderated and therefore a certain portion of them were highly offensive. The site also featured forums but on October 14th, 2004, Max Goldberg, without any warning, inexplicably shut down the YTMND Forums and banned the chief users -- citing tension between himself and the website's host, though they have since reopened. The site as a whole was temporarily closed in December 2004, with Goldberg forwarding the site to the original yourethemannowdog.com without notice. In late March 2005 Goldberg reopened the site with new features and the creation of new YTMNDs is now moderated.

Fads and memes

For more information about YTMND fads and memes please see the list of YTMND fads article.

The content of YTMND remains one of the most definitive examples of memes and memetics on the Internet. The format of the original YTMND has obviously become self-replicating in nature, and fads in the subject matter of YTMND's are fairly rampant. As memetic "mutations" occur, new influences come in, and some YTMNDs become phenomenally popular, after which other members come up with ways to create alternate "spins" on this YTMND, after which more "spins" are formed. Many of these fads had previously or have since spread to the Web as a whole. By this point, the topic of the original YTMND could be - and usually is - considered a fad.

Postmodernism

The YTMND phenomenon represents a provocative example of postmodern culture. It can be recognized as a product of the current philosophical state of society, postmodernism. Each individual creation on YTMND, while unique in itself, is an amalgamation of preexisting concepts, images, and sounds. Thus, the sites generally lack originality. The sites demonstrate the notion of 'copies of copies' introduced by Baudrillard in his studies with Simulacra. In addition, the portal embraces the ideas of cynicism and apathy, and strongly emphasizes the role of the indifferent observer in its approach.

Warning: The following websites may contain images of violence, shock images or otherwise offensive material.

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