Goatse.cx Is For Sale

fm6 writes "The domain goatse.cx is being auctioned. Bidding, at the time of posting, has reached $15K after 109 bids (with 6 days to go). Some of you will recall that this site used to be linked in a lot of Slashdot articles, despite having only a few pages. Boing Boing, with their usual creativity, has managed to depict Goatse's most commonly linked photo while still remaining within the bounds of good taste."

Advertising

[MichaelSmith]

You could put google adds on it but I shudder to think what it would advertise. Probably make a lot of money, though.

Re:Advertising

[hankwang]

You could put google adds on it but I shudder to think what it would advertise

AdSense program policies [google.com]: no pornography, adult, or mature content. But of course there are plenty of other advertising companies.

Re:Advertising

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

They could always advertise Preparation H.

Re:Advertising

[jorgevillalobos]

They could always advertise Preparation H.

I have to agree, Preparation H feels good on the whole.

Goatse.cx is everywhere

[khendron]

Those Boing Boing links are hilarious.

I've recently noticed that the Toastmasters [toastmasters.org] (safe link) logo has more than a passing resemblance.

Re:

[matlhDam]

I've recently noticed that the Toastmasters [toastmasters.org] (safe link) logo has more than a passing resemblance.

There's been more than a few people suggest that Westnet [westnet.com.au], an ISP here in Perth, could have thought through its new logo a little better, too.

Re:

[lordofthechia]

How could we forget
Disney Goatse [google.com]?

Re:Goatse.cx is everywhere

[damncrackmonkey]

wow, you guys are really stretching it

Re:

[bmgoau]

For the current bid of $120 Trillion who wouldnt want to own a piece of internet history, i know i would. I'd just have to occupy the output of every human being and factory on earth for a few years...

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Probably make a lot of money, though.

A buttload.

Site seems to be down :-(

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

Unfortunately, it appears the the goatse.cx site is down. Fortunately, there's a mirror available at goatse.ch [goatse.ch] and goatse.cz [goatse.cz].

Re:Site seems to be down :-(

[MichaelSmith]

I bet you have been waiting years for a chance to post those links.

The end is near...

[DrYak]

I bet you have been waiting years for a chance to post those links.

...AND to get those links deliberately modded +5 Insightful by anyone with mod points : Priceless !

Re:The end is near...

[Hal_Porter]

...AND to get those [Goatse] links deliberately modded +5 Insightful by anyone with mod points : Priceless !

I wonder if I can get modded up for pointing out the state of the art way to post goatse to slashdot is to put the obfuscated version of the URL with in a comment with a tempting bait like this [slashdot.org]?

Re:

[TheLink]

tinyurl allows "previews" enabled - which means people can opt to see the URL first, rather than the site.

A number of other url shortening sites don't support this feature.

Re:

[dsanfte]

If ever there was the time for the Foe feature, this is it.

I challenge thee to a duel of honour. Be our differences resolved in like fashion.

Oh for the love of...

[The Bungi]

So much for that deal with Satan specifying he could take me the day a post with a goatse link on Slashdot was modded +5...

And your punishment is...

[mangu]

Living in this house [break.com] for the rest of your life on Earth. After you die, well you know...

Re:

[ScrewMaster]

In my book, the following Holy crap is she smokin' [break.com] link is definitely preferable to a house that gives every impression of having been screwed by a sperm whale.

Re:Site seems to be down :-(

[Xyrus]

Somewhere, a demon in the 7th circle of hell just snorted battery acid and gasoline all over his keyboard.

~X~

Unfair

[Sam H]

Anyone else finds it pretty unfair that the registrar took the domain back from its owner, then allows someone else to buy it for hundreds of dollars? Pretty close to stealing if you ask me.

Re:Unfair

[Dogtanian]

Anyone else finds it pretty unfair that the registrar took the domain back from its owner, then allows someone else to buy it for hundreds of dollars? Pretty close to stealing if you ask me.

If they did it once, they can do it again. Why would I want to pay out tens of thousands of dollars for a site when that could happen?

Even if I got that money returned, I'd assume that someone willing to spend that amount of money would have spent more money on, or be receiving more income from the site which they *wouldn't* get back.

TOS

[tepples]

Anyone else finds it pretty unfair that the registrar took the domain back from its owner, then allows someone else to buy it for hundreds of dollars?

If the original buyer agreed in the TOS that the domain can be seized and resold if obscene content is posted, then it's fair.

the ancient cult of goatse.cx

[circletimessquare]

i was surfing about.com's list of religious symbols awhile back and found out, much to my shock and amusement, that the goatse.cx guy is an ancient celtic god [about.com]

(link is pretty safe for work)

Re:the ancient cult of goatse.cx

[MMC Monster]

Frankly, I wouldn't follow any links from this article. Last time I looked at the goatse.cx image was about 5 years ago, and it is still burned in my head. I can't go through that trauma again.

Re:

[Glowing Fish]

I think my best goatse.cx memory is showing it to a guy who seemed to be the crude, dirty type and who had spent much much time on the internet's dark corner, and him responding "I have to go throw my hard drive in clorox"

Yeah, it stays with you for a while...

Re:

[NMerriam]

Hey, say what you will about goatse.cx guy, he's a hundred times better than tubgirl.

...tubgirl...

[Jerry Smith]

Excuse me while I claw my eyes out. Again. *shudder*

Re:

[Raenex]

Last time I looked at the goatse.cx image was about 5 years ago, and it is still burned in my head.

I know you said you wouldn't follow any links, but I think this comic depicts your pain amusingly: http://www.vgcats.com/othercomics/?strip_id=10 [vgcats.com]

I got it from Wikipedia. It's safe. Trust me! No really, I'm not kidding, it's funny. Seriously, I'm not trying to fool you. Ah well, you'll never believe me :)

Re:

[rark]

um..goddess..and that's her vulva she's holding open

Re:the ancient cult of goatse.cx

[fm6]

Dude, you need to learn the difference between a vulva [wikipedia.org] and an anus [wikipedia.org]. Getting them mixed up can really get you in trouble!

Re:the ancient cult of goatse.cx

[Anonymous Coward]

...or in deep shit.

Re:

[Tablizer]

that the goatse.cx guy is an ancient celtic god

With gods like that, who needs devils?
     

What's it worth?

[Linker3000]

I can't see a large opening for sites with names like this.

Re:What's it worth?

[archeopterix]

I can't see a large opening for sites with names like this.

I believe there is a wide gap between your assessment and the market value.

Re:What's it worth?

[TempeTerra]

I can't see a large opening for sites with names like this.

I believe there is a wide gap between your assessment and the market value.

So in your opinion, there is a void that must filled?

Re:

[Xyrus]

Is that your final analysis, our do you need to do a wider search. You may need to dig deep, as assumptions are detrimental to ascertaining whether you have the whole truth or not.

~X~

teh interweb

[owlnation]

Is that the entrance to one of the series of tubes?

Re:

[EnsilZah]

Or the exit, depends on how you look at it.

Your own goatse.cx

[guacamole]

Ah! A rich geek's dream cum true!

.cx domains are worthless

[Anonymous Coward]

Goatse was a culturally significant internet meme and the domain was suspended (revoked) because some kook at the registrar found the content tasteless. There's plenty of content I find tasteless online, Goatse was nowhere near as offensive to me as the GWB presidency yet I'm not about to start pressuring ICANN to withdraw the domains registered by pro-bush news sites.

Dot cx (now CIIA) set a dangerous precedent in revoking the goatse domain, content regulation via DNS is nothing more than an abuse of power. cx domains are worthless, the registry has established it will pull domains if they don't like the content. Avoid.

Goatse is for sissies

[bersl2]

Tubgirl is so much better than Goatse.

And by "better", I mean "more thoroughly disgusting". The latter makes me laugh; the former turns my stomach.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Tubgirl's gross-out value was slightly ruined for me after I found out it's actually an orange juice enema she's expelling, rather than liquid poop, which is the instinctive assumption.

Re:

[dreamlax]

Tubgirl's gross-out value was slightly ruined for me after I found out it's actually an orange juice enema she's expelling, rather than liquid poop, which is the instinctive assumption.

I don't care what it is. It's flying out of her ass and into her face.

I was looking for a joke...

[Glowing Fish]

But they are too easy to be found.
For example, you could probably turn most of the stories on the front page of Slashdot into goatse.cx jokes if you wanted. Wal-Mart begins massive push for HD-DVD...Microsoft finds home for barcode...and of course, the hundred million mile pipe organ. All are open to goatse.cx jokes.

The price has since gone up!

[toetagger1]

Current bid amount: $5.02402e+11

How awesome is that?

Enough

[Jotii]

$5.02402e+11 ought to be enough for anybody. It's $1e+12 now. Why do they even allow bids that big? It can't be serious.

Anyone notice the seller?

[FooAtWFU]

It's being auctioned on SEOBidding.com - as in, Search Engine Optimization - not the nice, XHTML+accessibility+no-broken-links kind of SEO, but the scum-of-the-earth kind that snaps up a domain where the registration has lapsed, and puts up a site with a) ads and b) links to other sites, so they can steal the page-rank.

As for the auction, I hope they choke on it.

Re:Anyone notice the seller?

[Lehk228]

i hope their assholes get ripped open in the auction

Re:

[bcmm]

I think they *are* choking on it: surely no one actually has the current bid of "$1e+12". :-)

Do they not have some kind of defence against blatant trolling, given that that's really what this auction is about?

Pefrect timing for Political Camaign

[failedlogic]

If I were a campaign adviser in the upcoming US federal elections, buying goatse.cx would be perfect.

TV AD:

Voting for candidate A is bad.
He'll raise taxes.
Ruin the economy.
And, he doesn't like children.
Basically, he's a asshole.
(cut to the infamous picture).
On election day, don't vote for A.
Vote for a candidate that cares. Vote for B.
Brought to you buy: http://goatse.cx/ [goatse.cx]

A farewell tribute

[Experiment 626]

One of the things I liked about goatse.cx is the clever wordplay... pronounce "goatse cx" and it sounds like "goat sex". Yet, it most references to the site, even the discussion on this thread, it's just referred to as "goatse". People don't generally shorten "del.icio.us" to "icio", because there is a realization that the domain name as a whole has special significance, yet the brilliant and subtle humor of goatse.cx is lost on so many Slashdotters. And with the domain up for sale, soon that comic geni

typo

[fellip_nectar]

If you click the 'Place Bid' button without logging in to the site you are instructed:

"Please login to your accunt first."

For once...

[ndogg]

For once, I wouldn't blame anyone for not RTFAing.

Re:its bad enough

[mushadv]

Like it or not, it's internets history. It's especially relevant to /. for the reason you stated (trolling).

Re:

[mushadv]

You don't sound like you're too up on your internets history [wikipedia.org], friend.

Re:its bad enough

[GeneralAntilles]

Clearly, friend, you've failed in your attempts to stretch your sphincter as wide as the goatse.cx gentleman and are lashing out at us because of it.

Re:

[mr_shifty]

You must be new here.

Re:

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

Theo, I herd u liek mudkips. If not, please make yourself an hero.

Re:

[Khaed]

Someone instantly calling another person an idiot doesn't have much room to bitch about others not engaging in legitimate discussion.

PS. Asshole.

Re:

[Heembo]

I'm sick of you retards parroting tired memes instead of engaging in legitimate discussion.

Uh, like you are doing now? Get a grip (on your sphincter) buddy!

Re:its bad enough

[Broken scope]

Sadly goatse is part of the history of the internet.

Re:its bad enough

[suv4x4]

Sadly goatse is part of the history of the internet.

You'll be surprised how many people, making millions on the Internet, have no clue what it is. The people familiar in details with all the shock sites are a certain subculture, and certainly doesn't make up the history of the Internet.

Re:its bad enough

[Broken scope]

That would be true if high schools didn't have computer labs. I know many who don't know the name, but it will be a cold day in hell before they will every be able to remove that particular image from their brain.

Re:its bad enough

[linvir]

The people familiar in details with all the shock sites are a certain subculture, and certainly doesn't make up the history of the Internet.

As I understand it, back in the early days of the internet, the kind of enthusiasts who make up today's subculture were a significant proportion of the userbase. Just by being there, they were a target market, and helped the whole thing to grow. Just because AOL came along and reduced them to a subculture doesn't mean they aren't part of the internet's history.

And besides, who cares about the internet's ability to concentrate even more wealth into even fewer hands? I can guarantee that in 300 years, the history teachers won't be telling their classes about how the internet was really profitable and made a select few very rich. They'll tell of how it connected the world and got us all communicating at an unprecedented level (assuming they even mention it at all).

Sure, the signal-to-noise ratio sucks, and half the time all we're communicating is a picture of a guy stretching his ass with his hands, but at least that's more interesting than some dotcom's record quarterly report.

Re:

[mickwd]

"You'll be surprised how many people, making millions on the Internet, have no clue what it is.

Check out this set of pictures [flickr.com] (or here [firstgoatse.com]) of people finding out exactly what goatse.cx is, while some nice person photographs the expression on their face.

Money != Knowledge

[Cid Highwind]

You'll be surprised how many people, making millions on the Internet, have no clue what it is.

The people "making millions on the Internet" right now tend to be pornographers, spammers, scammers, and botnet owners. They probably don't know anything about Vint Cerf, ARPAnet, the IETF, or BBN either...

Re:its bad enough

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder what that other famous site [tubgirl.com] would cost.

Re:its bad enough

[Anonymous Coward]

On one hand, it should be obvious that his link directs to some kind of shock image. On the other hand, he just posted a Tubgirl picture to Slashdot and got modded interesting. Indeed.

Re:

[bazorg]

from now on you can explain your grandchildren that there was a time when the internet did not have many ads, websites were made only of HTML and tubgirl was not mainstream.

Re:

[linvir]

BAWWWWWWWW

Awww, it's awright, I bwoughted your butt-medicine for you! Here, you take a liddel sip and then you go sleepy-byes!

Re:its bad enough

[Mr. Underbridge]

it's bad enough when someone does a first post to goatse.cx, why the heck is this making news? internet shock sites should not be posted on popular forums, it's stupid, why do we get a news article about shock sites

Methinks thou doth protest too much. That's really your ass in the picture, isn't it?

i always thought the /. community of moderators were a little more mature.

That's a joke, right?

Re:

[Professor_UNIX]

internet shock sites should not be posted on popular forums, it's stupid, why do we get a news article about shock sites

You apparently don't remember the good old days when you could still post inline images in Slashdot comments and there were no registered accounts, you just typed in whatever name you wanted to post under or just left it the default of Anonymous Coward.

Re:

[Breakfast Pants]

And I'm sure you do, Mr. 867045.

Re:its bad enough

[Paul Crowley]

Putting off registering an account as long as possible is probably just good sense.

Re:

[QuantumG]

Clearly, seeing as he doesn't even know the difference between moderator and, *cough*, editor.

Re:its bad enough

[MichaelSmith]

i thought it was all done through firehose now.

No. If it was done that way there would be 6000 articles in the queue like on digg and it would be impossible to get anything decent posted.

Re:

[QuantumG]

What, you think this is Kuro5hin? No, there's still people who are paid to read submissions and decide what best "represents Slashdot".. and yeah, they never read the site themselves, so they have no idea what is on Slashdot.

Re:

[W2k]

i thought it was all done through firehose now. people rate the articles and they get submitted when the rating is high enough. i thought the editors were all replaced a long time ago?

Not really, it seems the editors don't really care [slashdot.org] what the firehose thinks about a story. I've stopped using it since it seems to be quite useless other than as a toy for editor wannabes.

Re:

[MichaelSmith]

Who the hell is paying over 30 million dollars for a stupid domain name??!

$30000050...even the number is funny. 30000000 to get attention, 50 being what it is actually worth. Probably somebody from around here :)

Re:

[QuickFox]

At the moment it's at $402402000050. 402 billion dollars. Something tells me the bidding isn't working quite the way it's intended to work.

Either that, or Bill Gates is fulfilling a lifelong dream.

No one is paying

[mangu]

It has now become a contest of who is able to write the largest number. I tried bidding 9!!!!!!!!! just to see if they understand what a factorial is, but it required me to log in. I'm not going to create a fake account just for that lame joke.

Anyhow, there's a good moral lesson here. The .cx domain registrars revoked the site name just because they didn't like its content. Now who would want to buy a domain name they can lose anytime at the registrar's whim? As in any business, there is a question of trust here, if you can't trust the registrar the domain is worthless.

Besides, it's not as if there didn't exist plenty of sick sites [google.com] out there. I don't like those, but who am I to judge? As long as it's nothing criminal, let it be...

Re:

[ScrewMaster]

As long as it's nothing criminal, let it be...

Yeah, but the determination of what is criminal involves a whole lot of conflicting legal and moral standards, even within the same nation.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

The .cx people didn't pull goatse.cx just because they didn't like the content. From my understanding, they pulled it after a formal complaint, from a Christmas Island resident (named Rhonda Clarke), who complained very specifically about one thing - the link to dolphinsex.org. Without said link there would have been no basis for it being pulled, but bestiality is illegal in .cx, thus this link contravened the T&Cs of domain registration, so it was pulled.

*makes sure he checks "Post Anonymously"*

Re:Jokers appear to have hijacked the bidding

[Sam H]

Wow, you needed to look at the vote pattern to infer that the $20M bidders can't possibly be serious? :-)

Re:

[MichaelSmith]

I hope they did it anonymously. Puts me in mind of the episode where Homer Simpson donated $10 MUSD to a telethon.

Re:

[cshark]

Seems likely that it's the original owner opening up an account and doing it anonymously. Possibly through a translator or a proxy for good measure.

Makes sense. That's exactly what I would do.

Re:

[Punto]

sounds fair, since the register stole the domain from its original owner in the first place, why allow these guys to make a profit from it?

I'm bidding as soon as I can get an account set up.

Re:

[Omestes]

$1e+12 now...

Wow... I am glad it does exponents...

Re:goatse on the cheap

[masterzora]

open goatse variants

Did you really have to say "open goatse"? You're only making this worse!

Re:goatse on the cheap

[mr_shifty]

"Open Goatse" sounds like some sort of FOSS operating system, probably based on BSD.

open goatse

[BorgCopyeditor]

Now the true significance of the BSD demon mascot is finally, terrifyingly revealed! His reign shall be merciless, and pointy! There shall be much wailing and frantic pressing of "Back" buttons, but it shall avail them naught, for even should they close one window will two more appear, and more, and more, until their screens shall be covered in it, such that all the lab may see. And they will laugh, or call campus security, or file a lawsuit. Yea, these are dark times.

Re:

[6Yankee]

What if one were to buy all of them? Are they cheaper holesale?

Re:fun bidding..

[QuickFox]

Yes you do. They are very serious about that. They will track you down. If you don't have the money you can expect serious trouble.

Good luck.

Ya right.

[electrosoccertux]

Yes you do. They are very serious about that. They will track you down. If you don't have the money you can expect serious trouble.

Good luck.

How exactly are they going to get someone to pay $1,000,000,000,000? [seobidding.com]

Re:

[QuickFox]

They'll do what they always do when someone can't pay the entire sum that he owes. They'll get as large a portion as they can, by arranging personal bankrupcy, confiscation of assets with executory auction, confiscation of future income, and so on.

Debt is a serious matter.

Re:

[electrosoccertux]

They'll do what they always do when someone can't pay the entire sum that he owes. They'll get as large a portion as they can, by arranging personal bankrupcy, confiscation of assets with executory auction, confiscation of future income, and so on.

Debt is a serious matter.

Does that include confiscating the domain and reselling it?

Re:

[QuickFox]

We're assuming that he can't pay for it. This is a very reasonable assumption, in my view. This means he won't own it. Thus they don't need to confiscate it. They get to confiscate everything he owns and all his future, and still they get to keep the domain and sell it again.

Even if they did have to confiscate the domain before they sell it, in the executory auction the domain would only bring in a very small fraction of his debt. I'm sure you'll agree that it would bring in only a very, very small fraction

Re:

[mangu]

the "guy" at goatse was a hermaphrodite and that people were too shocked to realize that they were looking up a vagina

Well, there's also the people who notice the guy has a wedding ring. Anyhow, examining the goatse picture closely enough to find remarkable details, well, I confess I haven't got to that stage yet...

Re:

[UnCivil Liberty]

I've heard site maintenance is a real pain in the ass.