Goatse.cx, the greatest website ever made, is dead. The site, infamous for hosting an image of a man stretching his anus out to an impressive width, while his penis drooped below, a solitary gold ring sparkling on his left hand, now shows a YouTube video depicting a “lawyer” rambling about the digital currency Dogecoin. He can’t even say “shibe” properly, but at least he’s wearing a ring.
The site’s admin announced its format change in a post on Reddit’s Dogecoin forum. “The site was taken down by the .cx registrar in 2004 and is no longer allowed to show the image,” he wrote. “Some wanted to launch Goatse Coin, but the Goatse Foundation found that Doge Coin is the superior crypto of the internet and Goatse.cx is now an official Shibe for Doge Coin.” (Shibe is slang for an adopter or supporter of the digital currency)
ANIMAL reached out to a person who seems to be the owner of the Goatse site on Twitter. He hasn’t responded yet.
Goatse.cx was first shut down in 2004, but an Australian IT consultant bought the domain and relaunched it as an email site in 2012. “To be honest I sort of regretted it, after buying it,” the anonymous person told Gawker at the time. “I bought this at 12 o’clock at night. Shortly after I bought it I wrote it off as a loss. It’s like buying a painting.”
Goatse now links to Dogecoin.com and a host of other Doge-related sites, and gives a spot to enter your email for information about the currency. Upon entering it, you’re sent an email with some basic information about Dogecoin.
Thanks for your interest in Dogecoin! Founded on December 8th 2013, Dogecoin is a fun, new and rapidly growing form of cryptocurrency. You can use it to buy goods and services, or trade it for other currencies (both other cryptocurrencies or traditional currency like US dollars). By far the most popular use the Dogecoin however is for “tipping” fellow internet-goers who are creating or sharing great content. Dogecoin is currently growing very quickly and has obtained a cult like following on such sites as Reddit.
So let this be an obituary. Goatse was hilarious and blissful in its simplicity. It was a shibboleth for early web surfers — a shared cultural touchstone that we could all identify with. The other shock sites relied on gimmicks: Tubgirl needed a fountain and our innate disgust of excrement; Lemonparty needed 3 actors; Meatspin needed music. Goatse needed no help. He was just one man and his hands, stretching our disbelief as much as he stretched himself.
