Oh No They Didn't

The community was originally created in 2004 by teenagers Erin Lang, Bri Draffen and Breniecia Reuben.{{cite news|last1=Mitchell Sunderland and Emalie Marthe|title=OH NO HE DIDN'T DID A WHITE GUY STEAL A POPULAR GOSSIP SITE FROM THREE BLACK TEENAGERS?|url=https://www.vice.com/read/oh-no-he-didnt-0000473-v21n10|access-date=6 October 2014|date=6 October 2014}}

The community publishes an average of 100 member posts per day,[http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/2009/ "ONTD! Calendar"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090612112119/http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/2009/ |date=2009-06-12 }}, retrieved 2009-02-27. with most posts getting between 100 and 500 comments on average. The community moderators post a weekly post called "Free for All Friday" (or "FFAF") which allows members to post off-topic comments. These free-for-all posts have often been expanded to include community discussion posts for important pop culture events such as the Academy Awards, the Olympics (known as "Free for All Olympics" or "FFAO" posts) and Saturday Night Live viewing posts.

In addition to members submitting the posts themselves, ONTD relies heavily on user participation in the comments section, where members can express their opinions on posts. Members often illustrate their reaction to a particular news item by posting an animated GIF image which represents their feelings. After the death of Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009, according to MSNBC, "users expressed their collective grief by posting a Fantasia Barrino GIF, in which the American Idol star wails and flails her arms wildly,"Popkin, Helen A.S.: [http://www.nbcnews.com/id/31571885 "'Net Big Enough For Michael Jackson and Iran"]{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, NBC News 2009-06-26. Retrieved on 2009-06-26. [https://web.archive.org/web/20250315145409/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna31571885 Archived] 2025-03-15. while other users expressed concern over the continued use of a popular GIF taken from the music video "Thriller" featuring a scene of Jackson eating popcorn, an image that is frequently posted on the community in anticipation of a controversial or "flame-worthy topic."

ONTD won the Best Gossip Blog award in the 2008 Weblog Awards, beating out other popular celebrity blogs such as D-Listed, Perez Hilton and TMZ, with a whopping 44% of the vote.{{cite web|url=http://2008.weblogawards.org/polls/best-gossip-blog/|title=Best Gossip Blog - The 2008 Weblog Awards|website=2008.weblogawards.org|access-date=2009-06-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090602113636/http://2008.weblogawards.org/polls/best-gossip-blog/|archive-date=2009-06-02|url-status=usurped}}

ONTD has been noted in O, the Oprah Magazine,Winfrey, Oprah: [http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/12256074.html#cutid1 "Guilty Pleasures"] O, The Oprah Magazine, June 2008. Retrieved 2009-02-27. cited in Life & Style,[http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/28695187.html#cutid1 "Is Taylor Growing Too Fast?"] Life & Style, October 2008. Retrieved 2009-02-27. and artist Lily Allen referenced the online community in the March 2009 issue of Playboy Magazine.[http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/32150519.html "Playboy Music Awards"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090216121241/http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/32150519.html |date=2009-02-16 }}, Playboy, March 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-27.

The Swedish newspaper Metro described the community as "Gossip on steroids."Nanok Bie: [http://www.metro.se/se/article/2009/02/16/19/5440-45/index.xml "Ett himmelrike för skvallertanten"], Swedish Metro, 16-02-2009. Retrieved on 11-06-2009. "Oh No They Didn’t är en skvallersajt på steroider. I stället för att några utvalda ”journalister” skriver inläggen är det här medlemmarna själva som skvallrar. Och med fler än 50 000 medlemmar blir tempot på skvallret högt och kvaliteten högst varierande. Men om man älskar skvaller och orkar vada igenom mer än 100 inlägg om dagen så hittar man många guldkorn, ofta innan de större tidningarna fått upp ögonen för det." The paper also noted that with a high volume of posts, the reader would "find a lot of highlights, and often before newspapers get their hands on it". The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that the "scandal-mongering community overflows with interactive snark" and encouraged the reader to "imagine a gossip clearinghouse run by teenagers with bad attitudes and sharp tongues".Chonin, Neva. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/14/GSIDE.TMP "Surfing for the Superficial"]. San Francisco Chronicle. 2006-08-14. Retrieved 2009-06-19. The A.V. Club cited ONTD as a "favorite time-wasting website" and wrote that "the comments section can sometimes be more amusing than the posts themselves".{{cite web|url=https://www.avclub.com/favorite-time-wasting-websites-1798217241|title=Favorite time-wasting websites|first=A.V. Club|last=Staff|website=The A.V. Club|date=31 July 2009 }} In December 2009, the users of ONTD were derisively referredLeins, Jeff. [http://www.newsinfilm.com/2009/12/21/perez-hilton-ironically-declares-avatar-a-failure/ "Perez Hilton Ironically Declares Avatar a Failure"] News in Film. 2009-12-21. Retrieved 2009-12-27 to as "jackals" because the stories posted on the blog are taken from other sources. In response, the users embraced the term and repeatedly used the term in later posts, as well as manipulating their icons to include photographs of the animals.[http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/42310449.html "perez continues to be a moron- ontd gets a mention"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091226011237/http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/42310449.html |date=2009-12-26 }} 2009-12-22. Retrieved 2009-12-27.

The Village Voice called the community a "psychopathic celebrity news/gossip wire-of-sorts" and its users "a community of pathologically obsessive celebrity gossip sadomasochists."[http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2010/04/andrew_breitbar_2.php Andrew Breitbart vs. Oh No They Didn't: A Media Spat with Epic Potential] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100425042525/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2010/04/andrew_breitbar_2.php |date=2010-04-25 }}

ONTD was the first community to break the news of Jamie Lynn Spears' pregnancy, after leaking OK! Magazine's unpublished front page cover, and was the first to report that Kirk Acevedo had announced via his Facebook status update that he had been fired from the Fox drama, Fringe.Karger, Dave. [http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/05/fringe-star-ann.html 'Fringe' star Kirk Acevedo announces firing on Facebook?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090526235359/http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/05/fringe-star-ann.html |date=2009-05-26 }}. Entertainment Weekly. May 20, 2009. Retrieved June 18, 2009.

When the rumors of Jon from Jon and Kate Gosselin's infidelity started appearing in February 2009, a photo of Jon out on town was posted on ONTD, which showed him posing with two young women in a local bar. National gossip magazines picked up the news, and a screen grab of ONTD could be seen in StarStar (magazine), issue 03-04-2009, page 58-59. and US Weekly.US Weekly, issue 03-11-2009, page 42.

The most scandalous and notable events are often given nicknames to distinguish them in future posts, such as the January 2008 hospitalization of Britney Spears, which was dubbed Hostage Brituation '08 by the community's members. This nickname was later picked up and used by Rolling Stone.Kreps, Daniel: [https://web.archive.org/web/20080105202428/http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/01/04/britney-spears-hospitalized-after-hostage-brituation-involving-her-two-kids/ "Britney Spears Hospitalized After “Hostage Brituation” Involving Her Two Kids; Released Next Day"], Rolling Stone, 2008-01-04. Retrieved 2009-02-27. The abuse case between singers Rihanna and Chris Brown was dubbed Domestic Disturbia '09 by the community's members,[http://www.klue.com.my/articles/1261-Wednesdays-Word-Up-Domestic-Disturbia Wednesdays Word Up: Domestic Disturbia] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20110719183629/http://www.klue.com.my/articles/1261-Wednesdays-Word-Up-Domestic-Disturbia |date=2011-07-19 }} and the community was also credited with starting a meme ("Gokey is a douche") connected to some friends of American Idol contestant Danny Gokey's negative comments and pictures regarding fellow contestant Adam Lambert.Montgomery, James. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090621065216/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1614260/20090618/story.jhtml Danny Gokey Detractors Take Their Fight To Twitter, Google]. MTV News. June 18, 2009. Retrieved June 18, 2009. The forced removal of "#gokeyisadouche" from Twitter's trending topics list prompted a discussion on Twitter's censorship.Seth Abramovitch: [http://www.movieline.com/2009/06/how-a-photo-of-adam-lambert-dressed-as-the-ferosh-hulk-ignited-a-gokey-hating-revolution.php How a Photo of Adam 'The Ferosh Hulk' Lambert Ignited a Gokey-Hating Revolution] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619195447/http://www.movieline.com/2009/06/how-a-photo-of-adam-lambert-dressed-as-the-ferosh-hulk-ignited-a-gokey-hating-revolution.php |date=2009-06-19 }}. Movieline, 2009-06-18. Retrieved on 2009-06-19.

The community was also responsible for a hoax that claimed actress Betty White had died. After a post titled "Renner, Just Happy to Be Here" was approved to the community, the original poster edited the post to show a screen grab of a TMZ article claiming White had died.[http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/2010/03/betty-white-death-hoax-fake.html Betty White is just fine -- though one hoaxer better lie low for a while]. Los Angeles Times. March 2, 2010. Retrieved March 3, 2010. Users displayed shock and confusion, before slowly realizing the article was a fake when not only did the source link just go to TMZ's main website, but the article mentioned "possibilities of foul play and drug abuse, and grandchildren that Betty White does not have."[http://maisontv.livejournal.com/69671.html The Cutting Room Floor - ALERT : Betty White is Alive] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110820124051/http://maisontv.livejournal.com/69671.html |date=2011-08-20 }} Community moderators deleted the post within 40 minutes, but not before "Betty White" became a Twitter trending topic. Once the hoax was discovered, fans urged each other to tweet #BettyWhiteFacts and other positive messages about White instead of spreading further death rumours.

Another notable hoax involved a fake Twitter screenshot of Michael Lohan saying his daughter Lindsay Lohan had an affair with Tommy Mottola when she was 17, and that she had HIV. Though the post was quickly deleted, Perez Hilton reported on the screenshot as if it were true and other gossip sites followed.{{cite web|url=http://perezhilton.com/2010-04-27-lindsay-lohan-has-aids|title=Lindsay Lohan Has AIDS?????}}{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/06/AR2010050605861.html | newspaper=The Washington Post | title=Michael and Lindsay Lohan lies go viral, and the truth is hard to corral | first=Howard | last=Kurtz | date=2010-05-07}}{{cite web|url=http://gawker.com/5528363/the-lindsay-lohan-has-hiv-twitter-scam-that-fooled-everyone |title=The 'Lindsay Lohan Has HIV' Twitter Scam That Fooled Everyone |access-date=2010-06-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100604094709/http://gawker.com/5528363/the-lindsay-lohan-has-hiv-twitter-scam-that-fooled-everyone |archive-date=2010-06-04 }} Michael believed that the screenshot was real and that someone had hacked his Twitter account, while Lindsay refused to believe her father was innocent, stating "He's a grown man and has done the exact same things on TV/interviews, why wouldn't he lie on Twitter, and everywhere else!" The moderators of ONTD later apologized for the scandal, while stating that they were "pretty appalled to learn that NONE of the other gossip or news sites that posted the story bothered to check for accuracy and have yet to post a retraction or apology for spreading such a vicious rumor."{{cite web|url=https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/46756241.html|title=Update On The Michael Lohan Tweet Scandal}}

In January 2009, ONTD became the first LiveJournal community to surpass 16,777,216 (2²⁴) comments. This exceeded LiveJournal's previously unknown limit on comments.Lewis, Nick. [https://calgaryherald.com/Entertainment/Gossip/1276968/story.html Web of Gossip]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Calgary Herald. February 11, 2009. Retrieved June 9, 2009.Livejournal responds: [http://community.livejournal.com/lj_maintenance/122809.html "Minor database maintenance -- ONTD!!!1"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201072438/http://community.livejournal.com/lj_maintenance/122809.html |date=2009-02-01 }}, 2009-01-28. Retrieved 2009-02-27.Continually updated ONTD post detailing the issue: [http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/31879100.html "It appears that ONTD has reached an undocumented limit - journals can only have approximately 16.7 million total comments made to them before running out of room in the database to store more comments."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201214122/http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/31879100.html |date=2009-02-01 }}, 2009-01-28. Retrieved 2009-02-27. This resulted in almost a week of downtime for the community, while LiveJournal worked to fix the issue. A second community, [http://community.livejournal.com/ontd/ ontd], was created and members posted and commented there until the issue was fixed.

Oh No They Didn't was briefly suspended due to an explosion in usage following the death of Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009. The amount of traffic the community received brought all of LiveJournal's servers down, resulting in downtime for the entire domain. During this time, members migrated temporarily to [http://community.livejournal.com/ontd/ ontd] once again.[http://community.livejournal.com/ontd/193207.html "Oops" - ONTD] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090701030214/http://community.livejournal.com/ontd/193207.html |date=2009-07-01 }},

On January 18, 2012, Oh No They Didn't blacked out for 12 hours, in protest of SOPA.{{cite web|url=http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/65852624.html|title=Welcome back!|publisher=Oh No They Didn't|access-date=2012-01-19}} The decision was left up to the users, who voted in support of the site's blackout.{{cite web|url=http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/65840339.html|title=CENSORSHIP PROTEST|publisher=Oh No They Didn't|access-date=2012-01-19}}

Former members:

• Franchesca Ramsey{{cn|date=September 2023}}
• Noël Wells{{cn|date=September 2023}}
• Tyler Oakley{{cite web | url=https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/65354630.html | title=Internet Celebrities Who Are Also ONTD Members }}
• Cara Cunningham{{cite web | url=https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/65354630.html | title=Internet Celebrities Who Are Also ONTD Members }}

{{reflist|2}}

• [http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com Oh No They Didn't]

Category:Internet properties established in 2004

Category:Gossip blogs

Category:Livejournal

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oh No They Didn't}}