Billygoat Goatse - The Ultimate Goatse Tribute

Goatse (pronounced goat-see), refers to an infamous internet shock site, originally hosted on the domain goatse.cx. It featured a picture (named hello.jpg) of a man wearing nothing but a gold wedding band, bending over with all eight of his fingers inserted into deep into his anus, stretching is open to about the size of an apple. His testicles and semi-erect penis can be seen dangling below. Before the site was taken down in January 2004, it displayed a warning at the top of the page:

The goatse.cx lawyer has informed us that we need a warning! So.. if you are under the age of 18 or find this photograph offensive, please don't look at it. Thank you!

The image appeared directly below this warning so the viewer could not possibly avoid seeing it. Below there is a note about forthcoming goatse.cx merchandise and below that there are three internal links, "The Giver", which shows a picture of a man with a digitally enhanced penis reclining on a yacht, "Feedback", which list of around 100 emails that the site had received between August 1999 and June 2000 (reproduced here), and a "Contrib" page, listing contributions from fans ranging from an ASCII text picture of the hello.jpg image, to an MP3 parody of Jimi Hendrix's "Foxy Lady". Most of these contributions are can be found elsewhere in this site. The Contrib page also hosted a file named gap.zip which held a series of forty images of the same man using dildos and butt-plugs to stretch his anus.

External Links From goatse.cx

Below the internal links are two external links. One points to dolphinsex.org and the other to urinalpoop.org, both of which no longer show the original content. In the interest of completeness, we have reproduced the original content of dolphinsex.org and urinalpoop.org. The dolphin sex article seems to have been particularly offensive to the residents of Christmas Island (see below), so much so that it was specifically cited in the complaint that led to the suspension of the site

Links to unlawful obscene content (site which describes how to have sex with dolphins) Christmas Island Internet Administration Limited AUP Complaint Form

When goatse.cx was first launched, it contained only the Goatse image and the Giver page, both pages also contained hit counters. The site evolved slowly over approximately 5 years to the content that is mirrored today on goatse.fr (discretion advised) which is an exact replica of goatse.cx the day before it was suspended. You can read our account of the full history of goatse.cx here.

What Does Goatse Mean - Goat Sex or Goetzes Candy? 

There are two main theories as to the meaning of the name Goatse. The first is that goatse.cx was a play on the words "goat sex". The other theory is that the name makes reference to a Goetze's caramel candy, which has a cream colored center surrounded by darker caramel.

To us neither theory seems that compelling but with such a strong brand, it makes little sense to change it now. The contrib section contains posts that make specific references to "goat sex". Given that the creators of the site have chosen to publish these posts, it is reasonable to assume that "goat sex" was either the intended meaning of the name, or was and unintended coincidence that was accepted by the creators.

The choice of the .cx Christmas Island (an Australian Territory) top level domain (TLD) may have been because unlike most TLD authorities, the Christmas Island Internet Administration (CIIA) does not require details of the domain owner to be made public. It may however, have just have been used for the word play.

Who Done It? 

There are a few of clues as to who was behind goatse.cx. The first was where the domain was hosted. Although the domain was registered in Christmas Island, the server which hosted the website was located in Kansas, United States and was owned by Hick.org.

The domain hick.org has been registered to Matthew Miller since August 1997, and goatse.cx shared the same IP address as hick.org when the site was available. Until December 2004, a folder in the hick.org domain (hick.org/goat) hosted a mirror of the goatse.cx content. It is quite possible that this folder also served as the root of the goatse.cx domain.

In the days following the suspension of the domain, a number of messages protesting the actions of the CIIA and calls for readers to email the CIIA with their opinions of these actions appered on hick.org/goat, together with a link to the original goatse.cx content.

In addition to the above evidence, the following message on urinalpoop.org thanking "M" of goatse.cx for an increase in traffic indicates that the name of the person behind goatse.cx may have begun with the letter M.

I noticed quite a bit more traffic hitting the site. Curious, I dug up the logs and examined them only to discover that it had been linked on the infamous goatse.cx (thanks M).

Whilst no-one has proven that Matt Miller and hick.org were behind goatse.cx, we'll let you be the judge. As for the Goatse-man, you can read all about his identity here.

So What's The Big Deal?

Normally, such a site would barely raise an eyebrow however goatse.cx achieved widespread notoriety due to it's use by "internet trolls" who would post links to the site in forums to trick unsuspecting readers into visiting the site and thereby being forced to view the image. Anyone who inadvertently clicked on the link has been "Goatsed".

Prior to goatse.cx, the image had been circulating on IRC (Internet Relay Chat) under the filename _stinger.jpg.  It is most likely that the creators of goatse.cx got hold of the file when they were Goatsed, or rather "_stung" themselves. 

Internet trolls usually pick up on topical social issues or common technical problems to maximize their target audience.  A typical Goatse troll thread may read something like:

Due to the popularity of the band, and the demand for tickets, it is possible that several hundred people would have been Goatsed before the forum moderators could act. 

The End of an Era

The goatse.cx site first appeared sometime in 1999. On 14 January 2004, the original domain that hosted the site, goatse.cx was suspended following a complaint from Rhonda Clarke, a resident of Christmas Island. The official record of the suspension makes intersting reading. We particularly like a paragraph that reads:

By internet standards the imagery - although intentionally offensive, is relatively tame.

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