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DBKP Journeys to Center of the Weird News World

DBKP INTERVIEWS Fark founder, Drew Curtis, in which we find out about Fark past, present and future–and the squirrel.

Google “Weird News websites” and you get back over 1 million references. But veteran weird news junkies know they can always get their fix at FARK.com, the king of the off-beat news sites.

Drew Curtis is the pusher.

Founded in 1997, Fark.com churns out a never-ending stream of entertaining headlines about strange stories linked to an eclectic collection of sources: Reuters, CNN, ABC News, as well as blogs and local TV stations.

FAST FARK FACT:
It’s not Fark, It’s million of FARKers:
By January 2008, according to Curtis, the site received an estimated 62 million page views per month from 4 million unique visitors.

As an article in Rolling Stone put it:

When heavy rains flooded Dongting Lake in the Hunan province, CNN reported the event under the headline CHINA DESPERATE FOR BREAK IN THE WEATHER. But over at Fark.com, the best skewed news site on the Net, they ran the link with a different take: SWELLING DONGTING PRESSES AGAINST GROANING DIKE.

“For me, the tag line is more important than an article,” says Fark founder Drew Curtis. “If the tag line is funny, it trumps everything else.”

Just scanning those skewed headlines–prepared by Curtis and his crack team of smart-ass administrators–has the power to turn any reader into a conversational giant in most offices.

Okay, at least in our office.

A few headlines from the past week included:

RECENT FARK HEADLINES:
* “And the Daily Dumbass Award goes to: The drug-trafficking brothers who flagged down a police car by mistake, and are now on the run. On horseback. In Fiji”
–tagged “Dumbass” on YahooNews story

* “The intellectual path to atheism in a nutshell: “I rejected Christianity largely because it would not have allowed me to continue getting drunk and high every night while splitting time between four girlfriends.”
–tagged “Obvious” on a story from Townhall.com

* “Convicted child molester claims he was molested by Bigfoot as a kid”
–tagged “Unlikely”

* “Britney Spears linked to rise of foreclosures. LEAVE BRITNEY A LOAN”
–tagged as “Amusing” on LA Times story

We’ve always had questions about FARK. Recently, DBKP’s Mondoreb and LBG had a chance to sit down (in the blogosphere sense of the word) with Drew, who provided some answers.

And Curtis was candid.

MONDOREB: Welcome to DBKP, Drew. We’ve been looking forward to this chat, so let’s do it.

DREW CURTIS: Cool. Sounds like fun.

MONDO: You would think everyone’s heard of FARK, but they haven’t. How would you descibe FARK to someone who is totally unaware of the website and how it operates?

DC: What if the Daily Show ran the Drudge Report?

We’re a news aggregator selecting for humor. If that doesn’t help anyone who is totally unaware of Fark, they need to get off the Internet.

MONDO: How many links does FARK get in an average day? Does it drive the administrators crazy? Does all the strange news links give them a skewed, jaded view of the world?

DC: 2500 [links per day], and the reason it’s that low is because we reject duplicates. It doesn’t drive us crazy per se. I don’t have much of a jaded view either, I figure it’s not that the world is getting stupider, it’s that media coverage (of how stupid we already are) is better.

The thing that does drive me nuts though is when I pull up cnn.com or another “real” news site and see nothing but Fark articles. I feel the same way when I go to TGIFridays and try to find healthy food on the menu–there isn’t any.

LITTLE BABY GINN: What’s up with the super-masculine squirrel on the 404 page? Where’d he come from? It’s rumored that he was the only thing on FARK for a couple years. Is he like a member of the family?

DC: It was completely random.

The day I reserved the Fark.com domain name in 1997, a friend of mine sent me that pic. I’ve since talked to the actual photographer, it’s a real picture.

MONDO: Of all the entirely-strange and unusual stories on FARK over the years, what’s the strangest one you remember?

DC: One in particular was about a guy who wanted to win an “I’d do anything” contest at his local pub for a 500 pound bar tab. He stapled his penis to a crucifix, doused it with gas, and set it on fire. With his mom standing there.

This happened when the guy was 19, when he was 26 a local newspaper did a retrospective where the guy admitted that it was probably a stupid thing to do.

LBG: How much bitching do you hear over the course of a year? Ever make you want to take off to a deserted island sometimes?

DC: Nah.

I hear probably more than most people given that Fark has 4 million readers, however after awhile your skin gets pretty thick. I hardly notice anymore. The problem is you can’t just ignore it on the off chance that something someone says is useful.

FAST FARK FACT:
It’s not Fark, it’s Blender:
Fark has a music-oriented version at Blender.com. Surprise! It is called “Fark.com at Blender.com“.

MONDO: Where’s FARK going in the future? There’s FARK TV; is there anything else on the horizon that’s coming from Fark? Anything that you’ve maybe thought about and are just kicking back and forth in your own mind?

DC: Yeah, there’s actually a few things in the works. But I can’t go into them because they may not come off and it’s a pain in the ass having to tell people to forget a bunch of cool stuff I told them about earlier.

LBG: FARK: The Video Game?

DC: No plans, but if anyone has any good ideas I’m all ears

FAST FARK FACT:
It’s not Fark, It’s Fox:
In August 2007, Drew Curtis assembled what he called “all-but-conclusive electronic evidence that Darrell Phillips[new media manager at WHBQ Fox13, a News Corp.-owned TV station in Memphis, Tenn.] tried to hack into Fark’s servers, potentially breaking several laws.

Fark past

LBG: For someone working with over-the-top headlines and stories all day, it sounds like you’re pretty well-grounded in reality.

DC: When you start believing your own hype, you’re screwed.

MONDO: You wrote a book about Fark and the Mainstream Media, “It’s Not News, It’s Fark”. It’s subtitled “How the Mainstream Media tries to Pass Off Crap as News”. A lot of DBKP readers are definitely skeptical of mass media. Any observations on the MSM you’d like to share?

DC: There’s a definite chicken and egg problem with MSM. In particular, it’s impossible to get people to click on articles they won’t read. Therefore, the main fault of crappy news is the consumers themselves as a whole.

MONDO: That’s an original thought, for sure.

FAST FARK FACT:
It’s Not Safe For Work, It’s Fark:
In November 2007, Fark.com filed for a trademark with the US Patent and Trademark Office on the phrase “not safe for work” (NSFW), which is used in forums, chatrooms, and blogs across the world to warn that something about to be seen could give the boss fits.

MONDO: Drew, I’d really like to thank you for taking time from your busy Farkin’ day and answer our questions. I don’t think you’ll ever run out of stories to put headlines to. Good luck in the future and we’ll check back soon to see what’s happening at Fark.com.

DC: Cool! Let me know.

Readers who want a break from stress might check out Fark.com. You’ll laugh.

We promise.

RECENT FARK HEADLINES:
“Helpful robbery tip: After losing the $100 you got from sticking up a gift shop, console yourself at a bar further away than four blocks”
–tagged as “Dumbass” on a Sacramento Bee storyS

RECENT FARK HEADLINE:
* “Tropical rainforest under attack by own citizens. Farmers you say? Nope. Tribesmen? Nope. Loggers? Nope. Eco-tourists? Nope. By the animals that live there? Nope. Well the only thing left is the trees. Ding ding ding”
–”Ironic” on a reader submission

* “Grandmother saved from choking on Jell-O by 5-year-old grandson. In other news, it’s possible to choke on Jell-O”
–tagged “Hero”

* “Man is beaten by cops, tased 11 times and held down on an ant bed… for “leaving the scene of an accident”
–”Asinine” tag

FURTHER DREW CURTIS/FARK info:

Drew Curtis (born February 7, 1973) is the founder and an administrator of Fark.com. He graduated from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa in 1995. From 1996 to 2002, he owned and operated DCR.NET, an ISP based in Frankfort, Kentucky. Curtis recently finished his first book, It’s Not News, It’s FARK: How Mass Media Tries to Pass off Crap as News, which was released in May 2007.

FAST FARK FACT:
It’s not Fark, It’s a Whole Farkin’ Way of Life:
At Fark, you’ll find, not only bizarre news, you’ll also find the following.
Farkback, Fark Blogs, Fark TV, Fark Book, Fark Travel Guide, Foobies.com, Fark Chat, Fark Parties, Fark Party Forum and the Fark Store.

TWO LAST FARK HEADLINES:
* “Obese kids now being taken away from their families and given to social services to raise. Because it’s all about the well-being of the children”
–tagged “Asinine”

* “Hezbollah has increased its rocket range, is now working on its dribbling and perimeter shooting”
–tagged “Scary” on a Chicago Sun-Times story

by Mondoreb

Sources:
* Fark Launches Redesign, Farkers Hate it
* Email interview: Drew Curtis
* How Fark.com Turns Weird News into a Big Success
* FARK.com
* FARK
* Drew Curtis
* Fark.com Founder Accuses Fox Newsman Of Hacking Into Site
* Drew Curtis Interview with Right Wing News
* Fark.com trying to get trademark on “Not Safe For Work”


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