The Net

Towards the end of the 20th Century, a world was created.

No, it was not a planet, for present technology is not capable for such feat yet. It was instead a massive virtual world connected to every continent of the Earth; so invisible and unseen, and yet so huge and so important to our society.

It was called The Internet.

It first existed as a small electronic database of information for our Reality, but over time, it expanded till it because an entire virtual world itself. People from around the world with computers can access this world. They can exist as they would in Reality, or they could obtain completely new identities.

This is The Web.

The Web, (also known as The Internet, the Net, 'the World Wide Web, the Interwebz', and the Information Superhighway), is a virtual world where information from real life is stored. People from Reality access The Web for their daily necessities by controlling Avatars.

History

During the 60's, a Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States has sparked massive fears of a potential Nuclear War. Several men from an American university proposed the development of a network of computers from around the world that can be immune to Nuclear Attack. Their idea was noticed by the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA), a organization owned by the U.S. Military, who then proceed to connect several computers from lands apart.

In 1969, the first prototype network, ARPANET, was created. Soon after, people began to notice the true potential of such a network of computers, and their ability to store vast information, and more organizations took part to develop ARPANET. The program soon split into two seperate networks, called the InterNet.

Although it was a breakthrough, it was not available for commercial and public use, due to the cost of such a venture. In 1989, a man named Tim Berners Lee thought up the World Wide Web, a program which images, videos, and documents can be stored, and then viewed and extracted by different computers. In 1991, the U.S. Government developed the National Research and Education Network (NREN), allowing commercial presence on the Internet. Within 3 years, the internet can be accessed at any home with a computer, and sites were created for companies, schools, and shops. The internet, best known now as The Web, turned into a virtual world.

Composition

The Web is a network of 'bubbles' called Domains (or Sites), which can consist of a single page (a space that can contain content) or dozens and dozens of pages that could make up a massive community. Each Domain serves a purpose to Reality. Sites can promote media from Reality, host media, contain vast information, or in several cases, produce large sexual content.

The Web is made up of two different sections: the Surface Web and the Deep Web. The Surface Web consists of the visible part of the internet and is the most known version of the Internet. Most major sites like the Big 10 (listed below) and is The lower levels of the Surface Web contains secure sites for certain organizations like college networks and members-only forums, while the lowest part of the Surface Web houses dubious domains like 4chan and Endra, as well as millions of porn sites and fetishist communities.

The Deep Web is only accessable through certain programs such as Tor, and acts as an underworld for crime, stolen information, illegal porn and services. Despite its secrecy, the Deep Web and everything else below it makes up 80% of the actual Internet. The darkest parts of the Deep Web have been dubbed the Marianas Web, and is speculated to hold classified government secrets and communication systems.

Transportation

Main article:Transportation on The Net

Each Site has a name and a special code, known as the Domain Name. For example, a large well known entertainment and media city Youtube has the Domain Name "Youtube.com".

File:The Net.jpg

A map of The Net

Netizens who come into the internet travel between Sites all by means of Teleportation:

• In all Domains, there is an Address Box. Address Boxes can be either small booths with teleportation pads, or a moderately sized building with several seperate Teleportation Pads.
• In several Sites, there are Stations that lead to only one domain, called Links.

Forum

A forum is a large plaza or public area where people can discuss topics, usually accompanied with a large bulletin board. They appear in many domains.

Chatroom

A chatroom is a small room in a domain for people to converse. It's a forum in a smaller scale.

Message Board

Message boards are large boards or walls meant for people to place messages on. They are usually electronic, and messages are shown in holographic form.

"Chan"

A Chan, supposedly short for Channel, is a domain primarily for putting up images, usually pornographic. Chans are sometimes classified by numbers. The central Chan and subcapital of the Pervs is 4chan, or Fochan.

Wiki

A wiki is a domain with the purpose of acting as a library of information, a virtual encyclopedia. Wikipedia is the first and largest wiki on The Net, and since then, Wikis for any topic are available on The Net.

Culture

Memes and the Creation of Minor Elements of The Net

Technology creates The Net, but certain elements are created by the avatars themselves. It starts with a meme, a concept or an idea intended for The Net. When a large number of people boost the popularity of a meme, it takes its place in The Net as a virtual object, usually a piece of wildlife, a book or a place in a Domain. For example, a popular meme involved the image of an owl accompanied with the words, "O RLY". Once it gains popularity, it transforms from a simple humorous image into a part of The Net. In this case, the O RLY owl exist on The Net as one of the few wildlife species in The Net, the O Reilly Owl.

Other memes that has become a part of The Net include the "Shoop Da Whoop" meme, which became a hard-to-master skill which enables one to emit a powerful blue laser from their mouths..

The People

Anyone from outside of the Web can control a digital version of themselves on the Net called avatars. People can have multiple avatars to suit their needs, and to identify themselves in each different site (though in most cases, only the names are different). Usually, individuals on the Web are called netizens, citizens of the internet, a combination of both humans and avatars as if they were one person. When a person dies, his/her avatar goes into hibernation with him/her, unless another person takes control of his/her avatar.

Subcultures

There are a plethora of subcultures on the Web, varying in size and ideas, and some of them often come in conflict with each other. Several observers noted that many subcultures have a single or multiple domains where they are clustered around. For example, gaming subcultures like to cluster around domains of their respective game franchises, while members of the Brony movement gather in sites like Ponychan and EqD.

In most cases, netizens are part of multiple subcultures, and some subcultures reflect the cultures of Real Life. A netizen can belong to multiple subcultures.

Festivals

April Fools Day

April Fools Day is one of the most widely celebrated holidays on the Web. Domains and netizens play tricks on each other, putting up hoaxes and pranks around The Net. The unofficial anthem of the holiday is Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up".

Christmas

Christmas is a time for giving and gathering in Reality, and is also a festival on The Net. Simulated snow is generated in some domains to celebrate this time.

New Years

Though many avatars are acting in their reality form at the New Years day, some people choose to be in their virtual form. Many electronic billboards and televisions are often switched off to view a full coverage of the New Years party. At the YouTube center, many videos have been changed to the New Years coverage.

Technology

Technology in The Web is fairly much more advanced than Reality. Most Technology began as is when the internet evolved into The Web. Hologram technology emerged during the start of the 21st Century, and has been used for commercial and special purposed. Plus, Electronics make up 98.5% of The Web, for the Web depends on technology to exist.

Weapons

In The Web, weapons greatly differ to ones in reality.

• Flame Weapons are one of the most popular weapons, since they can be used by a majority of people. This coined the term Flame War, a conflict between two groups/individuals on The Net.
• Banhammers (or Hammers of Banishment) are large hammers carried by Moderators of The Net. They have the ability to knock people out for 30 minutes, allowing to disable and eject troublemakers.
• The development of Laser Weapons were greatly inspired by several Science Fiction films. They usually emit a large blue beam that can reach 18 meters away before fading.
• Viruses have been exploited by hackers to be used as weapons.

Notable Domains

The Big Ten

These are the ten most important domains on The Net.

• Google (Google.com) is one of the largest communities and domains on The Net. Created by the Google Company, one of the most dominant companies of the Net, Google contains a advanced transportion system, many electronic Google products, and the largest Search Engine on the Net ( a machine that searches the domain that someone's looking for.).

• Adobe (adobe.com), the domain for Adobe Systems, which sells products that are vital to constructing domains.

• Blogger (blogger.com), a large free non-profit blogging domain for netizens. Bought by Google.

• Yahoo! (yahoo.com), a moderate multipurpose domain, its multiple uses as a Search Engine and a entertainment hub has secured its popularity.

• Facebook (Facebook.com) is a large, social networking domain used for storage of personal info of people in Reality. Profiles are created by people themselves. Usually, all netizens are a part of the domain, except for the few who choose not to take part of it.

• Youtube (Youtube.com) is one of the largest entertainment and media centers of The Net. Dedicated mostly to videos and films, it is home to nearly a hundred theaters, and thousands of video viewing booths. Bought by Google.

• Wikipedia (Wikipedia.org) is the largest keeper of information from both Reality and The Net. The information is kept in both electronic and physical (in cyberspace) form. Wikipedia contains the largest Museum and Library on The Net, and its Electronic information can be edited by anyone who knows something about a certain topic. Security is tight in the community to prevent any vandalism that can hinder the credibility of Wikipedia.

• Twitter (Twitter.com), home to a quick-messenger system where netizens can send quick messages to other netizens that are no longer than 100 characters.

• Wordpress (Wordpress.com) supplies technology for blogs and websites, and its products are used by more than 2% of the largest domains on The Net.

• W3.com (w3.com) is the domain of the World Wide Web Consortium, the international organization in Real Life that develops standards for The Net in order to help it expand.

Other Notable Domains

• Wikia (Wikia.com) is a crossroad to various wikis on the Net.

• Nohomers (Nohomers.net) is one of the largest communities run by fans of a TV show. Nohoma is dedicated to, "The Simpsons", and contains dozens of forums and a large museum.

• Newgrounds (Newgrounds.com) is a popular area for Flash Gaming (Loose Electronic Gaming) and Flash Films (Animation shorts).
• EqD (equestriadaily.com)
• TVT (tvtropes.org), an information repository similar to Wikipedia, except more informal and containing knowledge of tropes and conventions present in both fiction and nonfiction.

• Endra (Domain name unavailable) is the subcapital of the Reneg subculture and is considered one of the roughest places to visit on The Net (if not the most dangerous). Supposedly a Wiki for Internet Culture, it is instead ridden with real and simulated nudity, sexual content, memes, pedobears, Hentai, and mudkips. Endra acts as one of the hideouts of Anonymous.

• 4chan (Domain name unavailable)(a.k.a. Fochan) is the largest Chan on The Net, and one of the largest sources of internet memes on the Internet, among them the Brony movement, Rickrolling, and the Pedobear. 4chan is made up of numerous different districts with different content posting rules in each one. Its most popular district, /b/, has zero to no posting rules other than restrictions for Child pornography and gorn, but
• WWP (whyweprotest.net), the 'official' headquarters of Anonymous.

• MySpace (Myspace.com) is another Domain similar to Facebook's, and they often clash with each other over competition. Currently in decline.

• Pirate Bay (Piratebay.com) is infamous for its presence of Hackers and Pirates, who distribute pirated online goods like Movies and Games. Elements from outside corporations often clash with the Hackers and Pirates over the control of this area due to 'copyright'

• Wikileaks (domain unavailable)

• Ebaum (ebaumsworld.com) is a sort of 'sister' domain of New Groundland, also being a domain famous for flash cartoons and videos.
• Sodahead (sodahead.com), a debate site for

• Digg (digg.com) is a domain similar to Ebaum and New Groundland.

• Uncyclopedia (Uncyclopedia.org), sometimes referred to as "Wikipedia's Twisted Reflection", it is a humorous wiki poking fun at everything from Wikipedia to Sarah Palin.

• Kingdom of Spamalot (pythononline.com), a domain devoted to the famous comedy show, Monty Python's Flying Circus. A rather silly domain, infested with internet Spam and headquarters of the Spanish Inquisition. Contains at least one building purely for adultery: Castle Anthrax.

• Rocketboom (rocketboom.com), home to a daily videoblog.

• Rocketboom Institute for Internet Studies (knowyourmeme.com), a subsidiary of Rocketboom and one of the most comprehensive researchers on Internet Memes on The Web. The Institute runs webcasts on the Rocketboom domain, and their domain houses a detailed database of internet memes.

• Urban Dictionary (urbandictionary.com), home of the Urban Dictionary, a large online dictionary for internet terms and memes, and several forms of Real Life slang.

Flame Wars

In many times of conflict between subcultures, Flame Weapons are used, which resulted in their popular name Flame Wars. Flame Wars can exist as small skirmishes or massive cross site battles. They are sometimes called Cyber Wars, though this is referred to conflicts caused by Hackers.

Notable Past Conflicts

The Feline War

The Feline Wars, otherwise known as the Meow Wars, was the first major flame war on The Net, and was one of the largest, being the equivalent to WWII at the time. The Feline Wars took place on Usenet, a predecesor of the Net, and the war involved hundreds of netizens from 80 newsgroups.

The conflict started as an attempt by a newsgroup run by Harvard students called alt.fan.karl-malden.nose (a.k.a. the Nosers), who took over several abandoned newsgroups already, to invade another newsgroup called alt.tv.beavis-n-butthead.

"I suggest that we start either posting or crossposting to
alt.tv.beavis-n-butthead. I also suggest that we use big words and perfect
grammar, and refuse to write as the young ruffians in question speak."
-Matt Bruce,

On January 9, 1996, the Nosers attacked the enemy domain with flame weapons and spam. alt.tv.beavis-n-butthead retaliated, rallying several other newsgroups to form the "Meow Meow Army", and attacked the Nosers and several other Ivy-League newsgroups. From this counter-invasion group emerged the first trolls on the Net.

The war lasted for a full year, and the Meow Meow Army eventually overran the Noser's newsgroup and claimed it as their own, forming the Meow Empire, which later dominated other Usenet newsgroups.

The Chanology War

The Chanology War is an ongoing conflict between the organized cult of Scientology and the infamous vigilante body of Anonymous. Scientology, known in Reality for fraud, criminal activity, and money laundering, was attacked by Anononymous after constant attempts to erase entire domains that were against the actions of Scientology. The Scientology domain was temporarily disabled during one of the raids by Anonymous, but had since been restored.

The Turner War

Netizens from Endra and 4Chan, mostly members of Anonymous, attacked and raided the domain of Hal Turner, a racist white radio host. The attack cost him billions, and attempted to file a lawsuit on the attackers in real life, but failed.

The Boxxy War

The Boxxy War was a civil war that occured in the domains of 4chan and 7chan. The conflict was sparked by an annoyingly mesmerizing cam-girl only known as Boxxy, who posted a video on the domain I Am Bored of herself talking in mysterious ways. Her disappearance soon after was just as mysterious, and the speculation around her vanishing lead to the creation of two factions on 4chan: Operation Valkyrie, which went out to seek information on Boxxy by hacking into Boxxy's web account, and the Center of Boxxy Control and Restriction (C.B.C.R.), which did everything they could to supress the Boxxy phenomenon and planted false information about Boxxy around the Net by creating false Avatars.

The size of the conflict between these two factions expanded so much that the entire domain of 4chan actually had to be temporarily shut down, and the flame war soon attracted the attention of the rest of The Web.

Notable Personalities on The Web

• Chuck Norris, a mythical personality famous for his superhuman feats, and worshiped as a deity by millions
• Tay Zonday, Youtube celebrity.
• moot, the mysterious leader of the domain Fochan.
• Oscar Wilde, leader of Uncyclopedia.
• V, unseen leader of Anonymous.
• Hal Turner, involved in the Turner War.
• Eric E. Schmidt, CEO of the Google Company
• Steve Chen, co founder of Youtube
• Chad Hurley, leader of Youtube
• Jawed Karim, co founder of Youtube
• Zuckerburg, CEO of Facebook
• Jimmy Wales, co founder of Wikipedia
• Larry Sanger, co founder of Wikipedia
• Grand Hypnotoad, religious figure in The Net
• Girlvinyl, founder and "Queen" of Endra.
• boxxy, a mysterious girl who sparked a full blown civil war on 4chan.
• Seth, head moderator of EqD
• Tara Strong, unofficial 'queen' of the Brony movement.

See Also

• |A easily more understandable history of The Net