Fark.com is a website that is a prime example of a networked community within the internet. The site is basically a long list of links with clever remarks accompanying each one. Around 50 links a day are added to the site, making it a perfect place to waste time on the internet. Each link leads to a news article, game, or some other interesting or entertaining website.
Not just any news article makes it to fark.com, only those that exceed in strangeness or are especially attention-grabbing. Articles about how a bar owner kicked out a designated driver for not drinking or a couple giving their children doses of Benadryl then leaving them at home so they could go to a bar, or even “America’s 150 favorite buildings” are exactly the type of article that is fark-worthy. Other links lead to a video of how marbles are made or Photoshop contests that anybody can partake in and comment on. And it’s not just the pictures that people can comment on. Every link to a site has another link to a thread where anybody can leave a comment about that article. These “bulletin boards” many times gain more than 120 comments, and that’s only for one article.
A more intense fark.com experience can be had if you become what is called a “Totalfarker.” Paying the 5 or so dollars a month allows you access to all 1200+ links that are actually submitted to fark.com. Other features such as getting the Photoshop contest rules earlier are also included.
The fark.com “community feel” is brought about many things. Certainly one of those is the fact that anybody can leave a comment about an article. Letting your voice be heard, no matter how small you are, is one of the pillars of the internet. You don’t have to be an expert on the subject, but you can still tell others what you think. And not all comments on fark.com are opinions. Many are simply remarks about the article, or maybe a story about how something similar happened to one of the users. This will lead to other users commenting on the story, continuing the thread for what can be a long time. Some of the users who spend a considerable amount of time on fark.com get to know each other and this leads some of the comments to becoming more “community-like,” as the members know each other.
Fark.com’s easy going nature is evident (by not only the fact that it is a website on the internet) but also by the remarks left by the site’s creator, Drew Curtis. Every link on the site has a caption next to it written by Drew. They are characteristically sarcastic or ironic in some way. It is one of the things that makes this site better than other link-dump sites. Returning fark users will even begin to see some recurring themes in his jokes; “farkisms,” as the FArQ calls them. Some farkisms are as simple as saying “Duke Sucks” (referring to the university), which started during the Duke lacrosse team trials, and is now added to any caption about Duke University and sometimes other universities. Another farkism accompanies a link to a picture of a newborn animal, normally at a zoo: “Ugly ass baby [fill in the blank] born” in such and such place. These “farkisms” help users of the site to feel more like a community, like they know something that neighboring communities do not, and that is what makes them their own specific community on the internet.
In the ways of internet communities, fark.com is perhaps one of the more versatile. This is mostly because of its nature as a site that shows users other sites. Users can easily be a part of this very entertaining, informative and welcome environment on the internet.