List of Internet Phenomena - Other

Other

"Slenderman" redirects here. For the same urban legend, but based in the video game, see Slender: The Eight Pages. For the Enderman character derived from the Slenderman, see Minecraft.

• Creepypasta – Urban legends or scary stories circulating on the Internet, many times revolving around specific videos or pictures.
• Figwit (abbreviated from "Frodo is great...who is that?") – a background elf character with only seconds of screen time and one line of dialog from The Lord of the Rings film trilogy played by Flight of the Conchords member Bret McKenzie, which became a fascination with a large number of fans. This ultimately led to McKenzie being brought back to play an elf in The Hobbit.
• I am lonely will anyone speak to me – A thread created on MovieCodec.com's forums, which has been described as the "Web's Top Hangout for Lonely Folk" by Wired magazine.
• Illegal flower tribute – when Google China began considering withdrawing from the country because of disputes with the government over censorship and the Chinese government's intrusion into their computer systems, supporters of Google from around Beijing laid flowers at the company's headquarters in Zhongguancun. The flowers donated by previous visitors were promptly removed by the security guards, one of whom said that people needed to apply for government permits in order not to make an "illegal flower tribute".
• Miss Me Yet? – inspired a series of themed merchandise from online agencies such as CafePress.
• Rules of the Internet - An informal body of observed "laws" gathered over time that typically apply to discussions and forums on the Internet that project the type of behavior and content that can be expected. Such rules include Godwin's law: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1"; Poe's law: "Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of fundamentalism that someone won't mistake for the real thing", and Rule 34: "If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions."
• Vuvuzelas – The near-constant playing of the buzz-sounding vuvuzela instrument during games of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa led to numerous vuvuzela-based memes, including YouTube temporarily adding a vuvuzela effect that could be added to any video during the World Cup.