Looks like mid-00s meme factory YTMND has shut down for good :(

[Jordan117]

Looks like this thread tipped off some media coverage:

Gizmodo: So Long, YTMND
Mashable: YTMND, one of the internet's earliest meme sites, shuts down forever

Also, I greatly expanded the original post into a MetaFilter thread with more background, a bigger archive of saved pages, and instructions on how to search the Archive.org mirror of the site. The archived YTMND Wiki's list of fads is also useful if you need a guided tour down memory lane.

 

[Jordan117]

Plot twist: I happened upon Max Goldberg's Reddit account last night, and apparently the shutdown was entirely unplanned. As in, he wasn't even aware it was offline until somebody sent him a news article about it several days afterward. He also PM'd me his thinking when asked:

It was unintentional but also maybe it's just time. I haven't worked on it seriously in almost a decade which left it vulnerable. I sort of want to make it a read-only archive and update it to not rely on flash. I haven't made any decisions what to do yet though.​

​

FWIW, I suggested it might be better to keep it offline and rely on the various archives to preserve it, because at this point the only real "community" still active there were alt-right edgelords and mentally unstable people unhealthily obsessed with obscure internal drama.

Also, he's since updated the site with this message:

rip db

YTMND has suffered a catostrophic failure. Whether or not the site will ever be back is still undecided. I am actively working on data recovery, but who really knows what the future holds. Join the chat to reminisce, or if you have concerns about the direction in which your life is heading, feel free to send an email to support @ ytmnd.com (and expect to be ignored).

Click to shrink...

 

[Haruko]

It's alive!

YTMND News - Gimme Shelter

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