About
Boing Boing is an off-beat news blog featuring stories covering a variety of topics, including science, technology, culture, art and politics.
History
In 1988, journalist Mark Frauenfelder, along with his wife Carla Sinclair, launched the zine bOING bOING. In 1995, the Boing Boing[1] website was launched. In January 2000, Boing Boing was turned into a blog on the Blogger platform (shown below).
In 2003, Boing Boing removed their user commenting system. In September 2006, Boing Boing premiered the weekly podcasts“Boing Boing Boing” and “Get Illuminated,” featuring news and interviews with a variety of creatives. In August 2007, the site was redesigned and the user comment section was restored.
Social Media Presence
In May 2007, the @BoingBoing[9] Twitter feed was launched, which received upwards of 213,000 followers in the first eight years. On August 18th, 2008, a Boing Boing Facebook[5] page was created, gaining over 261,000 likes over the next seven years. On April 29th, 2014, the Boing Bong Tumblr[4] blog was launched.
2010 Hack
On October 27th, 2010, the front page of Boing Boing was vandalized with a photograph of a man wearing a costume covered in penises, followed by a caption mocking the site’s editor Cory Doctorow. That day, the tech news blog Tech Crunch[3] reported that the site had been compromised using an SQL injection attack.
Controversies
Censorship Accusations
In July 2008, the site was widely criticized for censoring users and for removing posts by former contributing writer Violet Blue without explanation.[7] In response to the backlash, Boing Boing[6] editor Teresa Hayden posted a statement revealing that “Violet behaved in a way that made us reconsider whether we wanted to lend her any credibility or associate with her.” Other users have claimed that moderators deliver bans for minor infractions, including those who express conservative views.[8]
Traffic
As of July 2015, BoingBoing.net has a score of 1,038 in the United States on the traffic analytics site Alexa.[10]
Search Interest
External References
[1]BoingBoing.net – Boing Boing
[2]Wikipedia – Boing Boing
[3]Tech Crunch – Looks Like BoingBoing Got Hacked
[4]Tumblr – Boing Boing
[5]Facebook – Boing Boing
[6]Boing Boing – That Violet Blue thing
[7]Information Week – Boing Boing Fends Off Censorship Charges
[8]Blogspot – Banned by Boing Boing
[9]Twitter – @BoingBoing
[10]Alexa – BoingBoing