Loser.com is a domain name that has existed as a URL redirect to several different web pages during most of its existence.

History

The Loser.com domain name was registered in 1995 by Brian Connelly. It redirected to the website of the 2000 presidential campaign of Al Gore; a website opposing former

Governor of South Carolina The governor of South Carolina is the head of government of South Carolina. The governor is the '' ex officio'' commander-in-chief of the National Guard when not called into federal service. The governor's responsibilities include making year ...

Jim Hodges James Hovis Hodges (born November 19, 1956) is an American businessman, attorney, and politician who served as the 114th governor of South Carolina from 1999 to 2003. Since his victory in 1998, Hodges has remained the only Democrat elected to ...

in much of 2002; the presidential campaign of Barack Obama in 2008;

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...

in 2010; an article about American politician

Sean Duffy Sean Patrick Duffy (born October 3, 1971) is an American politician, prosecutor, former sports commentator and reality television personality who is currently a co-host of ''The Bottom Line'' on Fox Business, as well as a contributor on Fox News. ...

in 2011; and the

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...

website in 2012. According to Connelly, the website sometimes redirects to topics he considers positive to increase their traffic. The domain name gained mainstream coverage in March 2015, when it redirected to the English Wikipedia entry for American rapper

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

. Marlow Stern of ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'' suggested that the redirect was done in response to West's reactions to American singer

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...

's album ''

Morning Phase ''Morning Phase'' is the twelfth official studio album and twelfth overall by American singer Beck. The album was released in February 2014 by his new label, Capitol Records. According to a press release, ''Morning Phase'' is a "companion piece" ...

'' winning

Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to: Awards * ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia * Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK * Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US * Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA * Lati ...

at the

57th Annual Grammy Awards The 57th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 8, 2015, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The show was broadcast live by CBS at 5:00 p.m. PST ( UTC−8). Rapper LL Cool J hosted the show for the fourth consecutive time ...

. Ryan Gajewski of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' and Christopher Hooton of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' both suggested that the domain name was a Beck reference because " Loser" is one of Beck's most notable songs. In an interview with Stern on March 5, Connelly admitted that he had a negative impression of West and intended the redirection as a

troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

attempt on the rapper. In February 2016, the website redirected to the English Wikipedia entry for then- US presidential candidate

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

after he placed second in the

Iowa caucus The Iowa caucuses are biennial electoral events for members of the Democratic and Republican parties in the U.S. state of Iowa. Unlike primary elections in most other U.S. states, where registered voters go to polling places to cast ballot ...

. Defending the move, Connelly described Trump as "a man who attacks Muslims, who attacks Muslim Americans, who pushes fear and doubt" and "the definition of a loser". When asked about his motives with his redirects, Connelly said the year 2000 redirect to losing Tennessee gubernatorial candidate Bill Daley's website was because "I think he was anti-gay". He had "no comment" about the 2002 redirect to an opposition site targeting South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges. On November 8, 2020, it again redirected to the English Wikipedia entry for Donald Trump, as Trump refused to concede the

2020 United States presidential election The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala Ha ...

after being defeated by Joe Biden, the 47th

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...

and current

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

. In March 2022, it redirected to the Wikipedia article of

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

. In December 2022, it redirected to

Twitter.com Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. In early 2024, it again redirected to the English Wikipedia entry for Donald Trump until as early as May 18. As of June 8, it is parked.

Notes

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.loser.com Internet properties established in 1995 Internet trolling American political websites Domain names