Lurkmore or Lurkomorye (russian: Луркоморье, a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsLukomorye Lukomorye, Lukomorie or Lukomorje (russian: Лукомо́рье) was a region in ancient Russian lands and is described and depicted not only in Russian sources, but also in different non-Russian old sources. Lukomorye is also prominent in Russian ...

'' and the English online slang ''" lurk moar"'') was an informal

Russian-language Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European language family. It is one of four living Eas ...

MediaWiki MediaWiki is a free and open-source wiki software. It is used on Wikipedia and almost all other Wikimedia websites, including Wiktionary, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata; these sites define a large part of the requirement set for MediaWiki ...

-powered

online encyclopedia An online encyclopedia, also called an Internet encyclopedia, or a digital encyclopedia, is an encyclopedia accessible through the internet. Examples include Wikipedia and ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Digitization of old content In January 199 ...

focusing on Internet subcultures, folklore, and

memes A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...

. As of December 17, 2019, Lurkmore contained over 9000 articles. It is one of the most popular humor—as well as internet-meme-related—websites of the Russian Internet. Since February 24, 2022 (

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

) the website content is no longer available, with only a black screen showing up on all its pages. Recently, "stop the war" written in blue and yellow (national flag colors of Ukraine) appears atop the black screen.

Content and style

Lurkmore was started as a knowledge base of

Internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

s centered on 2ch.ru, the first popular Russian-language

imageboard An imageboard is a type of Internet forum that focuses on the posting of images, often alongside text and discussion. The first imageboards were created in Japan as an extension of the textboard concept. These sites later inspired the creation of ...

. With time, the project evolved to encompass the broader

Runet Runet (russian: Рунет), a portmanteau of ru (code for both the Russian language and Russia's top-level domain) and net/network, is the Russian-language community on the Internet and websites. The term Runet was coined in Israel in the spr ...

subculture. It has been called an "informal encyclopedia" about everything. Currently, Lurkmore comprises a wide range of articles, but a very considerable share of them is still about the Internet culture. Lurkmore articles use a distinctive style, distinguishing themselves with a general informality, semiseriousness, sarcasm, the free use of foul language, and impudence, as well as by sharp criticism of the shortcomings of the considered phenomena. The articles are also characterized by a specific slang—"lurkoyaz" (луркояз)—consisting of Internet slang, assorted words used by

padonki Padonkaffsky jargon (russian: язык падонкафф, ''yazyk padonkaff'') or Olbanian (, ''olbanskiy'') is a cant language developed by a subculture of Runet called padonki (russian: падонки). It started as an Internet slang language ...

and Kashchenists, and Lurkmore's own neologisms.

Rules and policies

Audience

A remarkable feature of the project is the concealment of IP addresses of anonymous participants in the editing history of articles for all users except administrators. The inscription of "Anonimus" is displayed instead of an IP address. The registered participants having a flag of the autoconfirmed participant also have an opportunity to leave any editing not under the name, and anonymously.

Fleeting block in Russia

On 11 November 2012, the

IP address An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.. Updated by . An IP address serves two main functions: network interface ident ...

of Lurkmore.to was added to the

Russian Internet blacklist Internet censorship in the Russian Federation is enforced on the basis of several laws and through several mechanisms. Since 2012, Russia maintains a centralized internet blacklist (known as the "single register") maintained by the Federal Service ...

by decision of the Russian Federal Surveillance Service for Mass Media and Communications, making it inaccessible from most Russian

ISP An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...

s. A Lurkmore.to owner told journalists that he had not received any communication from Roskomnadzor or the

Federal Drug Control Service of Russia Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

before the IP address was blacklisted. Lurkmore.to was removed from the blacklist on 13 November 2012 after the website administrators deleted two

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

-related articles. In 2015 Homak declared on his Facebook profile that the project will be frozen and become a "culture memorial" due to increasing pressure from

Roskomnadzor The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, abbreviated as ''Roskomnadzor'' (RKN) (russian: Роскомнадзор �КН, is the Russian federal executive agency responsible for monitoring, co ...

and other law enforcement agencies, and he left Russia due to general development of situation in the country.

Awards

* Finalist of the 2008 in the ''humor site of the year'' category. * Winner of the 2009 ROTOR competition in the ''humor site of the year'' category. * Winner of the 2011 AntiROTOR competition. * Winner of the 2012 ROTOR competition in the ''archive site of the year'' category. * Winner of ''four'' 2012 AntiRotor nominations. * Winner of the Golden Joker prize, ceremony organized by a humoristic magazine

Maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment * ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim Radio, ''Maxim'' magazine's radio channel on Sir ...

References

External links

* * {{Official website, http://pobeda00001.space MediaWiki websites Wiki communities Russian online encyclopedias Russian comedy websites Mass media about Internet culture Russian-language websites Parodies of Wikipedia