I believe that “Themed Crowdsourcing” sites are something new. Not new out of whole cloth, but new in the sense that they take something familiar and give it that little something that makes it different. The boundaries are vague, which may be why the trend hasn’t yet been named or defined that I’ve seen, but I’ve been thinking of these sites as Themed Crowdsourcing, and I’ve been compiling a list.
Themed, because blogs like This Is Why You’re Fat deal with one thing, and one thing only. Whether it’s outrageous food pictures or bizarre tidbits of conversation on Overheard in New York, these sites are very focused thematically.
Crowdsourcing, because almost without exception, the actual content for these sites comes from the readers themselves. No single author produces F*** My Life, and Awkard Family Photos is almost entirely user-submitted photos.
The list of Themed Crowdsourcing sites is theoretically never-ending, and yet I was amazed to not find a single site devoted to bad tattoo photos. Yet.
Here’s a start:
Themed Crowdsourcing — Photo Sites
There, I Fixed It either celebrates human ingenuity, or marvels at how closely some workarounds demonstrate an impending Darwin Award. Whichever.
Awkward Family Photos demonstrates formal portraiture at its most awkward.
This Is Why You’re Fat features the best (or worst) in over-the-top foods. I confess to having made one or two items I’ve seen on this site.
My Parents Were Awesome puts a positive spin on people by providing evidence that those stuffy parents of ours weren’t always so stuffy.
Look At This F***ing Hipster enables most of us to feel good about ourselves as we laugh at others.
Pwned On Camera demonstrates that one never knows when one’s quick glance might be immortalized forever.
Fail Blog was one of the first and is still one of the best, documenting widespread failure at everything.
Sexy People have their pictures taken all the time, and here are some of them. School photos, baby pictures, family photos, so very sexy.
We Have Lasers!!!!!!!!!! features portraits, mostly school photos, taken with faux “laser” backgrounds.
Happiest People Ever aren’t. Perhaps someone forgot to say “Cheese!” or perhaps they just hate life.
It’s Lovely! I’ll Take It! brings the worst in real estate photos into the light of day.
I Can Has Cheezburger might need a bit of explanation. It’s the home of LOLcats, and features pictures of (mostly) cats, with captions written from the perspective of the cats.
Photoshop Disasters collects examples of incomplete or shoddy retouching. There may be more of it than you realize.
Cake Wrecks displays, perhaps unsurprisingly, cake decorating gone horribly awry, with some real artistry occasionally sprinkled in.
Picture Is Unrelated catalogs pictures that are unrelated to… anything!
People of Walmart demonstrates that some things are the same coast to coast, among them the impropriety of some Walmart shoppers.
Don’t Judge My Hair might just inspire your next epic hairdo. Or stop you from making a very, very big mistake.
Awful Library Books amazes us all with books that are still in circulation. Hey, 1960s hairdos might be making a comeback!
Pets Who Want To Kill Themselves tells us what we all secretly believe: People who dress up their pets (or style their fur) must know the pets hate it, right?
PostSecret started with people writing secrets on postcards and mailing them in. It has since expanded to twitter.
I Got An Envelope leaves addressed, stamped envelopes just lying around, hoping people will fill them with something interesting before mailing them. Many people do.
GraphJam is for people who love charts, and it turns out that nearly any concept can be expressed through charts. Yes, even that.
Forgotten Bookmarks documents the photos and notes left in books sold to a used book store.
Crappy Taxidermy features pictures of stuffed… things… that are alternately horrifying and sad.
Regretsy features handmade items that shouldn’t have been, including some that must be seen to be believed. Images are often unsafe for… anything.
Themed Crowdsourcing — Text Sites
You Suck At Craigslist catalogs what we may have only noticed in passing. Some people are really unclear about how Craigslist works.
F*** My Life was the original name of the site, though they’ve toned it down just slightly on-site. Every short story begins with “Today…” and ends with the abbreviated lament “FML.”
Texts From Last Night includes the area code for teach text message, so you can marvel at people from your own area.
Awesome YouTube Comments is dedicated to the proposition that YouTube comments represent the opposite of the pinnacle of human achievement.
Overheard In New York has expanded to other cities and settings, but the original is probably still the best.
Secret Tweet enables people to post secrets on twitter, anonymously, in 140 characters or less.
Yahoo Answers records some of the more interesting questions and answers found on the Yahoo Answers website.
It Was Over When chronicles that moment in every failed relationship when you just know there’s no chance of success.
Makes Me Think provides an outlet for the most thought-provoking statements one encounters, and more than a few make me think as well.
There are more, of course. There are always more. Still no Tattoo Disasters blog, though!
