TheWolfWeb
TheWolfWeb, also known as TWW or T-dub, is an unofficial message board for North Carolina State University (NCSU), created by Jacob Morgan (CrazyJ).
It serves as a source of local (Raleigh, NC) news, as frequently posting members of the message board will provide both eyewitness accounts and frequent updates on events in the area, ranging from vehicle accidents to on-campus crime and suicide events. It has also been significant in transmitting many Internet memes through the NCSU student body (notably the terms pwnt, bwn, and FDT).
TWW is powered by the CrazyWeb software. This software was spun off and used to host a number of messageboards for other colleges across the country, federated under the "Party In College" banner, later known as CampusBlender.[1]
History
[edit]
TWW began as a single-board messageboard called "NCSU Forum" which opened in April 2000. It adopting the current "The Wolf Web" name later that year. In 2001 4 new sections were added to the website: Book Exchange, Ride Share, School Tool and Photo Gallery.[2]
Book Exchange was a marketplace helping students who needed to buy textbooks find the people who already owned those textbooks from the previous semester's courses. Ride Share was added just before Winter Break in 2001 and helped students organize carpools for those travelling home over the break. School Tool listed the university's courses and instructors across all departments. Each course and instructor could be reviewed by registered users. School Tool additionally aggregated course times, textbooks, grade distributions, reviews and would show what other TWW users would be in your class if they had also added the course to their School Tool. Photo Gallery gave each user a space to upload files. This was used for both hosting images intended for TWW posts and for hosting images posted to other forums.
On February 26, 2004, News 14 Carolina, now known as Spectrum News North Carolina, was subject to a prank by members of TheWolfWeb when it was discovered that the system used to report closings and delays for businesses, schools, and churches for inclement weather put submissions on the air without review. Members of the message board exploited this fact to make fictitious business ranging from referencing All Your Base Are Belong To Us to containing lewd or obscene references be listed on the air during the channel's winter weather coverage. After the exploit gained national attention, many news stations, News 14 Carolina included, implemented or enhanced their verification and vetting processes for listing closings and delays as to avoid a repeat of the incident.
References
[edit]- ^ "The CampusBlender Network". CampusBlender.
- ^ "About The Site". TheWolfWeb.