So... the eternal question. Did the designer know they were doing goatse, or did they do an accidental goatse. This *has* to be deliberate, no? - ThreadSky

mmasnick.bsky.social • 6 days ago

So... the eternal question. Did the designer know they were doing goatse, or did they do an accidental goatse. This *has* to be deliberate, no?

Reposted from Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans)

"did you make that logo signifying Europe's grim duty to rearm in the face of a hostile United States and expanding Russia?"

"Sure did boss, made it real goatse just like you asked,"

Comments

seanbonner.com•6 days ago

Inclusion of the wedding ring is the universal symbol that it's intentional.

pancakepaladin.bsky.social•5 days ago

penllawen.favrd.social•6 days ago

My working theory for all these things is the same: someone knew and did this on purpose (while maintaining plausible deniability), but none of the stakeholders did so they let it pass.

penllawen.favrd.social•6 days ago

Or an even funnier possibility: a meeting where everyone knows but nobody wants to be the first to say it, so they all watch in agony as it is approved.

brokenarmsgordon.bsky.social•6 days ago

Any plausible deniability was lost when they added the fingers. WHY ARE THERE FINGERS

caitesq.bsky.social•6 days ago

My high school and the two organizations where I had my first jobs have all rebranded with weird circular logos. My LinkedIn history looks like a stack of anuses. It’s unacceptable.

caitesq.bsky.social•6 days ago

Google the new Teach for America logo and tell me what they were thinking

biohazardous.bsky.social•6 days ago

E plurabus anus.

mmister.com•6 days ago

Oh no. 😂

klaxoncomms.com•6 days ago

Just looked it up. And, yup, that's an asshole.

klaxoncomms.com•6 days ago

For some reason my brain went 'a cat's asshole'. I can examine that reaction on my own time.

ouisequitur.bsky.social•6 days ago

hell yeah Springdale!

hauntedpumpkin.bsky.social•6 days ago

Speaking of, recently found this Jubilee Line London Underground pamphlet cover. It predates goatse, which just shows the meme is so powerful it's moving backwards though time.

outofmemory.bsky.social•6 days ago

@snipe.lol It was certainly a choice....congrats to the EU for having logo designers all in their 20s.

snipe.lol•5 days ago

20s? Prolly 40s. It's 2025, honeybee

popcisms.bsky.social•5 days ago

I think that's a bit of a stretch.

jmiers230.bsky.social•5 days ago

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA MIKE

spaceds8008s.bsky.social•6 days ago

If it was just TWO fingers, it'd have been fine. More than that is goatse territory. I do not make these rules, they are just self evident...

barryfreed.bsky.social•6 days ago

No ring though

aethylred.bsky.social•6 days ago

Given the intended audience is Russia… yes

davelee.me•6 days ago

I think you might be too online, Mike....

steveparks.bsky.social•6 days ago

What is goatse? Is this a US thing Dave?

davelee.me•6 days ago

whatever you do, don't Google it

steveparks.bsky.social•6 days ago

That's what I assumed!! Hence asking. Was way too scared to google it ;)

barryfreed.bsky.social•6 days ago

Oh no

barryfreed.bsky.social•6 days ago

But also
Oh yes

mmasnick.bsky.social•6 days ago

On the flipside, you might not be online enough Dave!

josephgruber.com•6 days ago

I had to look this up. So yeah, umm, thanks for that.

smarmyeod.bsky.social•5 days ago

Sir.

I don’t mean this disparagingly but you’re clearly old enough to know better than to look up internet *things* by now.

josephgruber.com•5 days ago

You’re absolutely right 🙏 😂

mmasnick.bsky.social•6 days ago

Oh gosh. Very sorry.

kentindell.bsky.social•6 days ago

No-one should be online enough to see goatse in Rorschach ink blots.

yotemcyoteface.bsky.social•6 days ago

Hello(.jpg) world war 3

barryfreed.bsky.social•6 days ago

I don’t believe in accidental goatse

jonnosan.bsky.social•6 days ago

Yeah, the fingers remove all doubt (even though there's no wedding ring). Seems to be having the desired impact as well!

lazear.bsky.social•6 days ago

Knowing Russian intense homphobia, it would be an excellent troll.

jameskelleher.pilcrow.ie•6 days ago

Designer here, my verdict: this is 100% deliberate.

nihilscio.bsky.social•6 days ago

The fingers! There’s no plausible deniability for the fingers. What are they supposed to be?

lu.is•6 days ago

Warriors painting their face for battle, with, uh, highly visible colors?

the-happy-hermit.bsky.social•6 days ago

Specifically in the colors of Ukraine’s flag 🇺🇦

nihilscio.bsky.social•6 days ago

Oh I truly did not even see the war-paint thing until you said it. My brain is thoroughly broken

eyrieowl.bsky.social•5 days ago

lol thanks for asking tho because i couldn't figure out what the fingers and lines were supposed to be either. if not goatse, why goatse shaped?

jameskelleher.pilcrow.ie•6 days ago

No, I got that bit alright. But still.

lu.is•6 days ago

Remember that there are wee children who, in their blessed youthful innocence, have no idea what goatse is; and are simultaneously also full-grown adults with decision-making power.

I am not sure how that happened but yet here we are.

pwnallthethings.bsky.social•6 days ago

Look, it is very important to remember none of these people had the internet back when it was in the primordial unsalvageable era

pwnallthethings.bsky.social•6 days ago

Nevertheless the Grow Our Armies To Secure Europe initiative was unfortunately named

yotemcyoteface.bsky.social•6 days ago

DOGE has met its match.

teemufi.bsky.social•6 days ago

Can't spell rearm without rear.

rexlibris.bsky.social•6 days ago

Unfortunately or excellently?

shawnconnery.bsky.social•6 days ago

you guys are way too online lol

brute.bsky.social•6 days ago

Can anyone really be TOO online??

agrsn2.bsky.social•6 days ago

The goatse will occur naturally at least once per decade, even absent the propagation of existing goatses

hermanmeowville.bsky.social•6 days ago

I would think so. Because nobody does this *accidentally*.

skiskamp.bsky.social•6 days ago

Goddamnit, Mike!

I was eating my lunch when this came up!

🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂

nintala-scribble.bsky.social•6 days ago

if I was a pro graphic designer Id been hiring goatse in all my graphics, gotta have a lil fun in this hell world

myromanempire.bsky.social•6 days ago

I don’t get it. I don’t see anything sketchy.

normative.bsky.social•6 days ago

I mean, not everyone is that extremely online, and (with apologies; we are old) peak Goatse was like 20 years ago.

tinkertailorreply.bsky.social•6 days ago

Peak goatse has been roundly debunked.

barryfreed.bsky.social•6 days ago

I thought peak goatse was during the golden Slashdot years of the late 90s

mikey-hq.bsky.social•6 days ago

Make Goatse great again!!

jvagle.me•6 days ago

It's in everyone's DNA at this point, I assume.

lu.is•6 days ago

1999 really. Aka “over a quarter of a century ago”.

3fecta.bsky.social•6 days ago

We should join a group to discuss our ancient internet knowledge; we can call it the Lemon Party.

robaltman14.bsky.social•6 days ago

aryssaa.bsky.social•6 days ago

I was far too innocent for this 30 seconds ago.

mmasnick.bsky.social•6 days ago

Oh no. I am so so so so so sorry.

jbminn.bsky.social•6 days ago

yeah, you're not gonna wanna search tha--

aryssaa.bsky.social•5 days ago

Fortunately I didn’t I am smart enough to deduce from the comments. 😭

reidrivenburgh.bsky.social•6 days ago

Unfortunately, I'm the right age to get that. Ah, memories.

smarmyeod.bsky.social•5 days ago

>click on interesting thread on a web forum
>OH GOD [back] [back] [back] [back]

johnlscott.bsky.social•6 days ago

Can't unsee now.

🤪

danlather.bsky.social•6 days ago

I am thankful that in the decades that I've used the internet I have not seen goatse. I have had it described to me, and that was unpleasant enough, but I have not seen it with my own eyes.

mmasnick.bsky.social•6 days ago

I cannot stress enough how much of an effort you should make to keep it that way.

duplicateuserid.bsky.social•6 days ago

I've seen more than a couple accidental goatses over the years. The abstract shapes involved seem to appeal to designers quite a bit.

And as... impactful as it was in the 90s, that was a long time ago, and the very-online crowd was much, much smaller.

We're dinosaurs.

duplicateuserid.bsky.social•6 days ago

I mentioned https://anon.penet.fi in conversation recently, and got blank stares.

mmasnick.bsky.social•6 days ago

Oh wow. That brings back memories.

antimattr359.bsky.social•6 days ago

If that's not a deliberate goatse, then it doesn't really make any sense. Or maybe I'm just Internet poisoned.

jasondtx.bsky.social•6 days ago

Wait wait wait... It's REAL?

I thought this was parody.

angryoldtim.bsky.social•6 days ago

If there was one online reference I REALLY wish I didn't get, it's definitely that one.

SpaceBass.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy•5 days ago

@mmasnick.bsky.social Pretty sure that's supposed to be war paint, given the purpose of the logo. It's awkward to apply war paint with more than two fingers but if you wanted to secretly goatse, you'd have three (or four) fingers on each side

kdmz.bsky.social•6 days ago

andrealessi.bsky.social•6 days ago

I like to imagine a world where the original reference image fades from memory, and young designers create callbacks to it as some kind of generically "funny" in-joke without understanding how it came to be.

imacdowell.bsky.social•6 days ago

I vaguely remember what goatse is so i will not google to confirm

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