Lonelygirl15.com

This is a wiki article about the lonelygirl15.com Web site. To visit the Web site, see http://www.lonelygirl15.com.

www.lonelygirl15.com is the Web site which you are now visiting. The site is home to the lonelygirl15 video series and the community that has developed around the series.

Site Features

• The Videos — The newest video is displayed at lonelygirl15.com. Older videos are displayed in a column on the left. Fan responses are displayed in a column on the right.
• Comment board — Below the videos is the comment board, where members can leave comments. This requires registration.
• Forums — The forums are generally considered the central hub of lonelygirl15 fans. Discussion of the series and other topics takes place here. A separate registration is required for the forums.
• LGPedia — The LGPedia is the wikipedia-style encyclopedia that you are reading right now. It is edited by lonelygirl15 fans and contains information on almost all aspects of the series. A third registration process is required for the LGPedia.
• Chat room — The site has typically hosted some form of chat room, where fans can discuss the series.
• LG15 Store — The site hosts a store where t-shirts and sweatshirts are for sale.

Site Design

The redesigned home page includes the Greek letters θέλημα at the bottom of the page, this is the Greek spelling of Thelema. The main page design also features several Unicursal hexagrams, a symbol with possible ties to Bree's religion. Although it says it is designed by Darbyite Design, this is a fictional company; the site was actually developed by several different designers.

The site is supported with banner ads and with the advertisements that Revver places in videos. As of January, 2006, about 3,600 people are registered at the forums and 10,000 to 20,000 watch the videos on the main site. The vast majority of Lonelygirl15 fans continue to follow the series via YouTube.

History of the Site

The site launched on July 16th, 2006, when a fan named Bukanator announced in the comments of YouTube that he had set up a fan site for Bree. Many were already suspicious of Bree, and the registration of a fan site by a supposedly 38-year-old male fan was strange. Members on YouTube looked up the site registration in a WHOIS directory and discovered that the site had been registered on May 12th, 2006, more than a month before Bree posted her first vlog.

When confronted about this discrepancy, Bukanator and Daniel gave the following story. Daniel had registered the site to tease Bree about how she was going to be famous. Bukanator later e-mailed Daniel about setting up a fan site, and Daniel told Bukanator that he could use www.lonelygirl15.com.

Although almost nobody believed this story, in the month of August fans began to visit the phorum, the message boards at lonelygirl15.com. By the end of August, the hunt for Bree had drawn the attention of the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Business Week. While the site was poorly maintained, and the messageboards largely unmoderated, hundreds of people registered for the site.

As fans grew frustrated with Bukanator's poor moderation, a new fan site which became known as The Children of Anchor Cove was founded on September 4th. Most fans decamped to the Cove. On September 6th, lonelygirl15.com created a new forum. The old phorum was eventually taken down. On the evening of September 7th, A Message From The Creators was posted on the site, where The Creators told the truth about the series. The forums at lonelygirl15.com became primarily devoted to Cassieiswatching, at one point, over 2/3rds of the posts at the forum were in the Cassieiswatching boards.

Fans learned that in reality the site had been registered by the Creators and built with the help of Grant Steinfeld. It is unknown why they were unaware that Web site registration data are publicly available. Steinfeld was dismissed from the project at some point in July, before the site became popular.

Once Cassieiswatching died down, discussion gradually returned to lonelygirl15.

Site Updates

• On Sept. 6, a new forum was created on the site.

• On Sept. 29 the LGPedia was launched.

• On November 19th, 2006 the server that hosts the lonelygirl15 website was updated to include a member directory and member sign in.

• On November 30th, 2006 the site began to host a flash-based chat LG15 Chat room.

• On December 16th, 2006, the LG15 Store was launched.