Feminem.com was a website and underground forum community comprised of members who value open-mindedness, individuality, and non-conformity over mainstream popularity, ignorance, and superficiality. The website originally functioned as a place where supporters could diss (make fun of) Eminem and his unending array of mindless followers, and gradually grew into the underground community "Thunderground," where members promoted the value of remaining open-minded and true to one's own beliefs instead of conforming to views imposed by the mainstream media.
Feminem.com was created in 2000 in response to the growing feud between mainstream rap star Eminem and the underground group Insane Clown Posse. Created by a Juggalo (a devout fan of ICP), the website cataloged an array of defamatory material aimed to humiliate Eminem. A new webmaster under the alias of DJ Jake secured the domain in 2001, and further expanded the website to not only diss Eminem, but to further humiliate the legions of Eminem fans (coined Femi-Fans) who blindly followed Eminem with superficial reasoning. The website's popular sections included hate mail from Femi-Fans (with replies by DJ Jake), a large gallery of manipulated images, and a "Faggot of the Month" section which ridiculed a new Femi-Fan on a monthly basis.
By 2003, Feminem.com had grown so rapidly that a forum community was created to allow for supporters of the website to actively contribute to the ridicule of Eminem and the Femi-Fans. The forum featured "The War Zone" – the only section where non-registered users (Femi-Fans primarily) were allowed to post messages, which were subsequently torn apart by members of the community. While the vulgar and adolescent content of the website was indeed humorous, Feminem.com was seen by outsiders as an immature hate website. This made it impossible to establish any level of credibility – something the webmaster desired to change.
In 2004, the purpose of Feminem.com shifted to promote the aspects of individuality, originality, and open-mindedness, while firmly standing against superficial popularity and mainstream conformation. Instead of "dissing" Eminem, the website used him as "The Prime Example" of superficialism and mainstream exploitation. A majority of the website's original content was scrapped, and the focus shifted towards the growing forum community. This tight-knit community heavily contributed to the promotion and discussions of the website's purpose, and constantly aimed to enlighten the "guests" of the ever-popular "War Zone" section. Some members even engaged in forum skirmishes with other forum communities holding opposite stances or simple misconceptions about Feminem.com's purpose. Some of these "forum wars" included victories against NinjaChat.com, RealJuggahos.com, and Kack.us.
By 2005, webmaster DJ Jake (under the alias of Essix during this time) had retired "The Prime Example" concept and began work on Thunderground, the intended branding to replace the obsolete "Feminem" terminology. These updates also spawned "BREAD" and "CRUST" classifications to label those who exploit for personal gain, and those who allow themselves to be exploited. The forum community's "War Zone" continued to flourish, with non-member arguments being "Sporked" and overturned.
In 2006, the website evolved to become Thunderground: An underground community and movement focusing on the promotion of specific personal values including open-mindedness, self-assertion, non-conformity, fairness, and tolerance in a world where the desire for acceptance, popularity, and superficial materialism commonly override such values. The website aimed to promote these values in an attempt to enlighten people toward a more meaningful and dignified way of life. Holding true to the website's new values, DJ Jake allowed several former "enemies" of the website to join the community after exhibiting changed attitudes which coincided with the direction of the website. This sparked some controversy amongst a few members of the community who did not fully agree with the website's new purpose, and later left in protest. This, in combination with a decline in forum traffic and increased internal bickering, forced DJ Jake to close the forum in 2007.
In 2009, the Thunderground forum community reopened after a 28-month hiatus. DJ Jake issued an apology for some brash comments he made about the community upon the closure of the forum, and a majority of the original members returned to celebrate the revival of the community. Progress began towards a "Thunderground" version of the forum, slated for release by the end of the year.
However, delays ensued as the webmaster focused on other career-related obligations, forcing the community's expansion to remain on the back burner. Participation on the forum dwindled through 2010 and 2011 as social websites like Facebook gradually replaced online interactions once limited to forum communities. In 2012, DJ Jake closed the forum to new registrations and hid all sections from public view, citing the decline in activity and the unavailability of time to administrate the website.
Today, Feminem.com is essentially "retired" and exists only as an archive of the original forum community and this website history page. The forum remains closed to public viewing, although the original members are still allowed to access and contribute to a select number of sections. The webmaster has no plans to ever expand or build upon the Feminem.com domain again in the future. If this were to change, it would likely revolve around Thunderground but on an alternate domain, possibly DJJake.com or another of the webmaster's choosing.