ROFLCon was a biennial convention of

internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

s that took place in 2008, 2010 and 2012, featuring various

internet celebrities An Internet celebrity, also referred to as an Internet personality, is an individual who has acquired or developed their fame and notability on the Internet. The growing popularity of social media provides a means for people to reach a large ...

. All three events were at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

. ROFLCon was first organized by a group of students from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

led by Tim Hwang. According to Hwang, the inspiration for the conference was the September 23, 2007 meetup of fans of ''

xkcd ''xkcd'' is a serial webcomic created in 2005 by American author Randall Munroe. Sometimes styled ''XKCD'', the comic's tagline describes it as "a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language". Munroe states on the comic's website that the ...

'' with its creator,

Randall Munroe Randall Patrick Munroe (born October 17, 1984) is an American cartoonist, author, and engineer best known as the creator of the webcomic ''xkcd''. Munroe has worked full-time on the comic since late 2006. In addition to publishing a book of the ...

, in a park in

North Cambridge, Massachusetts North Cambridge, also known as "Area 11", is a neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts bounded by Porter Square and the Fitchburg Line railroad tracks on the south, the city of Somerville on the northeast, Alewife Brook and the town of Arl ...

. The name "ROFLCon" comes from the internet slang "

ROFL LOL, or lol, is an initialism for laughing out loud, and a popular element of Internet slang, which can be used to indicate amusement, irony, or double meanings. It was first used almost exclusively on Usenet, but has since become widespread ...

", short for "rolling on the floor laughing", and "con", short for "convention".

The original ROFLCon

The first ROFLCon was first announced in late 2007, and took place on April 25–26, 2008.Wortham, Jenna (December 7, 2007)
"Famous Internet Memes to Gather at ROFLCon 2008"
. Wired.com Various

attended, such as the authors of the webcomics ''

'', ''

Questionable Content ''Questionable Content'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''QC'') is a slice-of-life webcomic written and illustrated by Jeph Jacques. It was launched in August 2003 and reached its 5,000th comic in March 2023. The plot originally centered on Marten R ...

'' and ''

Dinosaur comics ''Dinosaur Comics'' is a constrained webcomic by Canadian writer Ryan North. It is also known as "Qwantz", after the site's domain name, "qwantz.com". The first comic was posted on February 1, 2003, although there were earlier prototypes. ''Din ...

'', Jay Maynard "The

Tron Guy Jay Maynard (born July 27, 1960) is an American computer programmer, system administrator and the project maintainer, volunteer project maintainer for Hercules (emulator), Hercules, a free emulator of IBM mainframe hardware. He is known for his ...

", Christopher "moot" Poole,

Leeroy Jenkins Leeroy Jenkins is a player character created by Ben Schulz in Blizzard Entertainment's multiplayer online video game ''World of Warcraft''. The character was popularized in a 2005 viral video of game footage. In the video, having been absent ...

The Brothers Chaps Matthew Alan Chapman (born November 1, 1976) and Michael Raymond Chapman (born September 20, 1973), known collectively as The Brothers Chaps, are American writers, voice actors, directors, animators, producers and composers. They are best known a ...

, and many others.Walker, Rob (July 16, 2010)
"When Funny Goes Viral"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. Attendance was open to the public after pre-registration and a fee. The primary events of ROFLCon were moderated panel discussions with the Internet celebrities, and question and answer sessions with the audience. Several guest speakers gave talks on issues pertaining to

internet culture Internet culture refers to culture developed and maintained among frequent and active users of the Internet (also known as netizens) who primarily communicate with one another as members of online communities; that is, a culture whose influence ...

. The convention ended with the "ROFLConcert", featuring live performances by Group X, Leslie Hall,

Lemon Demon Lemon Demon is a musical project and band created by American comedian and musician Neil Cicierega in 2003 in Boston, Massachusetts. Lemon Demon's studio work is performed solely by Cicierega, who is the project's sole official member. Live per ...

, Trocadero and Denny Blaze.

Subsequent events

ROFLCon II took place from April 30 to May 1 at MIT. Passes were available from $45 for a student to $500 for a "Mystery Pass." ROFLCon III took place on May 4–5, 2012, announced as the final ROFLCon.

Gallery

File:Green-Anonymous.jpg, alt=Anonymous, photographed on April 26, 2008, A member of

Anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

at ROFLCon I File:Internet superheroes.jpg, alt=4chan founder moot (left) with webcomic creators Randall Munroe and Ryan North at ROFLCon 2008,

4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from video games and television to literature, cooking, weapons, mu ...

founder

moot Moot may refer to: * Mootness, in American law: a point where further proceedings have lost practical significance; whereas in British law: the issue remains debatable * Moot court, an activity in many law schools where participants take part in s ...

(left) with webcomic creators

and

Ryan North Ryan North (born October 20, 1980) is a Canadian writer and computer programmer. He is the creator and author of ''Dinosaur Comics'', and has written for the comic series of ''Adventure Time'' and Marvel Comics' '' The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl'' ...

at ROFLCon I File:Brad O'Farrell.jpg, alt=Brad O'Farrell of Keyboard Cat, Brad O'Farrell of

Keyboard Cat Keyboard Cat is the first video-based on cats internet meme. Its original form was a video made in 1984 by Charlie Schmidt of his cat Fatso seemingly playing a Electronic keyboard, musical keyboard (though manipulated by Schmidt off-camera) to ...

at ROFLCon II File:ROFLcon rickroll.jpg, alt=A live rickroll, A live

Rickroll The Rickroll is an Internet meme involving the unexpected appearance of the music video to the 1987 hit song "Never Gonna Give You Up", performed by English singer Rick Astley. The aforementioned video has over 1.6 billion views on YouTube. Th ...

at ROFLCon II File:Heroes of Usenet panel.jpg, Jay Furr,

Laurence Canter Laurence A. Canter (born June 24, 1953) and Martha S. Siegel (born April 9, 1948) were partners and spouses in a firm of lawyers who committed the first massive commercial Usenet spamming on April 12, 1994. They were not the first Usenet spamme ...

and

Brad Templeton Brad Templeton (born June 1960 near Toronto) is a Canadian software developer, internet entrepreneur, online community pioneer, publisher of news, comedy, science fiction and e-books, writer, photographer, civil rights advocate, futurist, public s ...

from the "Heroes of Usenet" panel at ROFLcon II File:Johannes Grenzfurthner and Pedobear at ROFLCon 2010.jpg, Artist and media researcher

Johannes Grenzfurthner Johannes Grenzfurthner (; born 1975 in Vienna) is an Austrian artist, filmmaker, writer, actor, curator, theatre director, performer and lecturer. Grenzfurthner is the founder, conceiver and artistic director of ''monochrom'', an international ar ...

and Pedobear at ROFLCon II File:Jamie Wilkinson and Kenyatta Cheese at ROFLCon II.jpg, alt=Jamie Wilkinson and Kenyatta Cheese of Know Your Meme,

Jamie Wilkinson Jamie Wilkinson is an internet culture researcher and software engineer. Wilkinson started Know Your Meme, a database of viral internet memes whilst working at Rocketboom in New York City. Wilkinson also co-founded VHX, a digital distribution pl ...

and Kenyatta Cheese of

Know Your Meme Know Your Meme (KYM) is a website and video series that uses wiki A wiki ( ) is a form of hypertext publication on the internet which is collaboratively edited and managed by its audience directly through a web browser. A typical wiki ...

at ROFLCon II

References

External links

Official site
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. April 27, 2008.
"ROFLCon Live Stream"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

Funny Pages''. April 25, 2008.
"ROFLCon: Welcome to the Fame Revolution"

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

. April 25, 2008.
"My ROFLCon Weekend: Breakfast with Tron Guy"

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

. April 28, 2008
The new fame: Internet celebrity

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

. May 1, 2008.
"Bostonist Went To ROFLCon And All We Got Was This Brawndo Hangover"
Bostonist. April 30, 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Roflcon Conventions in Massachusetts Social events Internet culture Web-related events Recurring events established in 2008 Recurring events disestablished in 2012