''Our First Time'' (OFT) was one of the first widely popularized Internet

hoax A hoax is a widely publicized falsehood so fashioned as to invite reflexive, unthinking acceptance by the greatest number of people of the most varied social identities and of the highest possible social pretensions to gull its victims into pu ...

es. Eighteen-year-olds "Mike" and "Diane" made a public announcement declaring their intention to lose their

virginity Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

. The event would be broadcast live on ourfirsttime.com, so visitors could share the "experience". OFT, which promoted itself as a free public service educational website, followed Mike and Diane day by day from July 18 to July 21, 1998, through

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immu ...

tests, condom selection, and telling their parents about their decision. So many millions of people attempted to view the site that the server crashed. The Internet Entertainment Group agreed to host it in exchange for links to their pornographic content. Over time, some began to suspect it was a hoax. Mike and Diane looked older than 18 and appeared to be actors. "Mike" turned out to be Alabama actor Ty Taylor, and "Diane" turned out to be Michelle Parma, a former

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

cheerleader. The enterprise fizzled when IEG backed out after the producer,

Ken Tipton Ken Tipton (born October 23, 1952) is an American entrepreneur and Internet hoaxster who has worked as a film actor since 1978. He is a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and he has also worked as director, screenplay writer, film producer ...

, revealed that his plan was to make money by charging Internet users $5 each for "age-verification" but planned for the couple to decide to abstain on the day set for the deflowering.

References

{{reflist

Bibliography

* "Web's Virginity Event A Hoax, Company's Executive Says", Chicago Tribune, July 18, 1998.
''Our First Time''
at

Museum of Hoaxes The Museum of Hoaxes is a website created by Alex Boese in 1997 in San Diego, California as a resource for reporting and discussing hoaxes and urban legends An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urb ...

* "Cyber Hoa

H. B. Koplowitz, 1998. Internet hoaxes Defunct websites 1998 hoaxes