Your World of Text: Difference between revisions

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| screenshot = Ywot_2023.jpg

| caption = YWOT in 2023

| launch_date = {{Start date and age|2009|8|5}}

| launch_date = {{Start date and age|2009|8|4}}

| creator = [[Andrew Badr]]

| url = https://yourworldoftext.com

}}'''''<small~~><u~~>*Check out the [https://yourworldoftext.wiki YWOT Wiki!]~~~~'''''

}}'''''*Check out the [https://web.archive.org/web/20250703140521/https://yourworldoftext.wiki/ YWOT Wiki!]'''''

'''''<small~~><u~~>*Also check out [https://yourworldoftext.wiki/Our_World_of_Text the YWOT Wiki's page on OWOT]!~~~~'''''

'''''*Also check out [https://web.archive.org/web/20250531164421/https://yourworldoftext.wiki/Our_World_of_Text the YWOT Wiki's page on OWOT]!'''''

'''Your World of Text''' ('''YWOT''') is an [[Similar Sites to OWOT|infinite text canvas]] created by [[Andrew Badr]]. It is the predecessor to [[OWOT|Our World of Text]], and also the site where most users discovered OWOT.

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In August of 2024 they linked YWOT and OWOT using a series of OWOT-YWOT bridges, earning them praise in both communities.

=== The ~~Manhatingzone~~ ===

=== The Man Hating Zone ===

'''''*See the YWOT Wiki's page for the MHZ [https://yourworldoftext.wiki/Man_Hating_Zone here].'''''

The [[Manhatingzone]] faction has existed long before the creation of the current OWOT, supposedly being present at the creation of YWOT in 2009.

The [[Manhatingzone|Man Hating Zone]] faction has existed long before the creation of the current OWOT, supposedly being present at the creation of YWOT in 2009.

[https://ourworldoftext.com/OWOTD/iceberg /OWOTD/iceberg] mentions that the MHZ have feuded with the [https://www.yourworldoftext.com/~michaelhawke/globalfaith Mormons] of old YWOT and witnessed the [https://github.com/ywothistory/ywothistory.github.io/blob/master/_posts/2012-12-30-modernages.markdown spammer vs eraser wars] of 2013. Their world, /manhatingzone, was supposedly the most active world in YWOT before it was privated.

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The MHZ on YWOT acted in much the same way they did on OWOT: making ASCII art here and there, getting into feminist arguments here and there, fighting spam here and there all while spewing out an ungodly amount of the most despicable fanfiction imaginable.

[[File:Manhatingzone_ywot.png|none|thumb|482x482px|The MHZ's YWOT world on June 28th, 2019]]

=== Meimei ===

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=== Noman/Nomar ===

'''Noman''', also known as [[Nomar]], is a skilled PETSCII artist from YWOT who also learned how to draw with [[Symbols for Legacy Computing]] after migrating to OWOT.

'''Noman''', also known as [[Nomar]] or Kiparisa, is a skilled PETSCII artist from YWOT who also learned how to draw with [[Symbols for Legacy Computing]] after migrating to OWOT.

He was part of the YWOT Explorers community, which has so far been the central circle of YWOT in the 2020s.

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Rscr's activities on both websites include exploring worlds, creating ASCII art, and archiving pieces of history. His notable creations include a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wln5wfMWBX8 Spawn timelapse] for YWOT and a series of large stitched snapshots for OWOT. He is active on the wikis and Discord servers for both communities.

=== PixelMess ===

[[PixelMess]] was active on YWOT in 2023, in the same Explorers group as Nomar, Chenn and Rscr.

He came to OWOT in November 2025 and became an active [[chat]] user.

== Gallery ==

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File:Dense.jpg|A dense cluster of [https://yourworldoftext.wiki/Miscellaneous_Text handmade messages], no spam in sight

File:Ywot getting over it.png|In 2023, two users managed to replicate the entirety of ''Getting Over It'' in YWOT, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T186L5Gn-OY completely in ASCII form].

File:Ywot iceberg.jpg|An outdated [https://yourworldoftext.wiki/YWOT_Iceberg YWOT iceberg] by [[Rscr]]

File:Five monitors.webp|User Anonymousellama21 once used four monitors to maximize click and drag speed while traveling to a distant coordinate

</gallery><gallery mode="packed" heights="300">

File:Ywot paradise.png|The City of Paradise from the [https://yourworldoftext.wiki/North_Road_(2010_Archive) 2010 Archive], it exists at the same spot as the current day [https://yourworldoftext.wiki/Sky_City Sky City]

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* As stated in an interview with Andrew Badr, YWOT is believed to be the oldest infinite canvas on the internet.<ref>https://cultorjustweird.libsyn.com/s2e7-the-line</ref>

* Instead of a chat, YWOT used to have an active IRC featuring all the most active members of its community. Today, [[Sammich|Sammich's]] Wokecat is believed to be the successor of the IRC, and is still frequented by many of YWOT's old guards.

* A [https://www.startribune.com/miranda-july-s-bright-future/127312863 ''Star Tribune'' article] from 2012 mistakenly attributed the creation of YWOT to popular writer/artist [[wikipedia:Miranda_July|Miranda July]].

* YWOT was featured in [https://elmcip.net/creative-work/your-world-text a digital poetry class from 2010] along with [https://stars.library.ucf.edu/elo2020/live/events/11/ an online social experiment from 2020], and was even used as someone's [https://www.yourworldoftext.com/~maritas college thesis] in 2024(''though it didn't seem to get anywhere''). It was also mentioned in a number of academic papers<ref>https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=yourworldoftext&oq=yourwor</ref><ref>https://www.sens-public.org/articles/1699/</ref>; the 2013 paper titled "''Quotationalism in Digital Literature''" had the following to say about the infinite text canvas:

<blockquote>"''The idea of the embodiment and realization of the open, interactive and fleeting text played a major role (especially for authors) in digital literature in the late 1990s and early 2000s. While some claimed the impossibility of open text, others (most) turned to implementing this idea, without any irony. One of the works that tries to implement open text is the website yourworldoftext, which designs a blank sheet that can be written on in all directions:'' 'Your World of Text is an infinite grid of text editable by any visitor. The changes made by other people appear on your screen as they happen.' T''he freedom that the endless page promises is clouded by the fact that the flow of writing still runs from left to right and therefore linearly. Furthermore, the fact that every visitor can write something on the page creates pubescent textual struggles and removes this text, at least temporarily, from the field of literature. Some note-taking projects attempt to create an ever-growing, rhizomatic web of text. This is what an entry on the association blaster platform, which has been growing since 1999 and is probably the most popular, says:'' 'This network is, proceeds as and builds a rhizome!' ''The authors Alvar Freude and Dragan Espenschied announced their work in 1999 as'' 'a new way of organizing information.' 'an encapsulated prototype of how the web could work: from the bottom up' ''and'' 'a connection between all kinds of views, languages, cultures and people that creates the ultimate, post-modern ambivalence - or a kind of in-between fact- Knowledge.' [...]"

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'''- Barbara Marković, ''Quotationalism in Digital Literature'''''</blockquote>

== External links ==

* [https://github.com/ywothistory/ywothistory.github.io/tree/master/_posts OWOT history Github]: Covers the site's history from 2009 to 2013.

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20250703140521/https://yourworldoftext.wiki/ YWOT wiki]: Accessible on the Wayback Machine since the wiki is currently down.

== References ==

[[Category:Your World of Text]]

[[Category:History]]

[[Category:Websites]]