The humor website www.4q.cc created in April, 2005 by university student, Ian Spector, reached its 50 millionth visitor today at 2:55 AM. The primary site, simply entitled The Random Vin Diesel Fact Generator displays a new “fact” about the actor Vin Diesel upon each refresh of the page.
The Random Vin Diesel Fact Generator is strictly humorous. None of the content in its database is necessarily true, but all of it has been regarded as downright uproarious. With over 4,500 facts, and growing by the day, the site has reached up to 9 million visitors per month and upwards of 200,000 visitors per day. In its early stages, the site received accolades from ESPN.com (“Combat boredom at work! Educate yourself! Dazzle your peers at cocktail parties!”), UK-based Empire Online (“Best. Website. Ever.”), and the Long Island Press (“Wasting time celebrity-scouring on the Internet has rarely been so hilarious."). Although Ian Spector maintains the site, approximately 90% of the “facts” are contributed by visitors – most of whom are either college students or stuck in a cubicle – and are individually approved, edited, or denied. According to Spector, out of one hundred submitted facts, only two or three end up making the cut.
The website was spawned from a discussion thread on the massively popular internet forum, SomethingAwful.com, which was entitled “Facts About Vin Diesel.” The first eight hundred facts were compiled from this thread and put on the website. Within 24 hours, visitor submissions were being accepted and within a month, the site received in excess of 10 million visitors.
At this point in time, Spector has already released a calendar with illustrated facts and is currently working with the creator of the original discussion thread on a book which will contain additional illustrations and the entirety of the fact database. The duo is working with www.lulu.com, the leader in online on-demand printing and shipping.
Ian Spector is always seeking inspiration from his visitors, “A lot of people have been asking for a Steven Seagal fact generator, so expect that one the horizon.” In fact, since the inception of the website, two new fact generators have cropped up – The Random Chuck Norris Fact Generator, which has just reached the 20 millionth visitor mark, and The Random Mr. T Fact Generator. Despite the overwhelming number of visitors to the 4q.cc network, neither Vin Diesel, Chuck Norris, nor Mr. T have contacted Spector. “If those guys are anything like the way my site says they are, I’m glad, too,” he states.
About Author
Long Island-native Ian Spector is currently an undergraduate student at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. and intends to concentrate in computational biology. In addition to 4q.cc, he has owned and operated a web hosting company, QubeFactor Technologies (www.qubefactor.com) since 2003.
About Lulu
Founded in 2002, Lulu is the world’s fastest-growing print-on-demand marketplace for digital do-it-yourselfers. Please see www.lulu.com for more information.
