The rise and fall of Urlesque, the site that wanted to take memes mainstream

For three and a half years, from 2008 to 2011, Urlesque was the definitive site covering the internet as its own culture. Then AOL shut it down and erased it from the web.

Rae Votta

Internet Culture

Posted on Jun 5, 2016 Updated on May 26, 2021, 4:12 pm CDT

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Rae Votta

A former YouTube reporter for the Daily Dot, Rae Votta has more than a decade of experience in the digital and entertainment industries. Her work has appeared on AOL, Huffington Post, Out Magazine, Logo, VH1, Current TV, Billboard, and NYMag. She joined Netflix in 2016.