Since introducing it to the world earlier this year, Imgur has quickly become one of the more popular image hosting sites on the web averaging over 4 million image views a day. Any viral pic worth its salt will end up featured in the Imgur galleries.
Yesterday, the creator of Imgur, Alan Schaaf, did an impromptu AMA (ask me anything) session on Reddit and I gotta tell you, it's surprisingly interesting.
Schaaf is a student at Ohio University and runs the site between classes. In a telling sign of the irony of the Internet age, when asked what class he was currently in, Schaaf replied, "Intro to Web Design. LOL"
Yeah, Alan, you're in college: You can get away with cutting classes now, buddy!
A number of Redditors ask techie type questions (as one would expect) but some of the simple schematics of running a site that gets thousands of images uploaded a day are interesting, like how does he handle abusive content? Answer: He has to spend about two hours a month making sure the site's clean. (Which I think is the amount of time any average college student spends looking at hardcore porn.)
Another noteworthy query: "What is the most disturbing image you have seen uploaded to your site?"
The response: "A penis that was split in half. No one should have to see that…it was worse than anything I've ever seen." (So now all you sickos can go look for it.)
Believe it or not though, Alan isn't doing so hot with the ladies. Responding to the question, "Do you realize how awesome you are?" he replied, "Tell that to some ladies, they don't seem to realize :)"
Someone go date Imgur guy! He's hawt!!
Actually, I have no proof to back this up. But he seems nice. (Apparently, I am turning into my mother.)
Regardless, go check out the session on Reddit.
But be kind to Imgur guy. As Reddit user "mikebeer" states, "I'm sure he's thrilled to be in the same category as Tila Tequila and Tron Guy…"
Ah, the joys of being "Internet famous."
