Goatse.cx (pronounced "goat see" or "goat see dot cx", often truncated to goatse, often referenced by one of its current URLs, and occasionally called
goatsex) is one of the most infamous
Internet shock sites. Its front page contains a sexually explicit picture, featuring a man wearing a
gold ring on his left hand (and nothing else) manually stretching his anus and rectum to a diameter roughly equal to the width of his hand. Below his gaping anus, the man's dangling penis and testicles are visible. The site is commonly linked to by Internet pranksters in order to shock unsuspecting users with the image.
As of January 14, 2004, the domain
goatse.cx is no longer online. However, many mirrors of the site are still available and the image itself has been posted at many other websites. The most common mirror was
goat.cx; however, goat.cx was no longer online as of February 22, 2005. As of February 27 of that year, the domain goat.cx, like goatse.cx, had been suspended by the
Christmas Island Internet Administration, however the domain as of April 2005 appeared to be back online, showing only the message "be right back." In May 2005, there was an image on the site showing a pumpkin with some hands around it as if it was stretching its anus. Christmas Island Technology Corp has registered goats.cx as of May 24, 2002 with obviously nonexistent name servers, presumably in an attempt to prevent another mirror of the original goatse.cx.
