YTMND is an acronym for the phrase, “You’re the man now, dog.” The original YTMND site, created in 2001, consisted of a simple web page featuring a tiled photo background of actor, Sean Connery, captioned with “You’re the man now, dog!” and a looped audio clip of Connery reciting the line from his film, Finding Forrester. This iconic line completes an especially dramatic scene in the film, in which Connery, playing reclusive writer, William Forrester, passionately encourages a prodigious young writer seated at a typewriter to “Punch the keys, for God’s sake!” Once Connery hears the writer typing, he praises him by cheering, “You’re the man now, dog!”
Initially intended as a one-off, the original page became so popular that it inspired others to make similar “tributes” to references in pop culture, following the same format. These tributes are referred to more broadly as YTMND pages or sites. In addition to their original tile photo format and looping audio files, today’s pages have been expanded to include animated images and slide shows, along with zooming text captions. People can create their own similar sites by signing up as a user at YTMND.com and following a Content Management System (CMS), which is an easy-to-use interface that guides users through the process of inputting images, captions, and audio files. Once a YTMND page has been created, it is then hosted on the main site. Each page is given a name or label by its creator, which is then used as a prefix for the page’s URL.
Registered members of the site can vote on one another’s YTMND pages and participate in contests as well as sponsorship programs. Popular themes for include public figures that are often targeted for ridicule in pop culture, such as Michael Jackson, Osama bin Laden, Brian Peppers, and The Church of Scientology. Completely random and original content is also a frequent source of inspiration for YTMND sites. The creator of YTMND, Max Goldberg, has cited his five favorite YTMND creations as: You're the Man Now Dog (the original), Vader Coaster, Lohan Facial, LOL Internet, and Blue Ball Machine.