The site formed a partnership with pop culture blog network Buzz Media in July 2010 that was not renewed a year later.
After the death of Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009, according to MSNBC, "users expressed their collective grief by posting a Fantasia Barrino GIF, in which the American Idol star wails and flails her arms wildly,"[7] while other users expressed concern over the continued use of a popular GIF taken from the music video "Thriller" featuring a scene of Jackson eating popcorn, an image that is frequently posted on the community in anticipation of a controversial or "flame-worthy topic.
"[12] The paper also noted that with a high volume of posts, the reader would "find a lot of highlights, and often before newspapers get their hands on it".
[12] The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that the "scandal-mongering community overflows with interactive snark" and encouraged the reader to "imagine a gossip clearinghouse run by teenagers with bad attitudes and sharp tongues".
Club cited ONTD as a "favorite time-wasting website" and wrote that "the comments section can sometimes be more amusing than the posts themselves".
Magazine's unpublished front page cover,[3] and was the first to report that Kirk Acevedo had announced via his Facebook status update that he had been fired from the Fox drama, Fringe.
[20] The most scandalous and notable events are often given nicknames to distinguish them in future posts, such as the January 2008 hospitalization of Britney Spears, which was dubbed Hostage Brituation '08 by the community's members.
[21] The abuse case between singers Rihanna and Chris Brown was dubbed Domestic Disturbia '09 by the community's members,[22] and the community was also credited with starting a meme ("Gokey is a douche") connected to some friends of American Idol contestant Danny Gokey's negative comments and pictures regarding fellow contestant Adam Lambert.
Once the hoax was discovered, fans urged each other to tweet #BettyWhiteFacts and other positive messages about White instead of spreading further death rumours.