[1] Whedonesque started with a set of rules designed to mandate linking to external sites, encourage civil conduct, discourage copyright violations, and minimize discussion of perpetually contentious issues.

He later extended his involvement, using the site as a means of communication with fans on topics including his own fandom of Veronica Mars,[9] the canonicity of Buffy Season 8 comic books,[10] and status updates on his projects.

On November 22, 2004, Whedonesque was selected as SciFi.com's Site of the Week, which commented "first-rate weblog on all things Joss-related" that "has very clearly laid-out guidelines for posting and a solid policy on how to label spoilers.

"[14] On December 14, 2004 USA Today's Pop Candy selected "the Whedonesque gang" as the 70th of its "top 100 people of 2004", calling it "... comforting to visit Whedonesque.com each day, where piles of links are posted by my fellow Joss Whedon obsessives.

[16] In early 2007, Whedon announced the end of his relationship with the Wonder Woman movie in a Whedonesque post,[17] which was directly cited in traditional media, including Reuters,[18] the Los Angeles Times,[19] and industry press.

[24] Later that year, Whedonesque was cited in mainstream media treatment of Dollhouse (especially Whedon's post explaining the new pilot[25][26][27])[28] and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

The Times review stated that "All the latest news items, rumours and sightings concerning the one-time wonder boy and the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer are logged daily by the kind of people who appreciate smart, sophisticated dialogue and plotting.

[5] In May 2008, EW selected Whedonesque as eighth on their list of 25 Essential Fansites, calling it "a reservoir of material about anyone who's starred in (or, it would seem, breathed near) his nerd-magnet projects: Buffy, Angel, and Firefly/Serenity.

[49][50] The announcement requested that users wishing to mark the site's closure donate to organizations or charities supporting treatment of complex post-traumatic stress disorder, which Cole wrote she was treated for, after the revelations of Whedon's infidelity.

[49][50] On February 11, 2021, the site was taken offline following a tweet by Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel actress Charisma Carpenter detailing abusive treatment by Joss Whedon during her time on both shows.

[55] In addition to news outlets which have picked up stories and quotes from Whedonesque, the site has been referenced in a number of books and academic papers.

In April, 2008, Dark Horse Comics said it would release images of a later-cancelled Buffy the Vampire Slayer tarot card set exclusively through Whedonesque.

One participant remarked that "The Paley Center itself is trying kind of hard to figure out what this whole blogging thing is, and doesn’t quite get it, as evidenced by the fact that no urls appeared in the program for the event.