http://gawker.com/5899787/finding-goatse-the-mystery-man-behind-the-most-disturbing-internet-meme-in-history

Your first Goatse hits you in waves, rocking between confusion and disgust as the physiological reality of the picture resolves gradually, magic-eye style. Jay Stile, the pseudonymous founder of the infamous shock site Stile Project and a person who has seen more than his share of gross things, clearly remembers his first thoughts upon seeing Goatse.

“One: How is that physically possible? How is he not dead?” Stile told me. “Two: Why would any human ever want to do that? Three: the guy had a wedding ring on his picture! It’s probably, like, your university professor, or a doctor or a lawyer. You have no idea who this person is; it could be your neighbor—behind closed doors, people really do ****ed up ****. You go through this whole range of emotions. Why, who, what, where? It’s just ****ed. It’s unbelievable that someone would do that.”

And after that: “Oh God, I need to show this to everyone so they feel the same pain I did.”