As a frequent visitor of the information superhighway, I have become quite familiar with what will garner a response from my fellow Internet junkies. Whether it involves uploading drunken or embarrassing text messages or cute cats with idiosyncratic captions, when it comes to the Internet, the more preposterous the better. In my years of scanning the web for new curiosities, I couldn’t help but wonder if I could do it myself. So taking a cue from blogs that had already reached Internet fame, I decided to put my hubris to the test by creating a blog of my own.

I approached the endeavor as field research. I wanted to see a side of the web that I was unfamiliar with — authorship. My initial goal was to get 1,000 page views to become famous. I wanted to make sure to focus my blog on something that would appeal to the masses and there are three things that the Internet community loves: irony, humor and things that are cute. My blog would have all three qualities by showcasing infants in unusual hats accompanied by socially relevant, but frequently controversial captions. With this brilliant concept in mind, I created BabiesInCrazyHats.blogspot.com.

My blog is classified in the blogosphere as a single-serving site — a page that serves a single, usually inane purpose, and really, what could be more inconsequential than babies in crazy hats? The blog’s creation was a simple 10-minute procedure. I made a username, a URL, uploaded photos and just like that I had my own web-identity with no fees to pay and no questions asked. My first two posts involved children in hand-knit, multicolored hats that were described as, “real cute” and “slightly less cute.” As I uploaded more photos the captions got more obscure and unrefined. I began using pop culture references and Internet memes in order to make readers who are “in the know” feel like they are a part of a small community with an inside joke.

When my content was developed enough, I started going viral. I encouraged all of my friends to post a link to my website on their Facebook pages and sent my URL to other well-known pop culture blogs urging them to feature my site. Within minutes my site was sent to friends, their friends, their friends’ friends and so on, to the point where complete strangers were soon posting my site on their Twitter and Facebook pages.

On the third day of its existence, my blog was promoted by The Daily What, a pop culture blog that has been recognized by Entertainment Weekly and The New York Post. When I realized people were responding to my site, I found myself obsessed with the acknowledgement. I constantly refreshed my site to see how many more people visited it. Each new view became an ego boost and I could not get enough. Within six days on the web, I had 14,500 views. At that point in my “research,” I understood the psychological appeal of creating a blog — recognition is intoxicating.

Everyone wants approval from their peers and blogs provide the opportunity for anyone, anywhere to get exactly that. The positive affirmation that comes with viewership or positive comments reassures creators that what they are doing is worthwhile. But I wasn’t prepared for what happened when comments stopped being so complimentary.

After one more week, my blog was endorsed by urlesque.com, a section of AOL News dedicated to all things Internet. The mainstream acknowledgment led 10,000 readers to my site in a matter of hours. This was all well and good until the crafting community caught wind of my cute, yet controversial site. The images I featured on babiesincrazyhats.blogspot.com were almost exclusively from etsy.com, a social commerce website that sells handmade goods. I credited all the photographers whose images I acquired, but after seeing the way I spoke about the hats they were selling, as well as what I was implying about the babies wearing them, it’s safe to say they were less than amused. The mood of my blog was quickly beginning to shift. Instead of comments highlighting how “brilliant” I was for conceiving this witty contribution to the online community, the messages I received were quite the opposite.

It seemed as though my blog unified mothers, photographers and craft-enthusiasts alike all to champion one common cause — clearing the Internet of any trace of me, my blog and any further “exploitation” of their children. Groups rallying against my “baby bashing” sprouted up. I was called every awful name in the book. My Facebook inbox filled up with hate mail from strangers threatening to sue me for copyright infringement and slander. At one point, my mother even received a message asking her to punish me for all of the pain I had caused.

My immediate reaction to the onslaught of unwelcome critique was to fight back. I wanted to contact each naysayer individually and explain that my intentions were not to decimate the reputations of innocent children.