peter steiner, a cartoonist and contributor to "the new yorker" since 1979, said the cartoon initially did not get a lot of attention, but that it later took on a life of its own, and he felt similar to the person who created the "smiley face". in fact, steiner was not that interested in the internet when he drew the cartoon, and although he did have an online account, he recalled attaching no "profound" meaning to the cartoon; it was just something he drew in the manner of a "make-up-a-caption" cartoon.