memes @lemmy.world

2w ago

I'm here for memes, not snappy Xitter, 4Chan, reddit or similarly sourced screenshots of texts

188 comments

- I didn't make this meme.
  
  The hidden parts don't matter, the part you can see is the part that says OP is wrong and nothing anywhere in the rest of the definition changes that
- Is that an AI-answer?
  
  It’s the dictionary definition

Ahahaha.
- I was just about to comment this lmaoo
- I'm gonna say posting screenshots is kind of parallel to the purpose of this place. Lemmy is an aggregator, a platform where content from other sites is linked/reposted.
  Original content is still important, as without them, the website would die in a few weeks. But we should not ignore the value "crossposted" stuff adds to this place. I read a lot of great, original stories under the thread shown in your screenshot.
  !science_memes@mander.xyz is a perfect example of this. It is filled with unoriginal content and screenshots but I genuinely learned more stuff in the comment section of that community compared to "serious" science communities in other platforms. That also has something to do with the quality of fediverse users of course, but my point stands

I like to throw this one around on occasion.

Edit: I'm looking through the community now in the past few hours...

I've been wondering for sometime as to why those kinds of posts weren't be removed and guided to another community. Like !microblogmemes@lemmy.world or !humor@lemmy.world
- Maybe the rules re too lax, or the mods got used to let this go so the community gains traction.
  
  Or people forget they're supposed to report that crap.
  
  sometimes the screenshot of a post from other social media is taken out of contex too.
- !microblogmemes has a very narrow scope and !humor only wants “lighthearted” content. So these are only a partial replacement.

I'm here for snappy Xitter, 4Chan, reddit or similarly sourced screenshots of texts, cuz i won't open none of those sites.
- there’s a reason you wont open those sites. lean into that and rid yourself of their taint.
  
  lemmy.ml
  Oppinion disregarded.

Most of the "real" memes that get posted are terrible, so I can't say I mind too much.
- Feel free to make your own quality memes.
  
  I came here to say this to you. Be the change! Flood the zone with what you want to see. We'd all appreciate it.

A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme.
-Wikipedia
You can argue that many of the text posts do not meet the criteria, but just as many of the shitty image macros posted don't either.
- You stopped reading too early.
  
  I was the whole thing. That extra context still doesn't require image macros or exclude purely textual memes. Also good job continuing to break accessibility with laziness.
- a meme was originally used to describe repeated patterns in genetics, and is fundamentally another way to say "mimic," so we could build an argument for a totally different way to moderate content here.
  but the spirit of the community is to showcase the modern internet meme, so I think taking the narrow definition of "new jokes over repeated images" is more appropriate than a literal definition of the word itself.

I don’t mind those posts.
- Okay go don't mind them in another community that isn't called memes.
  
  Those posts are also still memes whether you like them or not

Me: (come here to laugh.)
OP: (taking it real personal and arguing with everyone in the comments)

md

> be me > writing fediverse-original greentext > does only appear correctly in certain viewers

A meme is a meme, regardless if it has been screenshot. it is the content not the vessel
- but not if it's a text-only screenshot, like a twitter/tumblr post. the point of the modern "meme" is to be variations on a visual-based theme.
  otherwise, it's just a joke or a comment
  
  I also choose this guys wife is a meme. You done goofed is a meme. Memes aren't image macros. Any image macro or screenshot from X The EveryThing APP isn't a meme without some sort of community traction. Funny jpeg aren't memes and its a vulguar bastardisation to belive them as such.
  
  I am going by the original definition of meme, in which jokes and comments (if shared) are a meme, language is a meme too. otherwise you are just talking about captioning images, which are a type of meme, but saying only those are memes is jut dumb.

The meme police
- memestasi if you will

OP: 👏 TOMATO 👏 IS 👏 NOT 👏 A 👏 FRUIT 👏
Everyone: tomatoes are botanically considered a fruit
OP: ackshually I don’t like it in my fruit salad, therefore it is not a fruit
- Let me fix this.
  OP: 👏 TOMATO 👏 IS 👏 NOT 👏 A 👏 FRUIT 👏
  Everyone: technically, a tomato is a fruit
  OP: OK sure, but I don't want it in my fruit salad
  Everyone: fair enough, that makes sense.
  
  Nah, OP is just straight denying that screenshots of text are memes. Claiming some bullshit like having to make some change to it for it to qualify as a meme. Just ignoring reposts of green texts, copypasta, reddit stories (poop knife, cylinder, cbat guy, etc etc etc etc), people getting ratioed on twitter, tumblr chains.
  Like, wtf kinda change does OP want me to make if I wanna revive some old classic greentext. Draw a big red circle on it? Slap a wojak right in the middle?
  Screenshots are lazy, sure, but they are definitely still memes. Whether an exact replica or not.
- OP: ackshually I don’t like it in my fruit salad, therefore it is not a fruit
  adds bacon to fruit salad

Brave souls risk their lives and sanity digging those screenshots out of the cesspits for your viewing pleasure.
- Tumblr is just the same as it always was. Which in the current blogging ecosystem, means it's better than nearly every other website. Standards have really plummeted.
  
  Oh in case people here don't know, current Tumblr ownership is made up of insane transphobes. They're kinda in an enteral standoff with... most of their dedicated user-base about it.

wrong

Anything humans spread around and share other than our DNA is a meme. The definition of a meme is "non-genetic information shared by any means."
- Behold, a meme:
- And a tomato is a fruit. It would be stupid to pretend it should be utilised by its definition.
  
  A tomato is a fruit. And all fruit are vegetables, but not all vegetables are fruit.
  Sounds like you should crack open a dictionary.
- the word meme gained a second definition on the internet, which is similar to the first but focused on specifically things intended to be funny. because context is a part of language whether you like it or not, that meaning is the one that is being used any time you see the word on the internet unless otherwise specified or unless the context in which you're seeing it is one where the other is more appropriate (like a discussion about linguistics or the spread of ideas).
  
  I would argue that memes aren't necessarily meant to be funny. I think the most important component of a meme is its composition, which is usually a square image with optional text. But yeah, I completely agree with your broader points.
  
  Nothing in either definition requires them to be funny
  
  because context is a part of language whether you like it or not
  The irony of this reasoning is that the things spread as memes you do not think should be called memes because they are not "intended to be funny" are called memes by a vast majority of people on the internet. Making them memes, whether you like it or not.
  
  People holding onto the idea that memes should be defined by their original context are using the same rhetoric as those who insist it's okay to call cigarettes "removed"

Hear, fucking hear.

- not text only ⊗

I mean, it is though. A meme is an idea that has been spread, and even if that wasn't the literal definition of it, people have modified the idea of what a meme was into what it is now. You are simply outnumbered and clinging to an outdated definition.
- I think it's fair to be frustrated when language is forcibly changed by lazy misuse. We are losing words due to declining literacy and trying to push back on that shouldn't be seen as a worthless effort.
  Obviously at some point numbers win over and then we have folks like you who have gotten comfortable using terms incorrectly and arguing that the definition has changed. And it has. But that doesn't make it a good thing.
  
  I have news for you about the history of every word.
  
  That "lazy misuse" is how you got your idea of what the word means in the first place. That's how language evolves, and why we say "goodbye" instead of "God be with you"
  
  We are losing words due to declining literacy and trying to push back on that shouldn't be seen as a worthless effort.
  But we are inventing new extremely awesome and unimaginably, um, awesome words, like 67, too!
  
  Nothing is being changed, the definition of the word meme always included these things

Saw this "stop posting content" rant, just below it in my feed is a "Why doesn't anyone post on the fediverse!?!?" rant
I wonder if these things are related.
- No one is saying to stop posting. There are dozens of communities that get little to no content because people dump all this crap here. All of these posts have at least one other community where they actually fit. Don't twist words.
  
  So downvote them?

I mean I agree. But I also appreciate people finding the quality comedy on those places for me and sharing it here.
Maybe just start a "SocialMediaGems" sub or something.
- there are a couple microblogmemes communities and whitepeopletwitter (and similar) communities, but the ones on .world have terrible moderation.

You're right but i gave up on this battle years ago.

Thank you!

Well, where would such content go? I agree these things don’t fit the definition of a meme. But they aren’t jokes either. And there’s no c/randomFunnyStuff.
If you removed everything that isn’t a perfectly pure meme, this community would be very empty.
- ...and, how does it become a meme without being posted as one...?
  
  That's like having c/sayings and people just write shit in it: "well how can it become a saying if we don't treat it like one!" That makes no sense. It's not for making sayings, it's for things that ARE sayings.
  There are things in the category already and the community, based on the name, should be for that.
  I would recommend c/memematerial to be born to fill the niche you're discussing.
  Edit: lol downvote if youre 12 and you have some pictures of text we just have to see.
  
  If you find the screenshot quote funny and memeable, make a meme out of it and post it here. But the screenshot itself is too little.
- Well, where would such content go? I agree these things don’t fit the definition of a meme. But they aren’t jokes either. And there’s no c/randomFunnyStuff.
  https://lemmy.world/comment/21240390
  If you removed everything that isn’t a perfectly pure meme, this community would be very empty.
  I mean, is demanding some effort and quality really asking too much? If this community was empty withouth non-meme posts, does it deserve to be a meme community?
  
  People are lazy and meme communities are bigger so obviously they are going to post whatever content to the larger community for engagement. It's not any more complicated than that. As long as meme communities are bigger and accept non-memes they will continue to be posted to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
- Well, where would such content go?
  Wherever the picture-of-text memes go. The content is unchanged, the form should change.
  
  There's a microblog memes community.
- Maybe a Greentext-like community could be created, but for general funny or odd texts from the internet?
  
  !microblogmemes@lemmy.world

100% agree.

Screenshots
is
🧐
- Good catch

i hate that microblogmemes allows people to just post anything from any microblog platform. they always justify it with "well a meme is actually just a self-replicating idea" which is technically true, but it ignores the meaning the term 'meme' has on the internet, which is basically just an image based joke that plays off of internet culture in general, typically including previous memes. in the context of a scientific field like linguistics or phycology, the first definition makes more sense. in the context of an internet group with no scientific interest, the second is obviously correct. also they always use that excuse when they are posting US politics instead of memes, which is bullshit because there are communities for politics and political memes. dont make off-topic posts, go post it in a community where it is relevant.

I run into this same issue with youtube meme compilations. If the entire compilation is funny home videos THOSE ARENT MEMES

at this point i am just blocking anyone that posts this shit. just steal the meme, no one cares.

Man, !microblogmemes@lemmy.world makes me so angry about this. I try to have this account be my funny account and my other lemmy account be the more serious, news-orientated/political account, but microblogmemes allows so much of this "screenshot of a literal fact" posts that it pollutes both accounts' feeds.

wrong

ImMa steal this fam.

Bravo!

Fuck Reddit and Fuck Spez.

What would we call those posts? Like what community would they go in?

In this meme, the author doesn't understand the word meme.
- the author is recognizing that the definition has been unfortunately forced to change due to misuse.

- searchability: the "text" isn't indexable by search engine in a meaningful way
  Well ok, neither is Lemmy.
  
  lemmy has a search feature broken by inaccessible images of text
- I am not sure what you are trying to argue. This isn't about whether text is a good medium, it is about screenshots of texts not being memes.
  
  no excuse for breaking accessibility by not at the very least setting alt text

188 comments

Fuck Reddit and Fuck Spez.