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I'm here for memes, not snappy Xitter, 4Chan, reddit or similarly sourced screenshots of texts
(discuss.tchncs.de)
The meme police
this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2025
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memes
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A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment
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OP: π TOMATO π IS π NOT π A π FRUIT π
Everyone: tomatoes are botanically considered a fruit
OP: ackshually I donβt like it in my fruit salad, therefore it is not a fruit
Let me fix this.
OP: π TOMATO π IS π NOT π A π FRUIT π
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.
I'm here for snappy Xitter, 4Chan, reddit or similarly sourced screenshots of texts, cuz i won't open none of those sites.
I run into this same issue with youtube meme compilations. If the entire compilation is funny home videos THOSE ARENT MEMES
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.
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.
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.
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: 
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.
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 "fags"
And a tomato is a fruit. It would be stupid to pretend it should be utilised by its definition.
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ImMa steal this fam.
Ahahaha.
I was just about to comment this lmaoo
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.
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!
I like to throw this one around on occasion.
Edit: I'm looking through the community now in the past few hours...
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.
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Me: (come here to laugh.)
OP: (taking it real personal and arguing with everyone in the comments)
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.
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.
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I see a bit of both sides being argued in the comments here. We don't have a clear rule about this atm, so removals have been inconsistent and case-by-case, often based on reports.
Maybe I'll start and pin a discussion thread about this during the week (when we'll get the most eyes on it) and see what the wider community wants, and if desired, maybe we can come up with a rule wording that isn't too restrictive, but removes stuff that genuinely feels "off topic" for a memes page.
Fuck Reddit and Fuck Spez.
Most of the "real" memes that get posted are terrible, so I can't say I mind too much.
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