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# A BBC Radio 4 journalist visiting me in a few hours. They're making a documentary about memes - can you help with some of the questions?
The kinds of things that are popular on B3ta, the memes that are specific too it, and what they say about the people interacting on B3ta. What are your favourites? It would be nice if you could tell us about/play us some things you like (as long as they aren't NSFW...)

EDIT: In short. What are your favourite b3ta memes? Please include image examples so we can see them.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 8:39, archived)
# Probably the most accessible meme (one I'd be interested in exploring) is Spanging.
Everyone loves a groansome pun - Christmas Cracker jokes are
deliberately bad so everyone gets it and it's a shared thing.
The violence of the frying pan, with Vic & Bob and Bottom in
our collective memory, is a mainstay of British humour and
might be the most accessible B3ta meme outside the site itself.

Also we need to find out who Smug Bastard is.


(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 8:45, archived)
# Squirrels with tits for the yiffers on here
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:13, archived)
# ^ This
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:52, archived)
# ^These^
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:36, archived)
# ^double d'ese^
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 13:02, archived)
#
Yes! Smug bastard needs to be identified!
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 14:48, archived)
# The key is in the ignition of the cardboard meme wagon.


- A shared sense of irrelevant funny
- Repetition

(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 8:45, archived)
# Your powers are weak old man...
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:31, archived)
# I'm a sucker for the kittens & fluff.




The human memes tend to leave me cold, though.
*shakes fist at Freebase*
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 8:46, archived)
# Although, I do have a soft spot for The Quo.
There's something vaguely comforting about the innocuous image of two laughing, elderly Gentleman rockers, surrounded by an impending doom they've undoubtedly wrought.

(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 8:56, archived)
# Howdy, Captain
I wholeheartedly agree

I don't think I've ever done a Quo

*edit* Although a quick image search reveals these:





(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:17, archived)
# I think if I had to choose one meme for b3ta, it'd be these guys.
The kittens are cool, but not really exclusive to this site.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:26, archived)
# aye INDEED
I also have a soft spot for Henry and Smug bastard (if it's done right)

Freebase annoys the hell out of me
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:32, archived)
# Freebase does not exist in my dojo.
And many of the human memes had had their day, long before I arrived, so I've never felt any sort of attachment to most of them.
Maybe that's the key with certain memes - you have to have been there at their genesis to truly "get" them..
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:39, archived)
# I think with Freebase the problem is that most of the posts are just really lazy
no real effort goes into it and the end result is just disjointed and a waste of a post

There have been a couple of good freebase posts but the rest have shit
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:44, archived)
# Well argued, Paul.
\o/
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:53, archived)
# Isn't that a bit like all the pictures on here generally though?
Not every one's a classic.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:03, archived)
# I think Proj summed it up best with shitty face meme guy
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:06, archived)
# I miss shitty face meme guy
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:49, archived)
# meh :)
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:40, archived)
# well you make anything look good
...
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:43, archived)
# ^ what she said
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:46, archived)
# Agreed.
Teh Quo are possibly the best b3ta specific meme. It would be great to hear what they thought about it.



(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:18, archived)
# you posted the same thing on /talk you fucking spammer
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 8:46, archived)
# no I gave /talk their own question
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 8:47, archived)
# see. nothing but spammy links to your own site
you've changed, rob.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 8:50, archived)
# I agree /talk are mostly sad old men
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 8:51, archived)
# I hear a Zamboni in the distance...
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 8:53, archived)
# Also, let's not forget freebase
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 8:55, archived)
# I love the complexity of the Vimod mythos.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:08, archived)
# Is this the today show or just something about the Internet which'll come out in about a year?
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 8:57, archived)
# Also I'm quite proud of this Zak goldsmug I made once.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 8:59, archived)
# aye :)
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:35, archived)
# dunno when it'll be broadcast but it's a doc rather than a news show
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 8:59, archived)
# Memes make ideal "dogs" for websites.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 8:59, archived)
# TOP TIP!
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:28, archived)
# Dick Beattie
The Man, The Peas, The Party Gimmicks... He's an unsung treasure as he has NO idea the fun both he, and his party wear, have given us mere mortals on b3ta.


Either that or Brian Blessed, as he's become his own parody over the years to keep the irreverence that b3ta (and the rest of the internet/geekery in general) absolutely loves. Plus, he even agreed to an interview, so what's not to love.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:01, archived)
# replying to myself, but it occurs to me Disaster Quo should be in this list
anyone got any images of that?
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:02, archived)
#



(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:04, archived)
# We also need....


THE FEAAAAAAAAR!
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:05, archived)
#
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:48, archived)
#
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:52, archived)
# Teh Fear!
x 2
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:53, archived)
# it's all getting a bit much
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:49, archived)
# nobody does
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:04, archived)
# Only the one I posted further up there ^
Which isn't the clearest indication of the medium, unfortunately.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:04, archived)
# Where is everyone?
Also, is the blessed a meme?

(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:06, archived)
# DIIIIIIIIIVE!!
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:28, archived)
# the other questions - should you fancy having a go answering them
The community that has developed, and they traits they have, the language they use, and is there still a stigma that there are just sad young men and not 'normal people'?

Do you think anonymity on the internet has any consequences? Do you think there is a darker side, does it change us to hide behind the internet?

What pleasure do people get from creating and sharing memes? Do you think it can be more than just a bit of fun? The programme is presented by Dr Susan Blackmore, who has a theory that ultimately, we are going to be driven by memes, and the need to stay connected online to build bigger and more powerful computers, which will eventually be able to copy, vary and select material by themselves, making us their slaves. How does that make you feel?

Why is the internet obsessed with cats?

What have your dealings with the 'traditional' media been like? Obviously, advertisers would love to 'harness the power of memes', and get people to do their work for them. Have they tried to piggy back on your popularity? Has there ever been any plagiarism? Are people precious about their work?

Should images and videos be free to be edited, changed and passed on, For example, Shepherd Fairey's Obama poster? Wouldn't it have been better for the production company to embrace the downfall meme, rather than remove it from Youtube?

People have argued that the lack of a 'gatekeeper' on the internet is a dreadful thing, that we now have to wade through a sea of unedited crap. Do you think this is really true? Or could it be a good thing that we are exposed to more of everything?

I'll probably also have to ask that awful question along the lines of 'do you think in the future we'll all have to wear tin foil hats to protect ourselves from the technology...'
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:05, archived)
# Yes we will have to wear tinfoil hats

(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:07, archived)
# Cats are awesome?










(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:09, archived)
# the joy of the internet is wading through hours of unedited crap
for all the hours of tedium there are some real diamond pieces.


As for the obsession with cats that is forced upon us by the NWO to try to distract us from looking at the chem trails left behind by the lizard people from outer space
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:13, archived)
# Everyone's just looking for the wrong kind of pussy
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:19, archived)
# I only come here for the unedited crap.
I have no interest in only seeing things some middle class prat in a suit says is allowed.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:21, archived)
# this thisity this this this
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 14:03, archived)
# I'd prefer to have the entire world view, and sort through the shit for myself, rather than having an homogenised template.
Being told what's funny will only work on occasion.
I know I feel a sense of pride when some random something on the internet, (which just happened to make me smile), swiftly becomes viral..
.. and I also spit at my monitor when things I hate become globally popular.
But it's all part of the net's rich tapestry, and I wouldn't want it any other way.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:23, archived)
# The subject of Memes for me first came up as a kid watching a short doc on the sci Fi channel
And it scared the shit out of me. From later on going on the Internet and encountering this term led me to understand it as an alternative word for injoke and collective reference. I've noticed more here than in other Internet realms the meme is treated with often a bit more regular creative use than used as an image with a black border and words. I suppose that's a b3ta idiocyncracy to avoid a toap. And is that a meme too?
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:24, archived)
# Also this Susan blackmore sounds like one of the talking heads
If it was the same lady she seemed to imply they had some independent existence from people, partly why that freaked me out. Which to be honest seemed a bit odd. Wouldn't it be cart before the horse?
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:43, archived)
# This is the whole point of memes, in the original sense as a parallel for genes
Genes want to ensure their own survival and can be good or bad for the organism; memes, likewise, are replicating units of ideas. Most of them are just ordinary ideas which we discuss, but some of them evade rationality and have means of going uncriticised. We should hunt those ones down and kill them with fire.

I don't think this applies to any internet memes, or memes in the sense of fun things to repeat.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:35, archived)
# Memes themselves bore me senseless.
They are the internet equivalent of an endlessly repeated Little Britain catchphrase. The only purpose they serve is to allow people who dont have original ideas to join in the fun.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:04, archived)
# Personally I think once memes get out into the wider world they lose a lot of their power
I'd point to Mike Huckabee's "Chuck Norris Facts" election advert or Rick Astley rick-rolling the Macy's Parade as examples - it's almost like the meme "sold out" and it's just not as amusing any more. When I was working deep within the bowels of advertising earlier last year I had representatives of [political party] asking me how to get unflattering Downfall videos removed from YouTube at the same time as their sock-puppets were uploading unflattering Downfall vids about [other political party]. I just think it was funnier when it was bored internerds who were doing it for lols, rather than grasping politicians desperately trying to get one over their opposite number.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:13, archived)
# regarding the cats question
My missus will just type "kittens" into Google if she wants cheering up
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:41, archived)
# So you're saying that every now and then memes....
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:23, archived)
# The circle is complete!
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:26, archived)
# I wouldn't say we were normal
"creatives" is a better all encompassing word. People who want to make something not just watch tv.

Anonymity can be freeing, you don't worry about drawing cocks on things for a laugh because no one knows you well enough to judge you. It can lead to freer exploration of ideas.

I don't think anyone tries to create a meme, they start as one funny picture like any other but it has something that the crowd maintain.

I think that woman has a different idea to a meme than we do, I can't imagine being driven by the Quo anywhere.

Because cats are better than us

Traditional media is the same as digital, people use your stuff and generally don't give just reward, using you up and spitting you out - unless you're lucky and went to school with the boss or his mate.
Lots of people have reposted my work as theirs and had far more success than I have, hell riverghost has a story about someone pretending to be me to get a shag in a pub once! crazy world that is far more exciting than my own.

If it's not damaging to the original artwork and isn't being used for financial gain then yes. It's flattery and proof of a good source. If the artist is a getting rich or successful off someone elses effort then they should be tarred and feathered.

I think the sea of crap is very true, and the more accessible 2d and 3d creative software is the more half arsed stuff we'll see. But everyone has to start somewhere and its the way of the world. At least with digital stuff you can just press delete.

Tin foil hats are useless against chemtrails and the scientologist hand massage
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:31, archived)
# Riverghost lies!
*hides HappyToast wig & goatee*
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:41, archived)
# I'M HAPPYTOAST
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:55, archived)
#
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:05, archived)
#
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:27, archived)
# This is Ace. I may have to nick it for an award at work...
We go on about the 'He's Spartacus' award for spineless blame shifting - this is the ideal e-mail attachment.

Can I nick it? Can I ? Can I? Oh go on pleeease?
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:47, archived)
# Feel free.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 12:12, archived)
# Actually crying with laughter.....
Bravo.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 13:14, archived)
# "Slaves" doesn't make much sense.
Perhaps we would willingly work to serve the meme-devising-computers because we love them so. It's hard to see how a computer can select memes that we'd enjoy, though, without being an artificial intelligence, and there's no reason to assume an artificial intelligence that understands us deeply would be immoral and enslave us. On the contrary, we'd make it one of us, with our values.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:27, archived)
#
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 15:38, archived)
# There's quite a few in emvee's pic here:
b3ta.com/board/10276779
Specific to b3ta, my faves would be TEH FEAR and Dick Beattie.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:06, archived)
# superb
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:47, archived)
# oops sorry I missed this
pearoasted below for your viewing pleasure ;)
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:06, archived)
# Personally I'm sick of seeing the freebase and shitty face memes
BRING ON THE FLUFF


*EDIT*
Thinking about other little memes such as ^ What she said, Racist and so on

the b3ta meme goes way beyond pictures
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:06, archived)
# While not essentialy a meme, I have always been puzzled by the B3ta consensus around....
I have always been puzzled by the B3ta consensus around....
BATTENBERG!
There are people here who LOVE it and those who DENY its almondy awesomeness but so many agree it seems to be the perfect B3ta cake?
Why is that? It's hardly a 'mainstream' sweet/cake (my guess is that it the pink-yellow chequer pattern is sust to good a visual to miss)
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:09, archived)
# I don't like marzipan
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:10, archived)
# *shakes head sadly*
Well, I'm sure you are a good person in OTHER ways
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:11, archived)
# I don't like tea either.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:13, archived)
# ...
Steady on
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:16, archived)
# HAHAHA
you have no soul
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:13, archived)
# LIES, I have a Diana Ross record.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:18, archived)
# cheerfully retracted
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:19, archived)
# Arsecake of the Devil
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:13, archived)
# Finally a sensible gentleman of taste, not swept in the meme of Battenburg.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:17, archived)
# Marzipan is the name of the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:19, archived)
# Behave yourself
just because it has the same smell as Cyanide doesn't make it evil.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:24, archived)
# It can never be made evil,
it's evil incarnate
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:25, archived)
# It is a gift from the gods, Sweet ambrosia gifted from Olympus
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:30, archived)
# You are wrong on all level of Hades
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:33, archived)
# For dinner today I will go out and by a roll of Marzipan
and eat it until I vomit
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:37, archived)
# 0.000001 seconds later...
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:43, archived)
# I'll film it
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:49, archived)
# Ha-ha!
Here is wisdom.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:33, archived)
# *narrows eyes*
You know, This is the REAL reason I treat you with suspicion...
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:49, archived)
# hahaha, :) not the NWO then?
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:56, archived)
# Here they are...:)

(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:12, archived)
# GMoS!!!11!!1!

(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:13, archived)
# arf
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:15, archived)
# take your pick!

(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:17, archived)
# am it Oscars tiem?
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:26, archived)
#



& the b3ta motel
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:37, archived)
# There's the verbal memes, too...
I've used "RIS" at work on several occasions.

I think the Honda Accord of Justice meme from QotW has proved its durability, too.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:48, archived)
# Japaese car, innit, built to last ;)
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:58, archived)
# Needs more
Sturdy Girl
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:50, archived)
# fear, quo, chump, and beatie

are my faves,
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 9:58, archived)
# Shit, this is good :D
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:02, archived)
# *reposts* - memes circa 2006

I love the memes - I like to think they inhabit a separate b3taverse where they get up to all sorts of adventures :)

(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:02, archived)
# yay !
i see chicken girl.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:09, archived)
# Haha - Eddie Jackson FTW
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:35, archived)
# Memes fall in to two categories, things we hold dear (Blessed, Quo) and those that are just funny source pics (No Hands, Ris)
Most start as an entertaining brainstorming session where people run with the funny picture in as many directions as possible, with enough repetition it gets stuck and adopted. It's appearance then takes on a kind of hoping for acceptance feel with the artist showing they know what b3ta is about - "look at me, I'm one of you" or a longing for that initial buzz of idea development.

There is also the clique nature of something obscure being used. Outsiders won't understand what it is about and therefore the artist feels he/she has the upper hand - childish but human nature.

Either way it's used in a way of talking on a familiar term with peers.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:19, archived)
# Well that's a neato what now right
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:29, archived)
# I guess the numerous versions of this could be considered a meme.
Even though it never strays from the confines of the weekly compo..

(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:30, archived)
# I adore the Hulk meme



(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:38, archived)
# long live b3ta meme's, some of my faves I've done

(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:09, archived)
# The Flaming Freebases pic is still the only one of its kind I've ever clicked.
It's great in itself & doesn't require any knowledge of him.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:32, archived)
# thanks
that's a nice compliment, especially as I inadvertantly pissed off a lot of people by accidentally 'creating' the most used freebase image
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:36, archived)
# Freebase has his place at b3ta, and my opinion on that fact is neither here nor there.
You say you've created a monster.
I say take pride in having made something that appeals to a wide audience.

(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:52, archived)
# They're all good.
I like 'Tesco Value' as you can always insult something by making out it's a cheap crap version of something good. Also Teh Quo are fun.

(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:16, archived)
# Yay for andrew mcdavies.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:29, archived)
# Indeed.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:33, archived)
# Does slash fiction about the site's founder count as a meme?

(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:26, archived)
# The second one gives me office LOLs
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 12:38, archived)
# there's still a kit for this sort of stuff.
www.b3takit.co.uk/

i still like joey decon.
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:31, archived)
# Also, there is the fun to be had from trying to act the memes out on your honeymoon without the missus noticing...(just me then?)


(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:32, archived)
# Not just you
but I can't find the pic of me and a mate being the Quo right now :(
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:46, archived)
# I really like the 'Whale a Poyd' meme but don't have any images, soz.
I like Bela Lugusi's Dad's Christmas cracker joke analogy, but at the same time I remember how bewildering many of the memes were when I first found b3ta. Often the meme will make absolutely no sense and you have to be in on it to find it funny. Letting people in on the joke is away to show acceptance into little online communities like b3ta.

(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 12:49, archived)
# WAIL AA POYD

(with thanks to JJ)
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 14:53, archived)
# As far as memes go........................................some like it hot...
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 13:47, archived)
#
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 15:35, archived)
#
(, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 15:51, archived)