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What if all your favorite memes went mainstream and everyone used them daily? Would you still like them? Seeing your mom and dad using catchphrases and making rage comics? Seeing stuff like..

I think it would make the meme's we grown to love way to unappealing.
What do you think?

I think that the spread of memes into the mainstream would make them less appealing. A shirt or two of the more widespread memes would be okay, IMO, but if the more obscure memes went into the general public more often, then it wouldn't be as captivating as they are already.

Are these shooped? I see some pixels…

Hey, more Mythbusters is never a bad thing.

You guys do know that this website is all about explaining and sharing obscure internet jokes?

We are part of the reason this is happening.

Well we help describe how memes are created and where they come from, but I don't know if we have any part in spreading them. Most people probably enjoy memes and use them without even knowing where they originated from.

I like when memes are known, acknowledged and understood by a majority of people, even the greatly obscure ones, but then there comes a point in time where a line must be drawn to prevent any meme from becoming overused and abused.

I think you guys have the wrong idea about memes. What memes do… is allow our languages to evolve, without the use of forceful assimilation. My hypothesis about memes is this: While language changes noticeably within a 50-100 year period, the introduction of the internet in recent years has altered the flow of information (including language). If change in language were to be compared to a chemical reaction, war would be a catalyst, BUT it is not as powerful of a catalyst as the internet. What happens is a rapidly growing set of words and phrases that become normal, every day language.

Furthermore, memes aren't just jokes. Memes are ideas that spread virally. Nothing more… nothing less. The common misconception that memes are obscure, inside jokes comes from a simple logic. Positive or humorous ideas are far more fluidly spread than negative ideas. Most memes have underlying humor because of this.

So… if you think you can simply hide the information on KYM, think again. Memes belong to no one. KYM is not some kind of global police, bent on censoring memes, just because of a petty hatred for trends. If you, or anyone else affiliated with this site, attempts to censor memes from the general public for any reason, you are breaking away from the scientific aspect this site holds dear.

It's okay to enjoy memes… but we are to study them, on this site. After all, we can't complain about forced memes, then be okay with silencing memes, just because they are overused. (That is what makes a meme what it is, at the core.)

If a fad becomes a meme its already over used.

I wouled like to see maybe a little bit more internet leakage, but definitely NOT at the level Alex is suggesting.

The problem with Memes being used IRL is somebody is bound to go and license one of the internets "creative commons" to make a profit. But that just kills a meme faster than Family Guy does.

Then again… I want a Nyan Cat t-shirt, Orly Owl statue, and maybe a LEGO 4-chan Party Van Set. Bring it on world!

KYM's help in spreading memes is actually growing every day. More sites are using KYM as a source of information about memes. This is usually the cause in memes that were created through mainstream events that have reached the news (Occupy, London Riots, etc.). This also automatically lets KYM help in spread media, as this can be used as examples.

Creation of memes through KYM is a different cause, as KYM documents memes, but not create them. Yet we get people who try to use KYM as a medium to spread their "creation" on a daily base. But these are the instant deadpool articles, so it's not that important.

As for my opinion on the entire cause, I think it's mainly related to the quantity of the usage. I don't mind shirts of the most popular memes (rage faces, advice animals, etc.). This is also already happening. But I can't tell how I would react if I saw half of my class wearing them. If I suddenly hear my parents using "OVER 9000!", that is a different cause and I don't think I'll be a fan of that.

…What?

We're about documenting them. We don't go around spreading them everywhere.

Yet in the act of documenting them on a publicly available web site, we contribute to spread. And you can't avoid it. It's been demonstrated in many science fields that the act of observing a phenomenon enacts change upon it. Surely "Internet Science" is no different.

Of course, as someone I think pointed out, it's the nature of memes to spread; it's virtually part of their definition. No matter how any of us feels about it, most memes will eventually go mainstream in some fashion.

Just wait, somewhere around 2020, "goatse" will be added to the OED.

I blame Reddit for destroying memes. Just look at whats happened to Rage Comics.

Also the whole "le derpina" stuff pisses me off.

KYM doesn't do anything but give history on memes, KYM doesn't create cancer like "Gimme Pizza" or stuff like that.

Only reason I'm here for are the lulz I occasionally find.

Oh yeah, and Kramas, the meaning of life.

But on the topic: I hate seeing memes become mainstream. Memes are like inside jokes. Imagine if your inside jokes went public, they wouldn't be as funny now would they?

KYM doesn’t create cancer like “Gimme Pizza” or stuff like that.

Are you sure of that? Oh well, that awful episode wasn't really KYM-related anyway.

>mfw people are still anal-pained over that video.

I have a lot of friends that quote that video. They usually use the quotes in the context of awkward moments to break the ice.

mfw your post

i must say the memes becoming mainstream is something natural, as internet nowadays covers most media. Most of my friends that aren't…umh, "usual internet users", say things like FAIL, FUUU, forever alone, trolling, etc. like it was normal, and i end up looking like a hipster saying "oh, i used to say that before it became used in real life". So i expect that memes will become more popular as time passes. As for my reaction to that:

Memes are already mainstream. I mean, even Chevy is sponsoring this site for f***'s sake. There are already T-shirts of memes everywhere. Cheezburger makes sky-high stacks o' dollars with memes.

And ZillieZephyr, for the record, studying memes is a bit like Heisenberg's uncertainty principle: KYM is warping the ways memes spread simply by having a look at them.

I'm not saying that mainstream memes are necessarily a bad thing, just that you have to be seriously deluded to think that they are NOT mainstream.