Forums / Discussion / Meme Research

For some reason people have been going ape shit over two entries from a site called funnyjunk. Why? It seems to me like just a pic upload site, why are people making a fuss over it? And also they bring in the issue that it isnt a meme and it is too stupid to be a meme. So I will also point out this -->

What is a meme?
A "meme" is a theoretical unit of culture, representing information spreading from one mind to another. In common usage it refers to fads, in-jokes, catchphrases and other cultural tidbits that spawn, grow, and eventually decline into obscurity as they are supplanted by newer memes.

So technically they fit the requirements just fine. Quality (no matter how poor) shouldnt really be taken into account, if it is a meme, it's a meme. No matter how much it sucks.

It isn't that they "suck." It's usually that the memes have not spread outside of Funnyjunk. We usually don't document site-specific memes, as they are considered too small to thoroughly document. If you would like to create an entry to document site-specific memes, you can, but it will most likely not be confirmed until it spreads beyond its original audience. While there are a great quantity of site-specific memes, we cannot document them all due, in part, to their great quantity. Information on these memes is typically scarce, making them hard to research. Additionally, interest in these site-specific memes is usually minimal at best.
Subjectivity is highly discouraged when documenting a meme, as it introduces bias. Bias prevents the accurate representation of the subject at hand, and therefore prevents the entry from being confirmed. Views expressed in a meme entry are to be neutral, so as to accurately represent the meme, regardless of the nature of the meme and/or the content associated with it. While users may express their opinions on an entry in the comments section of that entry, these comments are not taken into account when deciding whether to confirm or deadpool an entry.
In short, they are memes, but they are small, isolated instances.

actually the "kidding me" one is pretty much researched. Down to the date it was started and by who, according to a comment on the post.

If you really want to show that it is a widespread meme, you should find some instances of it be being used outside of funnyjunk.

Check forums, imageboard, social networking sites, etc for it.

Then, if you find something, we can make you an editor for the entry so you can add the information.

Like Shadowfury said, without a decent spread it's not really worth documenting.

Shadowfury is right, but it can lead to some confusion and misunderstanding so I'm adding my two cents:
Some memes can be confirmed if they are mostly part of a single website IN THE CASE OF that website being a memehub, or something that is attracting hundreds of thousands of people everyday, like Youtube, Facebook, and sometimes 4chan.

But, generally, it has to spread outside a community to become valid as a meme, because it's gaining notoriety that way, and can lead to more varations/mutations/instances.