John Morris the dog janitor from Arthur

Janitor / He Does It for Free

Part of a series on 4chan. [View Related Entries]

Updated Jul 11, 2023 at 09:09AM EDT by Philipp.

Added Sep 18, 2014 at 07:22PM EDT by s4ndsurph3r.

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About

"He Does It For Free" is an expression used to mock 4chan moderators, also known as "janitors" or "jannies" who are accused of abusing their power or being overly sensitive. Is it often associated with images of the anthropomorphic cartoon dog John Morris from the cartoon television series Arthur, who is employed as an elementary school janitor on the show.

Origin

The earliest known use of the phrase in reference to 4chan moderators was posted to the site's /sp/[1] (sports) board on September 28th, 2013, which mocked site mods for spending their weekends on 4chan "for free."[2]


Anonymous Sat 28 Sep 2013 12:57:24 No.40255796! Quoted By: >40255796,8 View Reply Original Report >he's a janitor >on an anime imageboard >he does it for free >this is what he does on a Saturday Anonymous Mon 21 Apr 2014 14:06:22 No.40255796,1 Quoted By: >>40255796,2 Report Delete 49KiB, 493x335, 16359045753.jpg iqdb SauceNAO ebin, simply ebin

Spread

On January 28th, 2014, YouTuber spee outlaw posted a video featuring testimonial spokesman Gordon Hurd reading a script about the 4chan janitor (shown below). Within the first nine months, the video gained over 110,000 views and 290 comments.



On March 12th, a green text post was submitted to the /sp/[2] board mocking a moderator for being obese and doing his job "for free." On May 4th, YouTuber forfree posted several videos directed at /sp/ moderators, including a video titled "Hey there /sp/ mod" featuring a parody of the 2006 rock song "Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's (shown below).



Oh you will always be
Doing it for free
Oh you will never be
Compensated monetarily
Mod on /sp/

When threads related to the GamerGate controversy were removed by 4chan moderators en masse in September, the phrase saw a significant resurgence on the site by those complaining about the restrictions, often accompanied by pictures of the janitor character John Morris from the television series Arthur. The phrase also became associated with the microwaveable turnovers brand Hot Pockets, implying that janitors eat unhealthy food or are overweight.[4][5] The first reference to the term comes from a post from the video games general board on March 17th, 2014.[3]

Notable Examples


LEAN POCKETS HoT PoCKETS PHILLY STEAK CHEESE LEAN POCKETS PPLEWOOD BACON EGG&#CHEESE IF YOU SEE THIS IMAGE WHILE SCROLLING THE FIRST PAGE THEN THE JANITOR IS TOO BUSY EATING HIS HOT POCKETS TO DELETE THREADS HE DOESNT LIKE (WHICH HE DOES FOR FREE) Good Luck & Prosperity will come to you, but ONLY if you SHITPOST in this thread AIS SALAIRE will wk FOR Hot Pockets @hotpockets HOT @4chan_Janitor Don't thank us. Thank our premium meats, our melty cheese and our flaky crust! Mer わSvar t: Retweetet ★ Favorittmarker 텅奫。跓■麗惻 M RETWEETSFAVORITTMARKERINGER 265 295 18.07-4. sep. 2014

Search Interest

External References

[1] archive.moe via Wayback Machine – First sighting

[2] archive.moe – Anonymous

[3] archive.moe – H-Games General #92

[4] archive.moe – Search for hot pockets

[5] archive.moe – Search for hotpockets

Recent Videos 9 total

Recent Images 140 total


Top Comments

Wayward
Wayward

in reply to Mr Mercury


>on the internet
>on an anime imageboard
>HE does it for free
>HE takes his “job” very seriously
>HE does it because it is the only amount of power & control he will ever have in his pathetic life
>HE deletes threads he doesn’t like because whenever he gets upset he has an asthma attack
>HE deletes threads he doesn’t like because they interfere with the large backlog of little girl chinese cartoons he still has to watch
>HE will never have a real job
>HE will never move out of his parent’s house
>HE will never be at a healthy weight
>HE will never know how to cook anything besides a hot pocket
>HE will never have a girlfriend
>HE will never have any friends

+37

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