No Fun Allowed

About

No Fun Allowed is an expression which is often used in Internet forums to mock those who insist others stay on topic in discussion threads.

Origin

While the phrase "no fun allowed" had been around for many years, on the web it is often associated with a picture from a Sonic the Hedgehog book Sonic's Shoes Blues^[9] published by Golden Books in 1993^[10]. The picture in the book depicts a SWATbot hammering a "No Fun Allowed" sign into the ground (shown below).

Spread

The earliest archived use of the image can be dated back to October 16th, 2008, on 4chan's /jp/ (Japanese Culture) board^[1]. On November 20th, 2010, a 4chan^[8] user submitted the comic panel in a thread on the /tg/ (traditional games) board. On July 13th, 2011, The Escapist Forums^[4] member rasta111 submitted the image in a thread regarding the use of taunts in fighting games. On February 20th, 2013, Newgrounds Forums^[3] member BumFodder posted the image in a thread titled "No fun allowed."

Notable Examples

The image has spawned numerous illustrated variations, featuring characters from franchises like Pokemon and My Little Pony.

Anti-Mage

The phrase is also often attributed to the Anti-Mage from DOTA 2, sometimes as a variation "The Fun Ends Here". The reason for that is because he was an extremely powerful hero at the game release, and most of his abilities were designed to disable spellcasters, and therefore taking away all the "fun".^[7]

Search Interest

External References