Upvote Downvote GIFs

About

Upvote Downvote GIFs are a series of animated reaction images featuring either green or red arrows, which represent the upvote and downvote functions of the karma system that is used on Reddit and Imgur, which are often used as reaction images for feedback on the quality of someone's comment or post.

Origin

On both Reddit and Imgur, users can cast an upvote or downvote for content and comments submitted to the site. On January 6th, 2011, Redditor SuriIllAnimateThat posted an animated GIF of a Reddit alien riding a narwhal through moving upvote arrows (shown below) to the /r/pics^[2] subreddit. Prior to being archived, the post gained over 16,100 up votes and 1,100 comments.

Spread

On May 31st, 2011, Redditor shaiboy submitted a GIF featuring a military bomber aircraft dropping upvotes (shown below left) to the /r/gifs^[3] subreddit. On December 22nd, Redditor shark_taco posted an animated GIF of anti-aircraft cannons blasting upvotes into the sky (shown below, right) to the /r/funny^[8] subreddit, receiving more than 1,000 up votes and 40 comments prior to being archived.

On April 13th, 2012, Redditor TheNeutralParty submitted a post titled "Whenever I see someone who worked hard for his/her post but didn't receive any upvotes" to the /r/funnysubreddit,^[9] highlighting an edited scene from the medieval fantasy television series Game of Thrones in which the character Tyrion Lannister gives a prostitute a upvote arrow (shown below). Before the post was archived, it gathered upwards of 3,500 up votes and 40 comments.

On April 26th, a gallery of upvote GIFs was submitted to Imgur.^[10] On August 11th, the /r/upvotegifs^[1] subreddit was create by Redditor kmp67, gaining more than 12,600 subscribers in the next two years.

Matrix GIFs

On June 6th, 2013, Redditor prannisment began posting the first in his series of Reddit-themed GIFs using scenes from the 1999 science fiction action film The Matrix to the /r/gifs^[5] subreddit. Over the course of the next week, he continued uploading new Matrix GIFs, many of which featured the Reddit upvote and downvote arrows (shown below).^[4][6]

On June 13th, prannisement submitted a post titled "He is the One (OC)" to /r/gifs,^[11] featuring an edited scene from The Matrix depicting the character Neo defending himself against a barrage of downvotes fired from pistols (shown below). Prior to being archived, the post garnered upwards of 37,000 up votes and 550 comments.

On December 6th, prannisment submitted a new Matrix GIF titled "Matrix GIFs Reloaded" to the /r/gifs^[7] subreddit, which featured an edited scene from the 2003 sequel The Matrix Reloaded. Within one month, the post gained over 26,000 up votes and 500 comments.

Search Interest

External References