Y'all Niggas Postin' In An X Thread

About

Y’all Niggas Postin’ in an X Thread is a snowclone template that is often used to caption image macros of an exploitable photo of the American political conservative Alan Keyes making a pointing gesture.

Origin

The original image comes from a photo of Alan Keyes during his service as a United States diplomat under the Reagan Administration. According to the Wikimedia Commons^[3] page, the image was released into public domain by the Keyes campaign on July 31st, 2007.

The exact origin date of the image macro cannot be pinpointed, but it has been around 4chan’s /b/ board since at least January 20th, 2009, according to a thread on Chanarchive.^[8]

Usage

The image macro is typically used on image boards to point out that users are being trolled by the original poster (OP). This is often the result of the OP’s attempt to deceive or bait other users into posting or following a particular discussion.

Spread

The presence of the word “niggaz” in the image macro sparked a debate on Wikipedia^[2] about whether the original photo should be displayed in the Keyes entry on May 19th, 2009, but since the image was given to Wikipedia by the Renew America Keyes campaign, it was not removed. The blog Westworld posted an article about 4chan’s founder moot responding to questions on the /b/ board titled “Y’all posting in a moot thread: 4chan’s founder takes questions from /b/tards”^[4] on November 3rd, 2010.

The phrase has made its way into forums on various sites including BodyBuilding^[6], IGN^[5], and Blue Garter.^[7]

Derivatives

The macro has had multiple edits, often to reflect a different type of thread, such as one about Puddi Puddi or Insane Clown Posse.

Search

Search queries for “posting in a troll thread” picked up, and reached their highest peak, in October of 2009.

External Links