Forums / Discussion / Meme Research

Hello folks!
I think this deserve a talk to read you guys comment about it. I have some questions in mind since you made entries for Ben Croshaw and Jim Sterling.

Actually, I have one question: How does it work?

What I mean by that is, when the entry system was redesigned in order to include several things about the Internet that are important but can't be classified as memes (events, websites, ect…), it was pretty sure that the "person" tag would be used for well-known figures. For instance, Nicolas Cage and Chuck Norris are two important mainstream figures who deserve an entry here for their impact on Internet as a whole. That same way, the AVGN and the Nostalgia Critic are big hits as well and come from the Internet directly so they deserve entries as well.

Now… We have had entries for Ron Paul, Jackie Chan… How does it work here?
I know that they are beloved by 4chan but is that it?

What about people that are popular on the web of one country only? For instance, one one hand, I didn't know who "Ben Croshaw" and "Jim Sterling" were before reading their entries. On the other hand, "Le Joueur du grenier" is very popular here, in France, and we also have French internet celebrities with millions of views on their channels but do they deserve an entry here because of this?

Thanks to Internet, nearly every country has its own internet celebrities on youtube or other video-sharing networks. Do they have to be all added here as "persons"?

I agree we're going a little over the top with person entries. Actually, I think since we introduced the categories, memes in general have been taking a back seat. But I really think we need to make sure people know that person entries should only be for noteworthy people. Tbh, I'm not sure why we need entries on politicians. Entries on internet-related political events are okay, but we should try to stay away from politics in general, especially people; we don't want anyone to accuse us of a smear campaign if the article is less than flattering.

Anyway, person entries should be thought about carefully before being submitted.

Not to point out the obvious but:
People entries should only be made for mainstream internet celebrities (Fred,AVGN) or those who have spawned memes of their own (Nostalgia Critic,Chuck Norris) However, if the sub-entries already go into detail about the person (friday) the parent entry is not needed.

I believe it also depends on where a person lives, like Tomberry already said.

Both I and Tomberry are European. When we hear the name "Mitt Romney", of course we don't know who it is. He's a presidental candidate in the U.S. His Entry.

What am I supposed to know about U.S. presidental candidates? I know about politics here and can probably make some person entries about them, but I doubt you people know who they are. Geert Wilders might ring a bell with some of you, but even there I place doubts. And to call presidental candidates material that belongs on this site, I can't really say I completely agree with it.

Unless they spawned popular fads, like the Michele Bachmann Newsweek Photo or Rick Perry's 'Strong' Ad, I don't really see them as internet celebrities.

Unless an entry for a person works as a parent entry for not a few internet phenomenon, I think entries in person category are needless for KYM.

Explaining about internet celebrities is the task for Wikipedia:(

I have mixed feelings about this. There are several cases where I wouled say "Yes, this person deserves and entry!" (Nostalgia Critic, AVGN, Smosh, Toboscus, Chuggaconroy, etc).

But people like Presidental Canidates or Jackie Chan don't really seem to fit to me…

I'm with Natsuru mostly. People who's fame is derived from the internet deserve their own entries but those like Jackie Chan and Presidential Candidates don't.

Even more "persons" ?
Seriously now…

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney has an entry? That's ridiculous, he's the absolute least internet significant of all the candidates.

All these concerns are understandable, but we're still sticking to the rule of thumb that was announced before which basically requires a pre-existing entry that has been vetted by one of the admins or community. Assuming that the upcoming election will be an event with impact on the Internet (as it did in the past couple of elections), we created a 2012 Republican Primary event entry and the candidates' personal entries can be seen as an extension of that entry.

It's true that this is the first time we're covering the subject topic down to the itty bitty details like this, but elections are definitely relevant in the realm of internet memes. As the scope of the word "meme" becomes larger and larger to encompass more things that we didn't care about, this inevitably brings us walking on the line of what is a "meme" and what is "news."

From the journalist's perspective, there's no trouble in interpreting election-related news as part of the meme world. We support this viewpoint. So bear with us on the candidate entries as we continue to research them (non-relevant person entries will be deadpooled down the line) and in the meantime, I'd like to invite everyone to start entries on non-US politicians or candidates who have caused a stir or made a bang on the web elsewhere.