About

Proofster, also known as Proofs Rooster, refers to various illustrations of a poorly-drawn rooster character who is often placed in front of a Russian flag backdrop with a caption requesting proof or evidence. The illustrations are often used as reaction images to mock Russian users on 4chan's /int/ (international) board and the /r/europe^[1] subreddit who continue to demand proof in the face of overwhelming evidence. It is also frequently used on the Russian forum Dva-ch^[2].

Origin

According to an anonymous 4chan user,^[3] the proofster illustrations originated on Krautchan around the same time as the War in Donbass in March 2014, and were used to mock nationalist Russians would continue to demand "proof" of Russian involvement in Eastern Ukraine, regardless of the evidence presented in an argument.

Spread

On January 28th, 2015, an album of proofster illustrations was created on the Russian social network VK.^[4] On May 20th, Imgur^[5] user DrCoatHangerHand submitted a gallery containing 71 proofster examples. The gallery was subsequently posted in a thread about a Russian conference for foreign separatist groups on the /r/europe^[1] subreddit.

On November 4th, Redditor PM_ME_YOUR_TENDIES submitted a post asking about the meme to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[6] subreddit, where it gathered upwards of 1,400 votes (89% upvoted) and 240 comments in four months.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References