Why would commenting on a top users meme get you any closer to being the top user?

It essentially boils down to a cult of popularity... The more you interact with the front page crowd, the greater acceptance you achieve within that group... And consequentially (assuming you are not there to troll or act retarded) there is a greater likelihood that members of that group will help elevate some of your memes to the critical level needed to hit the rarified upper levels instead of crossing the event horizon and disappearing into imgflip limbo where un-elevated memes go to die...
Since even the highest ranked memes eventually get replaced by newcomers, you could theoretically move up into the upper ranks... given enough time, drive, creative genius, personality and a natural gift for knowing what to kiss... and when.
That being said, the odds are certainly weighted in favor of the current elite, as evidenced by front-page accolades going out for memes that are little more than self-congratulatory announcements of someone's latest "point milestone" achievement (which only serves to push that memer's total even higher...) It might prove more fruitful to simply make memes and interact for the sheer enjoyment it brings you personally, rather than trying to swim upstream at Niagra Falls... Sorry for the long-winded observation, but that's what I've opined from my relatively brief (3 week) sojourn here at Imgflip... Have a great day!

"It might prove more fruitful to simply make memes and interact for the sheer enjoyment it brings you personally" <---- the best advice going. The more you enjoy what you do on the site, the more you will participate until one day you'll look at the 7 day leaderboard as I did, mortified to see your name :)

It's thoughtful how you wrote this all out, but it doesn't match my experience of how I went from new user to moving up the leaderboard.

I've heard a lot of people talk about imgflip as a "popularity contest" or similar, but I don't know why people say that, and I don't think it reflects the reality of imgflip.

I would welcome your observations, especially if they provide a different perspective. With my lack of long term experience here, I may certainly have a skewed view. Thanks for contributing if you choose=)

Sure thing. What observations did you have in mind?

I would be interested on your take regarding how the whole Imgflip system works. Admittedly, there are a lot of really bad meme submissions that come through the gate, but I see a number of nice ones daily that slip into oblivion because they never cross that "magic threshold" of view/like/comments to get to the "upper" pages. At the same time, I also see some fairly questionable (read: unoriginal or not even meme-related content) hit the front ranks. Don't get me wrong... percentage-wise, there are certainly more creative gems at the top than at the "latest" pages, but there doesn't seem to be a middle ground anywhere. Am I blind to something? How do you see it?

I've seen the same things you have. Memes that I think are really good go unnoticed. And questionable content reaches the front pages (although from your comment, I see you and I would disagree on what's questionable - I don't think it's right to hold memes to a standard of being original).

My best guess right now is that some of these anomalies happen because imgflip is still a relatively small community, and because most of the people don't check the Latest stream for memes. If there were more people upvoting and going through memes, some of the weirdness would be ironed out, but for right now, a lot depends on luck and timing (if you release a meme at a time when people aren't logged in and voting, it's going to get forgotten no matter how good it is).

But I'm sorry to say I don't have any special insight as to how the whole "system" works. I don't think anyone knows. I think people are fickle, and nobody really knows what people will upvote. There are certain users who seem to have an ability to make memes that connect with a lot of people, but most of those users say they don't really know what they're doing, either. And I definitely don't think it's based only on popularity. If that were the case, then all the memes of popular users would do well, and they don't.

What worked for me was making funny meme comments on front page memes. I started doing this because I realized nobody was seeing my memes, and I wanted to interact and make jokes where people could see them. People gave me positive feedback on it, so that's what I continue to do, and it's how I became well-known on imgflip, even though I didn't set out to do that.

And that's the advice that experienced users give to newer users on imgflip: be active and make funny comments on front page memes. The idea is that people will see your name and if they think your comments are funny, they'll associate you with funny material, and they may check out your profile to comment on and upvote your memes as well. But the truth is, that's only half the battle. Getting your name known might encourage people to visit your memes, but if they don't like a particular meme they're not going to upvote it. And so we're back to the fact that nobody can predict what people will find funny.

So I basically try to stay active with meme comments on front page memes, and make a variety of memes because I don't know what will work. Does any of that help?

Definitely helpful. Most of what you said indeed matches my observations and experiences... I think you may have expressed it more clearly than I did in my earlier post.
I, too, discovered the benefits of posting funny meme comments and interacting on front-page memes, but I like to also interact with many of the new posts as well. Sadly, I often find this disconcerting because the "latest" pages only scroll back so far, then begin to repeat. The earlier posts are lost to the "Ber-meme-uda Triangle" of the random-pick selector. I have yet to see a front-page meme that was posted more than a day or so earlier, so there is a lot of great material that is, for all intents and purposes, gone forever.
I enjoy creating memes for my personal satisfaction, but the pleasure of positive feedback is a fun benefit that I can't deny. So I can understand the frustration that some folks feel when they see (what they consider) a disproportionate focus on the front page and no middle ground for the rest of the community.
As to the issue of originality, I do realize that, like art and invention, there is precious little that is not simply a fresh coat of paint on an old idea. I do the same with many of my memes. It just rankles at times to see, say, a corny pun from my childhood sit on the front page for days while so many bright bits of wit are dumped out with the proverbial bathwater.
Not complaining, mind you, just clarifying...
Anyway, great convo! We'll have to chat again, Socrates. Cheers!

Thanks. What you've written in the comment above makes a lot of sense to me. Those observations seem on point.

I wish I knew how to encourage more people to visit the Latest section, too - but I don't. Anyway, thanks for the reply. :)

I think the main thing in your first comment that didn't match my experience was the phrase "cult of popularity" and how you have to interact with the "front page crowd."

I don't think there's a set group like that - people go active and inactive on imgflip all the time. Plus, there's a lot more than just the regulars on the front page, even though for some reason people don't have the perception that's the case.

For me, when I saw my memes weren't being seen, and decided to start commenting on front page memes, it was about commenting in a location where people would see it - it wasn't about trying to curry favor with a particular user.

A poor choice of words on my part (still can't find that "extract foot from mouth" key)... I guess that seeing the same names pop up pretty regularly in the comments and the memes themselves gave me the impression of a sort of "good old boy" network. On the other hand, I have witnessed a number of new faces showing up on the front page so it's probably that "seeing patterns where there are none" thing that we are sometimes prone to experience. Regardless, I am finding that my approach to, and involvement in, and enjoyment of the imgflip community is evolving daily. Learning to "go with the flow"...;)

I don't know if it's a poor choice of words or not, it was kind of funny. And a lot of people have said similar things.

You're right that you see a lot of the same names in the comments repeatedly, and on the weekly leaderboard, and that's not just random, but I really don't think that's so much a matter of a network so much as the fact that those who are most active on the site at any given time are the ones making the most points. You can get a lot of points from making funny meme comments on front page memes.

I do see what you mean. The more I interact with the "most active" imgflippers (both on and off the front pages), the better I understand how they approach things on an individual basis. As with any gathering of people, a bell curve of involvement occurs, with outlier levels of participation/non-participation at the extremities and a large middle ground at the center.;)

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LMAO! Can't even think of a good comeback for that one...