If you are going to altvote yourself, it may be wise to not be obvious about it, we do notice...

Not my best work but dang Kermit turned out perfect lol.

LOL

A smasher of trolls

:-D

;D

Yikes! ;D

;D

Who is/was/were the culprit(s)?

It was IronCobra.. :( He deleted his account I noticed on the 7 days leaderboard, but I don't know who his alts were or if there are more people who's been caught using alts.

I like writing memes but I don't take it that seriously! Lol

You are a great meme maker, you can't take it seriously or you won't have any fun. We all make memes we think are great that nobody really notices. Having fun making stuff is really what matters. If you are honest and true to yourself people will take notice, at least that is what I have always believed.

Thanks! I agree with you about having fun. Doing this is a nice break in the day for me and i probably do spend too much time on here sometimes but if i got upset cuz i havent been on the front page in months I'd be a basket case! Lol

I've had many days go by without anything doing well, eventually you realize it has a lot to do with timing and nothing to do with how good a meme or memes is. I've always said if something I make gets one person to laugh it was worth it, I stand by that and believe it's why I have any popularity on here at all.

It's like some of my stuff I think is funny as hell and gets mediocre response but the two days later a bunch of the group that I follow responds (like yourself) it makes it very fulfilling.

Exactly, Socrates just gave me an lol on a meme of mine that didn't exactly take off, but him liking it means a lot to me and the meme not taking off at first doesn't mean it wasn't good. We can't control everything, all we can control is the memes we make and if we do our best then what will be will be regardless...

Yup! And no offense to the top users but in the big picture it's more important for us to comment on the newbies to give them incentive to continue improving their stuff!

I agree, even if usually they don't reply I try to comment on latest pages stuff I like by people I have never heard of as much as I can. Unfortunately the alt user thing has made a lot of us suspicious of new users. They don't realize when they make an alt account to say stuff to top users they are too scared to say themselves. That it effects the new people they like to claim they represent, nobody can blame top users for that it happens far too often. I have always had one rule, I upvote and comment on memes I see that I find funny, regardless of who made them or when. I can only speak for myself but I feel most top users feel close to the same, some being more jaded about new users than others understandably.

I definitely spend the majority of my imflip time going thru the latest and commenting on other users memes vs writing my own submissions. I also agree with what you mentioned earlier regarding timing of submissions. I'm impulsive when i get a meme idea so I create it and submit it right then (usually when I'm about to leave work). Probably if i waited until morning to post it would get more attention. Oh well. Just not that big of a deal. Although even though I'm not a huge points watcher it is kinda cool I'm about to pass half a million!

Alts are people too!

That's what made it funny, brand new account lmao!

I think it’s TOTALLY obvious! And thus, this concludes my little experiment. I sincerely hope that nobody was offended by this, and I will delete my account(s) if you guys prefer. I mean that and sincerely respect your input. My fate is in your hands. So why the experiment? You see, I love to meme, and I know so many others do as well. It is absolutely amazing the amount of talent that frequents this site yet never get noticed because it’s almost impossible to get front page notoriety. When I first arrived, I found so many memers that seem to get frustrated, disappointed, even confused at how nothing submitted ever comes close to front page. (Hey, there are a lot more important things in life but if you frequent this site, you start to want to be there, too.) Some memers get to the point that they give up and quit visiting imgflip. As I eventually did. While I was gone it crossed my mind, what does it take to get 100,000 points in 7 days? I assumed it was impossible, that it was only attainable by the most seasoned veterans of the site. Well, something happened along the way in my experiment. I had fun. It is just a mess of fun to get a meme going so that people are responding and then you respond and before you know it, there’s a whole story and a ton of laughs! I love it! But, I digress… I truly hope nobody is offended or put out by what I did. I know it is me that you speak of: I’ll own up to that. I actually was going to be done with it this week with the “Jake From State Farm” meme. It was one that I originally did as a new member in September of 2015 and it was barely looked at. I was curious to see how the same meme would do now, and wanted to post the results. At any rate, I hope we at least shared some laughs along the way, but from this point forward, no more experimenting. Peace to you all

First, I must say thank you for owning up to it. I'll let other express their own opinions, but I will share mine. Meme making is an art. Most of us start as nobody. I had 30,000 when I first hit the weekly leaderboard and I've been on it every day since, cracking 100,000 on 2 or 3 (maybe 4?) occasions. It's true some memers don't get noticed that should. Ask the advice of almost everyone who's commented on this meme and I'm sure they'll tell you one of the major keys to their success is to have positive community interaction and comment with users. I've heard many users say how their surprised the top members comment with new users, and how that doesn't happen on other internet sites. We all know where we came from and built our reputations the hard way.

To blatantly upvote yourself in the fashion you did, in my opinion, is a slap to the face to those of us who have put in the time and effort to earn followings. My front pagers per month has actually dropped as I've climbed the leaderboard. Points are fun, but the reason for being here is the community and the fun you can have with everyone.

You know you cheated and didn't earn your spot on the Top 100. You've knocked someone out who did earn that spot. In my opinion, this was an experiment, and you succeeded with it and learned something along the way.

If it truly was an experiment I would hope you delete the account in the name of fairness. On the other side of the coin, honesty is important to me, and you came clean once it was obvious you were being called out. I also believe in second chances and that if people correct a negative behavior, they should be judged on their behavior going forward.

It's up to you, and I hope others will provide genuine feedback as well, but from my perspective the right thing to do would be to delete your account (save your memes/stats/whatever else you wanted to gather from your experiment) and make a new account. Seeing how you owned up to it with in a day, and you didn't treat other users poorly, I think you deserve a second chance, and should be able to talk freely about this experience with other users. I would make a new account name that's very similar to IronCobra. You both gained and lost respect with your experiment so it will be a tough decision for you. Personally, I would be welcoming to IronCobra2 (or whatever you choose), and judge that account from it's actions after it's created.

I'm always willing to listen to other users and help new users out...

so if you have any questions about my comment or seek any other advice about the situation I'm here and willing to listen and give any advice you seek.

A very insightful and thought provoking discussion; thank you for the responses! I decided to sleep on it so as not to make a reactive decision that I might regret. However, the more I thought about it, the more engrained I became with my original decision: to delete my account. You see, I had not thought about knocking somebody out of the top 100. That took something away from somebody else and that was a direct result of my experiment. (I’m a psychology major and this will all be in a thesis.) I meant nobody any harm or ill will, and definitely was not out to take something away from somebody else. I do not even know who that memer is so I can apologize to them directly. How boorish on my part. I am going to delete my account now, and take a little break from imgflip. I gotta tell ya, what I was doing was a lot of work! But FUN work! So does that make it work? Hmmm that right there is probably meme material LOL Anyway, I’m not sure yet if I will come back anonymously or as a reference to my existing account. Time will tell. Thank you, all, for the fun and laughs! Take care and my very best to you and yours --IC

Knowing it was at least for a thesis makes it at least seem like a more sincere experiment. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the situation and everyone's reaction. For those who know, and on this meme, I think you'll find most of us forgiving. So I do hope you come back in a fashion where we can interact with the person who did a thesis on this. There's a person I got into an argument with (BryceJulyCat), and he ended up becoming one of the few accounts I have bookmarked because he's actually a funny memer. He turned the issue in question into a running joke that both Raydog and socrates have referenced in the last month, all in good fun. He even makes fun of it in his own profile tagline! https://imgflip.com/user/brycejulycat

It's certainly for the fun and laughs, and I think you do have what it takes to earn your way back if you put the effort in. Everyone loves a good redemption story.

Cheers,
ghostofchurch

Appreciate the professional and unemotional way you look at this. I couldn't have said anything better than you did and everybody knows what a fan I am of leaving long thought out comments ;)

Thanks Jying! That means a lot coming from you!

:)

Wait are you kidding like Church was? Dude I had no idea I had somebody else in mind but hey at least something good came out of this meme. Maybe a bunch of people will start fessing up and it can be a new trend. Bah! Well it's cool you are being honest, not sure how everybody else will take it. People get skeptical when you mention somebody might be using alts. They figure it's jealousy or a mistake, people around here are mostly good and want to trust others. Some I'm sure will take the breaking of that trust harder than others, some won't care, that's the cool thing about everybody having their own opinion, if it only counts for one vote like the other guys whichever side you are on. I ain't mad at ya it is what it is, only time will tell what effect it has on your account or reputation in general it's not for me to judge you. I simply wanted to let my fellow flippers know what was what....

I loved your memes but it was obvious alt upvoting. I myself wish you stayed on after your honesty on what you were doing. Maybe we will see you around in the future. And please feel free to let us know you're back!

I thought it was fishy one of your brand new memes had seven upvotes, and no comments on the first page of latest. But idgaf...Your memes that make it are funny.

It's better than copy and paste gifs...*cough*

:)

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