Please upvote to help convince the Mods to give the removal of downvotes a go. Down With Downvotes Weekend Dec 8-10th.

Imgflip has become a meme stealing contest that stifles actual creativity (except for the comments, which are, yup, usually way better than the OP memes that too many steal from elswhere).

THE reason people quit are:
1. No attention to their memes because they are not part of this much ballyhood Top Ten circle and their sycophants.
2. They went so full tilt trying to do so that they burned themselves out and quit after just a couple of months.

Getting upvoted back into memeing shape is a mere message to another memer or alt away,,,

And I do not mean to insult all top memers, but we all know the temptation to 'borrow' sadly pays off for far too many while those willing to put a lil' elbow grease into it feel like incapable idiots because they didn't have the gumption to rip em off of FB,,,

Can you please clarify what you mean by "Getting upvoted back into memeing shape is a mere message to another memer or alt away,,,"
Sorry, I just don't understand.

If you get downvoted to the point that it slows your timer or that you can't even post meme comments, you can ask memers you know to boost you back up by upvoting a bunch of your memes and comments,,,

And while you're not supposed to have alt profiles, it is rumored some have simply to upvote themselves out of such.
That's another unfortunate consequence of upvoting, it has been said that some use alts to upvote themselves. I personally doubt how prevelent this is with top memers, because they don't really need to. But I do know of one specific troll who not only does it, he actually converses with his alt on meme threads! He even uses his own style on both. You look at both profiles, and all the memes have him doing this.

Yep, seen that!

If you need any help with upvotes in that way, let me know,,,

Okey doke, will do, thanks!
One of the other helped me out a while ago, when I was having a spot of bother!

There's many here that will help.
I may sound kind of negative, but I'm really complaining only about some who lose sight of what this site is about. Most here are pret cool folks,,,

pretty*

I could show you what Modda considers acceptable public behaviour...and the compare it to what he calls being a TROLL...and you'll see his capacity to PROJECT and distort in action.

Whoopssy...rigidly not riggedly...tho' 400 years ago...it would have been passable.

Like that guy.

Nice reference to the movie "Marathon Man"

Itz an old FAVE...

Yup. I agree. Actual creative memes don't get seen because the top users post stolen memes just to get points and the sheep comment and upvote those memes in the hopes of getting more upvotes and comments to their own memes. Then there is the factor that some of the top users are definitely on the imgflip payroll. Comments about them stealing memes or reposting or anything else critical mysteriously get downvoted to low comments and on several occasions I have experienced just get deleted. No longer there. Hmm I can't delete peoples comments on my posts but some tops can. Some of the tops are like the "women" you meet on dating sites. Mods pretending to be something else and keeping you engaged so they can get a paycheck.

I wouldn't say all do, nor that it's only them. Plus it isn't against memeing rules either, although I wish they'd point it out as I do the very few times I've done it.

But when they pat themselves on the head, or my favorite - argue about who reposted/stole it first like that makes it now theirs, then it's past ridiculous. One fella who's been here a couple of years even stated in one of those arguments that newbs can't do that, only older memers can. Huh?

Another crack-me-up is when a popular memer's comments get more upvotes than the OP's meme itself. My fave was early this year whem a mere "lol" - not a meme, just "lol" typed out, got 4 upvotes while the meme only got 2, and it would have been just 1 if it wasn't for me.
Which is another thing, this stinginess with votes, like they cost something. Just last week someone posted an "UPVOTED" meme on one of mine, but didn't upvote it. I don't care, my memes are low key and I stick to a little horsing around side niche, plus I've been slack since the summer too. But giving newbs and lesser knowns some points encourages them since the system is set up to be so dependent on them anyways,,,

I think when such comments get downvoted or flagged to oblivion or deletion has a lot to do with fellow memers they're friendly with and fanboys rallying around them.

If you don't like it, leave. No one is forcing you to stay. Try to find another mainstream meme creating site where most of the top users are not taking a lot of the front pages. Memes are meant to be shared, therefore there isn't any stealing. No one owns the meme templates.

I agree. Memes are meant to be shared. But why not acknowledge that when you are posting one you are sharing it and it's not yours? I have shared many memes on my FB page and on every single one I acknowledge where it came from and that it was not mine. The tops don't do this because they fear if people know that great meme was not theirs, they would not get as many upvotes or comments. To them, it's not about sharing funny memes or creating their own. It's about maintaining that top user status. That's why so many creative people DO leave imgflip. Why create an original funny or relevant meme if no one is going to see it because a top user posted a 10 yr old meme about dog shit and everyone is going to upvote it and comment on it because it came from a top and the meme you created will get buried and get few views? People lament the good memers that have left. Ummm yeah. Why do you think they left? Their memes are not being seen. The attention w**res are getting all the views.

The fact that reposts get upvoted to the top of front page when they're posted by unknown users or even posted anonymously shows that most don't care.

Anonymous memes making it to the front page shows that poster reputation is not so big as it is made out to be.

Too often so called "original work" really means the meme was made for the OP only then they wonder why their brilliant original work goes unnoticed.

My fave meme of the year was DashHope's "Post Your First Three Memes"
If you looked quickly enough, you got to see popular memers' memes that went nowhere when they first posted them 2 years ago as nobody newbs zoom from 2 upvotes to 27 in minutes.

My favorite meme theme week was the recent "Repost Someone Else's Meme" where we got to see a handful of nobodies' formally ignored memes zoom to the Front Page via a top memer reposting it.

Hands down the BEST meme theme week was Lego Week where a bunch hit the top with identical, "Ouch, I stepped on my kid's Lego," with two Chuck Norris imbued ones tossed in for variety, natch,,,

Best Meme was the sock one. It was about finding a sock in the dryer. I read it over and over wondering why I didn't get the joke till it turned out there was none. A - you guessed it - top tenner posted it.

Honorable mentions in sheer crass audacity are them, "Upvote me because I don't feel like waiting till Tuesday to hit one million"

There should be a big balls award here for such fetid spittle,,,

I think you are right. I seen the EXACT same things happen that you mention here. Ive seen memes stating “Must be nice to work at imgflip, hey Raydog”.

This is off topic anyway. Please keep posts on topic. Thanks!

I believe my memes will stand up to any OC scrutiny, all I got to say about that....

I don't bother checking, unless someone else points it out, or if it's flagrant, like the font is way beyond the memer's abilities and lacks resolution yet they're proud like they made it anyways,,,

Sorry about the delay.

cheezus, does this media have to collapse too?

Ten years from now, people will just be posting meme templates without captions,,,

Memes are meant to be shared.

That is actually the very meaning of the word.

Interesting points, but this is not the post to talk about it. You're free to start the topic on your own memes. Feel free to use the 'down with downvotes weekend' tag when calling for the removal of upvotes too. :)

But it is, since it voting is both up and down, and both have an effect on memeing and behavior surrounding such.

Perfect example: Jessica & Chad. They made a ton of comments on the memes of top users and thusly worked their way up to the top + a milion points in merely a month. Two months and two weeks later, they were exhausted, had irked some along the way, and then were gone,,,

Not all do that. There are top memers, like yourself, who comment on all, including those who aren't as well known. Memeing for the sake of memeing, not to be celebrated, as they had.
Those are the ones we see last longer here, or return if they leave for awhile,,,

million*

I'm still grieving

The world of memeing shall never be the same,,,

since voting is*

Jessica & Chad is really off topic. :)

Jessica was here for the fun. She didn't care much about points or such. What she loved most was socializing and chatting with her friends on here more than anything else.

Well I do know the subject about downvoting affecting members (even to the point of making them want to leave) has been dicussed in this thread, which is the theme. And if not here, then in other memes of the same topic their names have been mentioned quite often.

I was skimming through a bunch with this theme when I first posted here, so they kinda blurred together.

Jessica had stated she wish there was a friends list here, and celebrated in meme the approaching of her one million and then the arrival of it.

What they did with Ghostofchurch to Ben was not fun in the slightest. It did partially lead to the sad departure of one of my favorite memers (as well as problems from enemies he had that caused him to stay away a few months ago).
She did apologise after, at least.
And I had read it that they both got too involved and exhausted on it.
If there were no upvotes nor downvotes, those members (and others) would most likely still be here. Hence the pertinence to the subject at hand.

And that's my point. Points are points, and when good or bad ultimately lead to basically the same outcome, ridding one that is viewed as a hindrance to a few while keeping the other which is a hindrance to the vast majority of the thousands of members of this site only serves one agenda.

We can still have a top ten and a leaderboard, just based on views and comments rather than questionable points which can also be utilized as a tool of abuse,,,

Yes. Lots of good memers have been driven away by downvotes. One of the many motivations for this petition.

Leaderboard based on comments will have similar problems. Like you said above one memer was basically conversing with himself. lol

It will never be perfect. I am not looking for wholesale change. Just tuning of the status quo.

Yes, but some are driven away because of lack of upvotes as well. I read some newb say that recently, that he was thinking of quitting because of he wasn't getting enough. Which is silly, but that comes from the atmosphere that worthiness here comes from points which leads to more points which leads to...

I joined here June of last year and didn't realize there was a front Page till November (I log in via the "Ghetto Jesus" meme). I make memes for a forum on another site, and know others from there who do the same and are also unaware or just don't care about meme streams here. So folks like us don't stress that stuff since it's not our primary purpose here...

Having gotten involved in it since, I do like it and the community sprung around it. I soon learned to refrain from political and religious memes because of downvoting and endless inane arguments with ignorant trolls. Plus on that site I mentioned, AltScene, I already gleefuly get in all that kind of head butting. So here I (mostly) toned it down and stick mostly to the fun ones.

So yes, I do agree with your point that downvoting can be a negative.
It's just that Upvotes can inadvertantly have a negative side as well.

And I agree with what you said about my proposal, that it would also be open to exploitation. However, conversing with oneself to the FP can get exhausting and thus pretty much unsustainable.

Also, I'm not necassarilly against a Top Ten and Leaderboard. Freindly competition can foster creativity. It's just when that becomes too much of a focus for some and all that entails that I have an issue with,,,

I am only saying how it is, but of course you don't have to accept it. Arguments won't get either of us anywhere. Peace.

I was only expressing the other half of the same mechanism,,,

And only meant to debate it, not argue with you, so sorry if I came across that way. No disrespect was intended.

Also I forgot to mention in my first comment that I posted it her because I don't interact with others expressing the same theme this weekend as much I do with you. It wasn't a go at you.
I hardly get on Facebook or other sites, so most recycled memes are unfamiliar to me. I wasn't calling anyone specifically out on it. I've been saying this kind of stuff on memes of the subject since last year. I did say in a previous comment to another memer that most of the top users are pretty cool folks and helpful to those in need here. My grief is with a system that fosters a climate that can lend itself to losing sight of what the art of memeing is supposed to be about,,,

Okay. I hear you. :)

It like anything else in life. If you want it you got to work for it. I find that most that complain about votes or views simply don't comment at all or don't comment enough on any kind of regular basis.

It is the old starving artist tale being replayed over and over again. You may or may not produce good works but you just can't expect your work to speak for itself. Any budding writers could tell you how hard it is to get published.

Luckily ImgFlip is different that way. As I have said to many users of different occasions, this site is the only few places where time and effort can be directly rewarded. If you put in consistent effort over long periods of time on positive interaction with the community your work will be seen and may even get voted on.

Took me 6 weeks of solid commenting before I got any amount of views, even then I still didn't get the votes, simply because I was making memes for the wrong audience. Took me another month to get the audience right. Still do get it wrong sometimes. Temptation to make memes for myself only is still strong. lol

Your recommendations:

1. Network,
2. Repost memes,
3. Make sure they are mass marketable

How is that not kissing ass,
Stealing,
And using proven popular memes like I said?

Oh and,

"If you put in consistent effort over long periods of time on positive interaction with the community your work will be seen and may even get voted on.

Took me 6 weeks of solid commenting before I got any amount of views, even then I still didn't get the votes, simply because I was making memes for the wrong audience. Took me another month to get the audience right. Still do get it wrong sometimes. Temptation to make memes for myself only is still strong. lol"

Nixes this:

"The fact that reposts get upvoted to the top of front page when they're posted by unknown users or even posted anonymously shows that most don't care.

Anonymous memes making it to the front page shows that poster reputation is not so big as it is made out to be."

Here's the thing. Not everyone here is here to stand in the glare of some imaginary spotlight to accrue points with absolutely no use other than to assuage feelings of worth.

I don't even post every day. Heck, these last two have been the most time I've spent here in months.

What you're saying is proving my point. A voting system used to punish and also to form a heirarchy of unjustifiably over inflated egos based on thievery instead of originality and, dare say I, creative talent.

Here's something that would be useful: A way of closing/separating notifications of comments we've replied to from those we have yet to.
I owe you 3 replies from last month. And I owe some others also. Spent a gallon of time 2 nights ago trying to find them. Find one from you, checked it out, nope, I've already replied. Back to notifications again, from the top, and scroll scroll scroll,,, I have yet to find them.

Now a way of marking "replied" - THAT would be useful.

;)

Lets go back to this

Yesteryear always seems so pretty.
But the mentality can get stuck in it in the wrong way at times,,,

imgflip where original content goes to die........

Hey, thinking is a limited commodity these days, so why waste it?

Freedom of speech

Downvoting memes back into submission where no one gets to see it is a even bigger suppressor of freedom.

Says the one with millions of points

Ummm lol

i know lol