List of MicroWiki community memes

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The following is a list of memes within the MicroWiki community. Like Internet memes, in-jokes and memes pertaining specifically to the MicroWiki Sector have emerged, and are a part of the culture of MicroWiki. Traditionally, a prominent form of such memes consisted of image macros paired with a concept or catchphrase and microball comics. By then, memes were most commonly spread via the MicroWiki talk pages, chat forums and Skype rooms, such as GUM lolcats and Francillian apple pie. The later established MicroWiki Forums made memes even more accessible to the general community, such as smoking Lethler, Math Pony and Hahu. More recently, however, MicroWiki memes have become much more prevalent, being more hastily spread via MicroWiki@Discord which was launched near the end of 2018. This led to the rise of solely Discord-based or related memes, such as @New Eiffel Government, Leon Face, Merge and Zeeky Bomb. Several micronations have also been called "memes" by the community, typically as an epithet for micronations which are perceived as unprofessional or unrealistic, such as Arkovia, Hosamia and Verdis.

Discord

A screenshot of the @New Eiffel Government message chain
Zeeky Boogy Doog

As a nebulous umbrella term, some memes that were popularised on the platform may be under different categories, such as the Face of Leon Montan, which is under "§ Images and videos".

  • @New Eiffel Government: Beginning in April 2019, it revolved around 'pinging' ("@ing") Zabëlle Skye's Discord account on MicroWiki@Discord, which was originally called New Eiffel Government#4073. Eventually it led to the creation of a pinging channel on the server between May 2019–November 2020, which had 11,000 pings by its closure.[1][2]

  • admin-nsfw: An alleged "nsfw" (Not safe for work) channel on MicroWiki@Discord created in June 2020 that is said to be only accessible by server administrators; the claim was refuted by several administrators, however this promoted them to create a jocular channel under the name. According to the administrators, the channel solely consists of memes.
  • Brian's Republic: In February 2020, users began pinging the user "Brian's Republic" in order to get him to send a message on MicroWiki@Discord, since he had been in the server since January 2019, but had never sent a message. Users comically referred to him as a deity. On 22 February, after multiple users contacted him on his YouTube channel, he finally sent a message on the server.

  • Cornposting: Started by Leon Montan in July 2019, cornposting involved users posting random things relating to corn on MicroWiki@Discord, such as text, images, gifs and occasionally links. The meme had at least over 200 messages relating to cornposting before it died out. The Cornunist Republic of Cornistan is a satirical micronation geared towards cornposting which claims some of MicroWiki@Discord's channels.[1][3]
  • Merge: In February 2019, the micronation Arkovia gained heavy controversy after reports came out allegedly it was coercing micronations to merge with it. There was little evidence, however, and the phrase "merging" became a meme on MicroWiki@Discord. A large amount of memes and people criticising merging started spreading across a large amount of communities, including Project Nations and Reddit.[1]
  • MicroWiki Tea Company: A chain of the word "Tea" on MicroWiki@Discord in the #culture channel in May 2019. Soon after, the tongue-in-cheek MicroWiki Tea Company was formed. It lost popularity after late June, however continued to exist in a smaller less-popular form until December.
  • Free Patrick Kent: In early October 2020, Elizabeth Lewis created multiple sockpuppet accounts for her alter-ego "Patrick Kent", who has the persona of a young, innocent child. Her goal was to "spread positivity" to MicroWiki@Discord. After being repeatedly banned for being under the minimum age requirement as well as ban-evading, Kent was voted to remain on popular demand from users, spreading the message "Free Patrick Kent" - she had also revealed herself to the server administrators, who agreed to let her stay. In late November, her identity had become widely known. As of January 2021, Lewis no longer used the persona.
  • Zeeky Bomb: Beginning in January 2020, the meme involves people setting their profile picture as Zeeky Boogy Doog (a character from the 2001 animated short Demented Cartoon Movie), setting their profile username as "Math Pony", and spamming text relating to Zeeky Bomb. The meme made a resurgence later that year in July, where the act of Zeeky Bombing began to emerge, a type of server raiding which involves a user posting a picture of Zeeky Boogy Doog, occasionally paired with a GIF of an explosion. The meme also received a dedicated Reddit page in July following its heightened popularity.[4]

Micronations

Flag of the GANGSTA REPUBLIC, a troll micronation by A. Tarquitius Buteo

Images and videos

The image of a traditional Francillian apple tart which became a meme after Alexander Reinhardt mistook it for a random image unrelated to micronationalism.
Microballs
  • Face of Leon Montan: Beginning around August 2019, the meme revolves around an image of Ponderosan statesmen Leon Montan typically edited in-front of various locations and buildings, though the meme has also spawn several variations, the most popular being a cropped image of just his face edited on various historical and political figures and celebrities. It began spreading further via MicroWiki@Discord, after in September users on the server advocated for the meme to be added as an emote.[6] It was re-added and deleted several times by administrators, however following the heavy user backlash it was added back permanently in December, before being deleted during "deleonfaceization" in September 2020, a process in which Montan removed all instances of his face and replaced it with a drawing of himself.[7][8][9]
  • Francillian apple pie: An image of a traditional Francillian apple tart uploaded onto MicroWiki became a meme after Alexander Reinhardt mistook it for a random image unrelated to micronationalism.
  • Math Pony: On August 2016, Violette "Suzuki" Clingersmith posted on the MicroWiki forums that she was going to create a new religion based upon integers, and force its tenants upon all the majors schools in the world. Math Pony became the visual deification of the math religion, mainly in an effort to upset a hyper-Catholic user on the forums known as Markus. Math Pony experienced a resurgence of popularity on MicroWiki@Discord in May 2019 and again in September, where Math Pony is still a well-known meme.
  • Microballs: Created in late August 2010 and based on Polandball - Microballs are user-drawn comics that are personifications of micronations, by drawing their flag they represent in a typically circular fashion, with white eyes and a black outline. The comics commonly satirise micronational events. While Microball remained a popular format for micronational memes through the first half of the 2010s, by 2017 the format was scarcely used, largely replaced by more traditional and easier meme formats. Several attempts to revive it since then proved to be short-lived.[10]
  • Unnamed protester at the 2019 Plastic Head Protests: An image of a protester holding a sign at the 2019 Plastic Head Protests in Orientia. In January 2020, users on the GUM Discord server began adding custom text to the sign. The original image later became the featured picture on MicroWiki's main page for the month of March.[11]
  • Zedposting: Beginning in February 2020, it revolved around spamming images and texts relating to Zabëlle "Zed" Skye. Multiple forms of Zedposting include "Zedtv", an image of Zed wearing a cardboard computer mask over his head, and "Zedism" a comical religion based around Zedtv. It had massively died down in popularity by early April.

Events

  • April Fools' Day: April Fools' Day hoaxes are perpetrated by members of the MicroWiki community annually on 1 April, including by the administrators on MicroWiki.
  • Brazeaugate[clarification needed]
  • Lenny Face Day: Annual holiday observed on 18 November in several micronations,[12] most prominently Abelden, celebrating the first known appearance of the Lenny Face "( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)" emoticon.[13]
  • Jonathanist-Cameronist War: A satirical conflict on MicroWiki@Discord taking place in late August and early September 2019, between "Jonathanists" people who supported Jonathan I, and "Cameronists" people who supported Cameron I.
  • TOES-Almendria War: In late June 2020, members of TOES joined the Almendrian Discord server, after one Tizian stated that TOES was a "YAMO." Assuming that TOES was server raiding, the Almendrian government responded by banning all members. Hours after being banned, TOES issued a jocular declaration, demanding, amongst other things, the unbanning of all members involved.[14] The war saw a huge intermicronational response, as well as other nations join the conflict due to their distaste for Almendria and its government system.[15][16] It was highly disapproved of and criticised in the MicroWiki Sector and Reddit Sector, with many (including TOES) dismissing the conflict as a joke, leading to its widespread recognition as a meme.

Phrases

  • ((((Joke)))): The word "Joke" with multiple parentheses in between–usually between 1 and 4–used to denote a jocular or sarcastic post. Started by Janus Smith in the GUM Discord server, it spread to MicroWiki@Discord and various other micronational servers.
  • ContraGUMism: In a May 2020 editoral for Messenger, former GUM Chairman Henry Clémens presented a lengthy argument where he both defended the GUM, and he coined the term "contraGUMism" to describe GUM critics.[17] The phrase caught popularity among GUM advocates and critics alike; for example, in his campaign to become GUM Chair in August 2022, James Frisch described himself as "not a contraGUMist"[18] despite wanting to convert the organisation back into its 2015-era lounge state. Clémens' article led to the creation of numerous memes surrounding the term.
  • Hahu: Originated within the Mercian Parliament House to express approval, similar to the use of the term "hear, hear" in the UK system, though both "hahu" and "hear, hear" are used interchangeably. The term hahu has received widespread adoption, in such venues as the Grand Unified Micronational Quorum, where it is considered formal decorum and still used today.
  • I eat kids: A phrase uttered by Desert District politician Woland during the Addison Dillon v. New Almendria court case.[19]
  • Simmie: Originating from the Reddit Sector, the word "simmie" evolved as a derogatory term for micronations which incorporated simulationist themes.
  • This ain't no cyberwar, Logan: Originating from the opening statement of a 2020 video published by Daniel Maloney as a threat to Logan Medlin.[20][21] Although ostensibly intended as a serious warning, the video was near universally regarded as comical due to the fact that Maloney was threatening Logan with a Nerf Gun, and the phrase has subsequently been used to deliver ironic or sarcastic responses to topics concerning micronational wars. Edits of the video were created and popularised by the Korp Sector, where it eventually made its way to Microwiki@Discord.
  • when gotta dance: Originating as a drunken phrase uttered by Newton, "when gotta dance" and variants of "when gotta [verb]" have been used around the community to indicate something that one is obliged to do even if that is not always the case. The phrase is particularly popular among Essexians who like to remind the creator of his antics.
  • YAMO: An acronym for the phrase "Yet Another Micronational Organization," which is commonly used as a disparaging epithet for intermicronational organisations. The phrase has experienced a large amount of popularity between micronationalists, and is commonly found in micronational journalism.
  • Bonerland: A nickname for the micronation Bonumland, first coined by Raphaël Olivier. It was commonly used within Georgienstine.
  • Train Lasagna: A meme originating in the Uber-Essian Union, the reason being unclear. An extension of the meme is to question whether the phrase means lasagna shaped like a train or a kind of lasagna served on a train.
  • Maltese Ambulance Copypasta: a copypasta which stemmed from anti-multicultural comments made by Matthew Tonna in August 2021 regarding an alleged incident involving an ambulance hijacked by "multiculturalists" in Malta; the copypasta and modified variants remain popular within circles associated with the Cupertino Alliance.

Intermicronational organisations

Other

  • Al-Wiki: A comical terrorist organisation, with the goal of destroying MicroWiki by making every article on the site a good article–article's on MicroWiki that are decided by editors to be among the best of the site–thus destroying the so-called "good article economy."
  • Bobism: A jocular religion based around a dead fish.
  • Dreamlight Hackerz[clarification needed]
  • Duck x Zed. A satirical relationship between Ian "Duck" (also known as Flames) and Zed. The two got "married" on a Discord server in October 2019, which was jokingly advertised as the best and "largest micronational wedding" ever. They would later renew wedding vows on 27 December.[22]
  • Pangapedia: In June 2020, after administrators of MicroWiki attempted to bring articles he had written up to standard, a dissatisfied user named Taninim Long created Pangapedia as an ostensible "rival to MicroWiki". Pangapedia was raided by vandals, which Long misinterpreted as an organised attack by an MicroWiki administration scared of its new "rival". Long's overblown reaction to the vandalism - together with his insistence that Pangapedia posed serious competition to MicroWiki and his generally pretentious attitude - resulted in much ridicule being directed towards himself and the site.
  • r/micronations[clarification needed]

  • Smoking Lethler: On 12 February 2015, an off-hand reference to Robert Lethler in a conversation on Skype led to Gabriel Pelger asking "And what's lethler [sic], by the way? Something one smokes?" The incorrect guess led to the quote being rapidly reproduced, and the idea of smoking a drug named "lethler" became a meme.
  • Troika: A term initially used to refer to the collective influence perceived to be influenced over the GUM from 2011-2012 by the then Jacob Tierney, Will Soergel, and Crown Prince Jonathan, the word soon developed jocular connotations of secrecy and totalitarianism.
  • Yaro-heads: A meme developed in February 2015 which consisted of photoshopping the head of Yaroslav Mar on the body of other micronationalists. The resultant images were often posted on MicroWikia in instances of raids on said website occurring at the time.
  • Bad Chickens: A meme amongst the League of Independent Nations and its member states originating in 2019 or 2020 stating that chickens are pure evil and want to conquer the world. Usually expressed with references to fast food restaurant KFC, which is depicted as being part of the human resistance against the chickens, and the phrase "THEM BAD CHICKENS".

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Z. Smith. MicroWiki General Survey results. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  2. Blackwood, Ives (18 November 2020) MicroWiki@Discord shutdown continues despite user resistance. Home-made Crown Journal. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  3. Corn.[dead link] Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  4. "r/Zeeky". Reddit. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 MicroWiki Mentions Chart!
  6. #BringBackLeonFaceEmoji Discord Server. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  7. MicroWiki@Discord Hall of Fame. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  8. Government of the Aenderese Republic: Wasting my saturday at ellesmere station 23 November 2019, Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  9. revision 667417 on page Leon Montan, the first edit to be titled "Deleonfaceization". Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  10. Teh Microball World
  11. MicroWiki:Featured picture/Archive
  12. Imperial Decree IV
  13. Royal Decree 002/2017
  14. Official Declaration on the Almendrian Conflict, Tough Organisation of Elite Stuff.
  15. ANTI ALMENDRIAN ACTION PACT
  16. Monmarkian Condemnation of Almendria.
  17. Clémens, Henry (10 May 2020). A comprehensive defense of the Grand Unified Micronational. Messenger. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  18. Frisch-Friedrich 2022. Frisch-Friedrich 2022 campaign. Accessed 29 August 2022.
  19. Montan, Leon (executive producer) (4 January 2021) PilotThe Four Horsemen of Micronationalism – on Spotify. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  20. This ain't no cyberwar on r/Copypasta at Reddit. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  21. Original video
  22. Brandels, Richard (23 October 2019) HM William I, performs marriage ceremony. The Charlington Press. Retrieved 13 September 2020.