[Note: the link is for the archive, to not give Reddit unnecessary traffic. Here’s a link to the original.]

Apparently r/pics is protesting through malicious compliance; the subreddit is open again, but all content being shown is uninteresting pictures of… who’s John Galt Oliver?

And the moderators decided to actually consult their community, on what they should do. You could vote on two options:

  • Upvote this comment if you want /r/Pics to feature only images of John Oliver looking sexy. As of time of archiving this option was at +51k points.
  • Upvote this comment if you want to return to normal operation. As of time of archiving this option was -8k points.

Interesting detail on how the r/pics moderators worded it:

Anyway, we – the so-called “landed gentry” – definitely want to comply with the wishes of the “royal court,”

I personally didn’t realise that there is such an implication on what Pigboy said - that if he’s calling the mods “landed gentry”, he sees himself as a king.

EDIT: as other users are pointing out, other subs are doing the same sort of malicious compliance, so I’ll share them here:

  • r/gifs (archive link, (original link). As of time of archiving it has +21k points for John Oliver gifs only, and -5k points for returning to normal
  • r/art (original link) - as of now (7:20, São Paulo time), votes are still not visible. Same as above, John Oliver vs. normal operations.
  • r/aww (archive link, original link) - +56k “to only feature John Oliver, Chiijohn, and their lookalikes bein adorable”, -2.5k to return to normal.
  • r/showerthoughts (archive link, original link). Voting on the days that the subreddit should be open or closed.
  • Spitz
    link
    212 years ago

    I’m absolutely on board… but why John Oliver? Why him in particular?

    • @Sarie
      link
      432 years ago

      I suppose to make John Oliver acknowledge what’s going on in Reddit. And make at least a little remark on his show.

      • Omar Khayyám
        link
        252 years ago

        You know, he has a real rebel sexiness about him. Like a librarian who makes a lot of noise.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        132 years ago

        I‘m not even his target audience (I‘m further left), but I‘ve seen some clips of his show and he‘s funny, would be neat to have a sort of “Downfall of Corporate Social Media” episode featuring spez. I‘d watch that.

        • Bojimbo
          link
          fedilink
          122 years ago

          I feel like he would enjoy saying enshittification

          • arefx
            link
            fedilink
            12 years ago

            I read “enshittification” in his voice and it was amazing.

        • @morelikepinniped
          link
          12 years ago

          I would love to see that. I’m hopeful the larger media will keep talking about this for a few days so ad sponsors start to pull out of reddit.

      • Very_Bad_Janet
        link
        fedilink
        102 years ago

        He has previously mentioned specific Redditors on his show. So this might be a clever way to get him to do an episode in the meltdown at Reddit.

      • rezz
        link
        5
        edit-2
        11 months ago

        Unfortunately talks shows are suspended for the duration of the writers strike. Likely through end of summer.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      42 years ago

      Because he’s peak sexiness obviously.

      Really this is just r/pics admitting that all pictures not of john Oliver were really just fooling themselves

        • Wenchette
          link
          fedilink
          12 years ago

          I do know! I’m a Bugle “volunto-subscriber” and never miss it, or the News Quiz. 😃

    • gorkx
      link
      fedilink
      12 years ago

      @Spitz how do you not know john oliver? he’s the guy that look lime a maniquin with a square head thick accent and a beack nose, used to be on john stewart, but now has his on show on hbo.

      @J4g2F @lvxferre

      • Spitz
        link
        42 years ago

        I didn’t ask who he was. I asked why pick him especially for the malicious compliance thing.

        • MeowdyPardner
          link
          fedilink
          52 years ago

          He often does segments on his show aimed at publicly shaming companies or groups of people, has a very good record of spurring on some kind of change, at a minimum raises a lot of awareness, and provides updates in later episodes on changes that happened due to him putting people on blast. He also feuds with and mocks the parent company that owns his show so this seems like something he would be interested in supporting with a good comedy segment making fun of spez. Sadly not sure if it’ll work out due to the writer’s strike but if we were to try to get the support of a public figure, he’s a pretty good option.

          • Spitz
            link
            12 years ago

            Finally an informative answer! I didn’t know about the writer’s strike, that’s some bad timing.