About
Upvote Downvote GIFs are animated GIF images featuring upvote or downvote arrows from the community websites Reddit and Imgur, which are often used as reaction images addressing the quality of someone’s comment or post.
Origin
On both Reddit and Imgur, users can cast an upvote or downvote for content and comments submitted to the site. On January 6th, 2011, Redditor SuriIllAnimateThat posted an animated GIF of a Reddit alien riding a narwhal through moving upvote arrows (shown below) to the /r/pics[2] subreddit. Prior to being archived, the post gained over 16,100 up votes and 1,100 comments.
Spread
On May 31st, 2011, Redditor shaiboy submitted a GIF featuring a bomber military aircraft dropping upvotes (shown below left) to the /r/gifs[3] subreddit. On December 22nd, Redditor shark_taco posted an animated GIF of anti-aircraft cannons blasting upvotes into the sky (shown below, right) to the /r/funny[8] subreddit, receiving more than 1,000 up votes and 40 comments prior to being archived.
On April 16th, 2012, Redditor VzjrZ submitted a post titled “When I see a funny post with only a few upvotes” to the /r/reactiongifs subreddit, highlighting an edited scene from the medieval fantasy television series Game of Thrones in which the character Tyrion Lannister gives a prostitute a upvote arrow (shown below). Before the post was archived, it gathered upwards of 7,600 up votes and 110 comments.
On April 26th, a gallery of upvote GIFs was submitted to Imgur.[10] On August 11th, the /r/upvotegifs[1] subreddit was create by Redditor kmp67, gaining more than 12,600 subscribers in the next two years.
Matrix GIFs
On June 6th, 2013, Redditor prannisment began posting the first in his series of Reddit-themed GIFs using scenes from the 1999 science fiction action film The Matrix to the /r/gifs[5] subreddit. Over the course of the next week, he continued uploading new Matrix GIFs, many of which featured the Reddit upvote and downvote arrows (shown below).[4][6]
On June 13th, prannisement submitted a post titled “He is the One (OC)” to /r/gifs,[11] featuring an edited scene from The Matrix depicting the character Neo defending himself against a barrage of downvotes fired from pistols (shown below). Prior to being archived, the post garnered upwards of 37,000 up votes and 550 comments.
On December 6th, prannisment submitted a new Matrix GIF titled “Matrix GIFs Reloaded” to the /r/gifs[7] subreddit, which featured an edited scene from the 2003 sequel The Matrix Reloaded. Within one month, the post gained over 26,000 up votes and 500 comments.
Search Interest
External References
[1]Reddit – /r/upvotesgifs
[2]Reddit – Your move, sureilldrawthat
[3]Reddit – Bombing upvotes all up in here
[4]Reddit – The truth about Reddit
[5]Reddit – When someone catches me browsing Reddit
[6]Reddit – Its time to choose
[7]Reddit – Matrix Reloaded
[8]Reddit – Whenever someone posts a picture of their cat
[9]Reddit – When I see a funny post with only a few upvotes
[11]Reddit – He is the One