A place for images of John Oliver looking sexy.

June 17, 2023 8:00 PM

r/pics users voted 37,331 to 2,329 in favor of sexy John Oliver.

See also: r/art & r/gifs.
Some context.

posted by signal (49 comments total)

That's just the tip of the iceberg:

- /r/Steam (the gaming platform) is now about literal steam
- /r/iPhone is voting on whether to open or "appreciate Tim Cook's charisma"
- /r/Showerthoughts is voting on hours of operation (closing every day of the week is leading by a landslide)
- /r/PhotoshopBattles is only allowing black squares as submissions
- /r/AskHistorians is only allowing a single "floating feature" post to stay open: Revolt, Rebellion, Resistance, and Revolution - Protesting through History
- /r/Science is vowing to return to being restricted (read-only) if the company doesn't meet promised deadlines on development of the official app
- /r/Memes has overwhelmingly voted to "feature only Medieval / Landed Gentry themed memes, with the addition of Feudal user flairs."
- the admins are so thirsty for re-opening, they've forced /r/Piracy out of blackout despite the controversial subject matter

Most promisingly (to me), /r/interestingasfuck, /r/Toyota, and /r/Garmin have removed all rules and in turn labeled themselves NSFW to deny the site ad revenue (ads can't run on 18+ subreddits). Importantly, because Reddit defines a huge swath of non-porn content as NSFW, subs can arguably flag themselves that way for something as simple as allowing profanity.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:16 PM on June 17, 2023 [49 favorites]

but how long will r/pics users be content to repost the same handful of images?
posted by ryanrs at 9:17 PM on June 17, 2023 [3 favorites]

I'm sure they can come up with some Photoshops of John Oliver in a bikini or whatever to amuse themselves.

Oh, I have found John Oliver's response to this.

I'm enjoying them fighting back, but I seriously wonder if there's any winning with this whole thing.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:46 PM on June 17, 2023 [7 favorites]

I can’t believe i’m going to quote one of the worst Marvel movies, but it’s just too perfect:

Ant-Man, to Kang: “I don’t have to win. We both just have to lose!”
posted by FallibleHuman at 9:52 PM on June 17, 2023 [12 favorites]

r/GPT4 Now only allows posts about Gulfport-Biloxi international airport (code: GPT), gate 4 (GPT4).
posted by Rhaomi at 10:25 PM on June 17, 2023 [46 favorites]

While aspects of Reddit have been terrible for many users, I still find it sad watching it all crumble. There have been some amazing, supportive sub-reddits, especially around disabilities and accessibility.
posted by greenhornet at 10:54 PM on June 17, 2023 [34 favorites]

I have always found Reddit impenetrable, I have an account and have posted a thing or two and I follow some niche-y accounts and some gigantic ones, but I can never get into it, it's like I'm sitting in the nosebleed section at a football game; I can tell there's something interesting happening but can't for the life of me see it clearly enough to be entertained.

That said, this is a very creative & often funny second chapter to this extraordinary strike action.

My suggestion is that someone [internet] famous do an AMA and answer every single question with crickets.
posted by chavenet at 2:55 AM on June 18, 2023 [11 favorites]

Ask Historians is the real loss there. Most of my subs never blacked out or are back to normal. The protest has succeeded in changing Reddit’s initial plans and seems to have forced them to put some energy behind some long standing promised roadmap items.
posted by interogative mood at 3:08 AM on June 18, 2023 [6 favorites]

ryanrs: but how long will r/pics users be content to repost the same handful of images?

If we assume, for the sake of argument, that John Oliver is on screen for 15 to 20 minutes of every Last Week Tonight episode, and that it’s shot at 24 frames per second, that’s well over 20 thousand images of John Oliver looking sexy in every episode, and that’s not including his stint at the Daily Show, stand-up specials, and his star turn in the Love Guru. Oh, and surely images of Vanity Smurf, sexily portrayed by John Oliver, are fair game too.
posted by Kattullus at 3:09 AM on June 18, 2023 [12 favorites]

So when is the Last Week Tonight episode on the reddit strike going to happen (has it already happened?)? John Oliver will have a FIELD DAY with this and he is loving every bit of it.
posted by zardoz at 5:12 AM on June 18, 2023 [4 favorites]

Fun but not sustainable, right? What a weird saga this is, with Reddit.
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:24 AM on June 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

Thanks Tiny Frying Pan, I think I will borrow that for my epitaph: “It was fun, but not sustainable.”
posted by notyou at 5:34 AM on June 18, 2023 [11 favorites]

zardoz: So when is the Last Week Tonight episode on the reddit strike going to happen (has it already happened?)? John Oliver will have a FIELD DAY with this and he is loving every bit of it.

Not with the writers strike, but I would expect at least a small shoutout in the show open (Reddit logo with “landed gentricus” as the caption?) when it returns.
posted by dr_dank at 5:47 AM on June 18, 2023 [4 favorites]

What's to stop Oliver from just recording himself talking about this and making it available via youtube? Would that be considered 'crossing the picket line'?
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 6:27 AM on June 18, 2023

What's to stop Oliver from just recording himself talking about this and making it available via youtube? Would that be considered 'crossing the picket line'?

Yeah, it probably would.
posted by Xiphias Gladius at 6:59 AM on June 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

Yeah, due to the strike poor John won't be on camera talking about this one. That's why I feel bad for him. It may be loooong over before John's on television again.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:03 AM on June 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

As cases of Malicious Compliance go, this is a doozy.
posted by Faintdreams at 7:18 AM on June 18, 2023 [7 favorites]

The protest has succeeded in changing Reddit’s initial plans

Narrator: it didn't.
posted by advil at 7:24 AM on June 18, 2023 [4 favorites]

it would be nice if r/trees and r/marijuanaenthusiasts swapped topics, like as a prank

Expandable explanation for those not aware:

the r/trees subreddit is for marijuana enthusiasts; r/marijuanaenthusiasts was created to give people a place to talk about trees.

posted by Merus at 7:41 AM on June 18, 2023 [9 favorites]

Oh, I have found John Oliver's response to this.

I love how his Twitter thread ends with an actually sexy John Oliver pic.

I also love everything the Redditors are doing and hope they get what they want, or at least a sensible compromise.
posted by May Kasahara at 7:44 AM on June 18, 2023 [6 favorites]

I don't find John Oliver at all sexy, but I celebrate anyone who does because someone needs to do that. People find me sexy and I have no idea why at all because I don't find me sexy. John Oliver is also on record for not finding himself sexy, but people do, and that is wonderful and amazing.

tl;dr: people are a panoply of contrasts
posted by hippybear at 8:13 AM on June 18, 2023 [4 favorites]

Trees vs. marijuanaenthusiasts....WHUT.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:31 AM on June 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

It's the new release from the creators of Plants Vs Zombies.
posted by hippybear at 8:37 AM on June 18, 2023 [5 favorites]

It's a bunch of ents going up against bloodshot-eyed ravenous mobs wanting to grow more weed and also cocoa plantations because munchies require chocolate.
posted by hippybear at 8:38 AM on June 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

This is literally a brilliant game idea. MeMail me if you want to develop it.
posted by hippybear at 8:39 AM on June 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

eco-horror is a thing
posted by supermedusa at 8:43 AM on June 18, 2023

This is literally a brilliant game idea. MeMail me if you want to develop it.

Why do you have the words "Do not help me develop my app" tattooed on your forehead?
posted by loquacious at 9:06 AM on June 18, 2023 [8 favorites]

Because I have no programming skills and now nobody can make it?

I'm brilliant this way.
posted by hippybear at 9:10 AM on June 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

If anyone does make a Trees vs Marijuana Enthusiasts game, I desperately implore you that instead of a Wilhelm scream that you please include the Wayne Thibadeaux "Rodney!" voiceover from 2005's Man-Thing.
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 9:12 AM on June 18, 2023

File under People Have Way Too Much Time On Their Hands
posted by tafetta, darling! at 10:58 AM on June 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

Artist Ste Pha Nie made a Where’s Waldo-style image with a hidden John Oliver.
posted by Kattullus at 11:06 AM on June 18, 2023 [7 favorites]

It may be doomed but the Reddit backlash is sure as hell fun to watch.
posted by tommasz at 11:54 AM on June 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

Out of curiosity, rebellion with the memes aside, is anyone aware of any subreddits decamping en masse anywhere? I know Tumblr has gotten an influx of users and Dreamwidth had gotten a few, but neither are quite natural fits: Tumblr is as difficult to curate by interest topic as Metafilter is, and Dreamwidth has a much smaller user base and activity level generally. If there actually is a resurgence on DW I'll be thrilled, though.

What I'm really curious about is whether the communities attached to the subs, not just the users, can be successfully ported elsewhere. I'm cynical about the protests actually starving out management before users get bored, but community changes like this are usually done by critical masses of users decamping--and this seems like a really interesting case study for that kind of thing.
posted by sciatrix at 12:26 PM on June 18, 2023

I'm seeing a community or two decamp to kbin. They're pioneers... but Huffmann should fear what happens if they like it and evangelize it to others.

I've deleted my Reddit account. I was only active on a few subs, but my karma there was good.
posted by humbug at 12:56 PM on June 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

hippybear, I'm pretty sure loquacious was referring to this Rick & Morty episode.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:06 PM on June 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

One interesting side-effect is that I was today-years-old when I found out David Mitchell, Richard Ayoade and John Oliver were all friends in University
posted by revmitcz at 1:56 PM on June 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

What I'm really curious about is whether the communities attached to the subs, not just the users, can be successfully ported elsewhere.

For a lot of the subreddits I like, I'm pretty sure the answer is no. They have a small core set of regular contributors, but a majority of the posts are made by casual visitors. These casual visitors are probably not going to follow any one community to a new platform - it would take Redditors as a whole moving elsewhere, which isn't going to happen. Many have been trying to push Lemmy, but it has many of the same challenges as Mastodon does, namely the fact that the majority of people online do not have the conceptual toolkit to understand or navigate instances.

This is making me dream about trying to kickstart the little_details community on DW, though. That was a community I failed to port many years ago, due to lack of commitment, and I wonder if it could still work.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 2:58 PM on June 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

Alternative forms of protest, in light of admin retaliations

List of 'Malicious Compliance' subreddits

And in light of the following excerpt from Reddit's content policy:

"Content that contains nudity, pornography, or profanity, which a reasonable viewer may not want to be seen accessing in a public or formal setting such as in a workplace should be tagged as NSFW. This tag can be applied to individual pieces of content or to entire communities."

Sure would be a shame if many major subs flipped the switch and made their communities un-monetizable by Reddit, Inc. through the totally difficult task of getting ornery users to say "fuck."
posted by Rhaomi at 7:59 PM on June 18, 2023 [6 favorites]

Of all the silly things that are being done as malicious compliance, I think I've just found my favorite: Article 3 of /r/video's new rules:

"Every week, we will have a stickied rule creation thread. The highest-upvoted (non-illegal, non-sitewide-rule-breaking) suggestion in that thread will be added to our rules list. The rules voting will continue until democracy is enhanced. "
posted by Bugbread at 8:49 PM on June 18, 2023 [8 favorites]

"Every week, we will have a stickied rule creation thread. The highest-upvoted (non-illegal, non-sitewide-rule-breaking) suggestion in that thread will be added to our rules list. The rules voting will continue until democracy is enhanced. "

So, they just turned their Sub into a game of Nomic.
posted by Clever User Name at 6:06 AM on June 19, 2023 [1 favorite]

I've been laughing at r/pics all weekend. r/aww has now turned into a subreddit for cute and cuddly John Oliver pics. There was some suggestion that they refer to him as John Awwliver, though that doesn't seem to have happened.
posted by ceejaytee at 6:17 AM on June 19, 2023 [2 favorites]

Meanwhile, over on the John Oliver subreddit:

Petition to ban all posts featuring or containing John Oliver on r/johnoliver for the time being.

Considering multiple subs has taken the approach of only allowing posts of John Oliver due to recent Reddit decisions, it seems only reasonable that r/johnoliver should ban all posts containing or referencing John Oliver for the time being.

posted by Kattullus at 6:59 AM on June 19, 2023 [10 favorites]

the Reddit backlash is sure as hell fun to watch.

...And makes me mourn the site more each passing day, because this spontaneous, improvised, imperfect and massively collaborative protest demonstrates the core value of Reddit as community/communities. A rising tide lifts all boats, and the best of that site helped people navigate life, be more funny, more capable, find more resources, learn more, etc. etc. every day, because everyone is more effective together than alone, the wholes we create are always greater than the sums of their parts, and that's all crumbling now because of (once again) rapacious greed. It's just sad.
posted by LooseFilter at 7:14 AM on June 19, 2023 [11 favorites]

Reddit hackers demand $4.5 million ransom and API pricing changes
posted by FallibleHuman at 5:27 PM on June 19, 2023

Update: I talked to a mod on a subreddit that went NSFW only to have an admin-controlled account forcibly and quietly switch it back without justification or consent. Unfortunately for Reddit Inc., this directly contradicts their official content policy and could open them up to legal liability for exercising editorial control, especially bad if ad partners or children were exposed to NSFW content that was posted before the switch.
posted by Rhaomi at 10:48 AM on June 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

That's interesting. At first, I thought that this was kind of an ironic turn of events, because the admins are now going in and deleting NSFW content from subs that they switched to SFW but which the mods were not deleting. So paid employees are moderating subs. However, a little further thought shows that this is just a transitory step, with the next step from the admin perspective being either "mods start deleting NSFW content on their own, which is what we want" or "mods continue to ignore NSFW content despite the sub being SFW, thereby violating Rule 4 for not performing moderation, so we eject them and appoint new mods who will delete NSFW content, which is what we want."
posted by Bugbread at 4:39 PM on June 20, 2023

This little site is listing ‘instances of the Reddit communities on alternative platforms.’

Found, somewhat inevitably, it seems, on Lemmy.world
posted by tuckshopdilettante at 10:32 AM on June 21, 2023

Official Reddit Account /u/ModCodeOfConduct has provided these policy updates in response to the NSFW changes and the continued blackout of subs.

Changing a previously SFW community to a NSFW community in order to protest Reddit policies is inappropriate for the members of your community and not acceptable overall. People subscribe to communities based on the content at the time of subscription. Communities can gradually change as they grow, but this is not what we are observing and not in the best interest of the users being subjected to that content.

Incorrectly marking your community is a violation of both our Content Policy (rule 6) as well as the Moderator Code of Conduct. (rule 2).

And this on the general issue of remaining dark.

Thanks for bringing this up; it's an important conversation.

Mods have a right to take a break from moderating, or decide that you don’t want to be a mod anymore. But active communities are relied upon by thousands or even millions of users, and we have a duty to keep these spaces active.

Subreddits belong to the community of users who come to them for support and conversation. Moderators are stewards of these spaces and in a position of trust. Redditors rely on these spaces for information, support, entertainment, and connection.

We regularly enforce our subreddit and moderator-level rules. As you point out, this means that we have policies and processes in place that address inactive moderation (Rule 4), mods vandalizing communities (Rule 2), and subreddit squatters (also Rule 4). When rules like these are broken, we remove the mods in violation of the Moderator Code of Conduct, and add new, active mods to the subreddits. We also step in to rearrange mod teams, so active mods are empowered to make decisions for their community. The Moderator Code of Conduct was launched in September 2022, and you’ll notice via post and comment history that this account has been used extensively to source new mod teams.

Leaving a community you deeply care for and have nurtured for years is a hard choice, but it is a choice some may need to make if they are no longer interested in moderating that community. If a moderator team unanimously decides to stop moderating, we will invite new, active moderators to keep these spaces open and accessible to users. If there is no consensus, but at least one mod who wants to keep the community going, we will respect their decisions and remove those who no longer want to moderate from the mod team.

posted by interogative mood at 11:58 AM on June 21, 2023

On the one hand, I find all the protest posting to be funny. I'm down for it.

On the other hand, this is sounding like a losing battle. Reddit has all the power here. They're making sure people can't stay private/blacked out/whatever, so people have to be using the site or else it gets taken over. So instead people keep using the site, just with novelty material. The site still gets hits and isn't harmed from that, I presume. It's just kinda shit posting/malicious compliance, but as long as Reddit has no intention of budging, and people are still using the site for something.... I dunno. The protesters have been forced out of effective protest, so what else are they going to do?

I was reading the BestOfRedditUpdates arguments over there and they said their John Oliver protest would go until July 1 because at that point it'd be too late anyway. So...yeah.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:31 AM on June 25, 2023 [1 favorite]