7 ms·

FuckJerry’s Success Is Instagram’s Failure

124 points by danso 8y ago

zimpenfish 8y ago
Similar view from someone who had content stolen - https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/vic-berger-opinion-cancel-fuck-jerry-media-789699/ https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/vic-be...
- eltoozero 8y ago
  That’s good to see Vic writing for RS, like to see him busy.
qgsrw3fd 8y ago
As an end user, I'm happy that curators exist. Not talking about this "Fuck Jerry" individual in particular, but I follow many meme accounts that just repost stuff, and they are great value for me, because I don't want to, instead, follow thousands of creators and have to scroll through thousands of posts that aren't really that good.
- andyfleming 8y ago
  I agree that there's some value to curation. It'd be nice to see it built in as a first-class feature. Let someone repost, but automatically credit the original poster. Also maybe do some sort of revenue split on ads. 30% to the curator and 70% to the original creator or something along those lines.
  - P_I_Staker 8y ago
    Isn't that just a retweet? I'm not much of social media guy, but it's there no re-graming or inst-again, or similar?
    - qgsrw3fd 8y ago
      No. Instagram has refused to add that feature.
- seanwalker08 8y ago
  As a user with a decent amount of followers(almost 28k), all of these accounts make me angry. I spend so much time filming and editing posts only for some T-shirt woodworking account to steal it and gain more followers than me. I don't care what size the account is that is sharing it. I report them and block them. These accounts are stealing content and making money from stolen content. It makes me sick seeing these accounts have #ad in posts because I know they didn't work hard to get where they are.
  - kelnos 8y ago
    I would expect that reporting them doesn't do all that much, since Instagram doesn't really have an incentive to make that right for you (unless, of course, you're a large content creator with a ton of followers; in that case, I'm sure Instagram does want to keep you happy). Instead, file a DMCA takedown notice with Instagram referencing the stolen work. They're required by law to comply and take it down. I expect that most content thieves won't see it as worth it to contest the takedown and open themselves up to legal liability.
    - overcast 8y ago
      Not true at all, I've reported MANY of my unauthorized posts and all have been swiftly dealt with by Instagram. In my experience, they take it seriously when you provide proof of your post, and theirs.
joshuawright11 8y ago
Genuinely curious, are there any sort of legal rights or entitlements for people who share memes/funny pictures on social media? I don't disagree that FuckJerry's behavior is pretty shady, but cmon... the entire meme community is pretty much built on reposts. Isn't that the whole point of sharing stuff on social media. Why are people acting so entitled? Seems to me they just saw the huge revenue pie and want a piece.
- nickthegreek 8y ago
  There is no stopping meme accounts and I do see 'original creators' getting upset at the lack of credit in the reposts. The most common answer is, if you care, watermark your work.
  - seanwalker08 8y ago
    I've got buddies on Instagram that watermark their work and when it gets stolen do you think people are going to look at the watermark and go follow them? It doesn't do anything for the original creator on Instagram.
    - jessaustin 8y ago
      Perhaps the problem is that the watermark itself does not function as a link? If the platform wanted to, it could treat any "registered" watermark as a link to the original poster on that same platform. This wouldn't help when the watermark gets cropped or scrambled, but that's more work... maybe there is room in the jpeg file for an "invisible" canonical link to be encoded? If not then future image formats should totally do this.
      - smacktoward 8y ago
        The problem is that "curators" like FJ will just crop out the watermark. That's what makes these accounts so uniquely infuriating. They're not accidentally omitting credit out of laziness or ignorance. They do extra work to make sure the original creator gets cut out of the loop.
joemi 8y ago
Maybe it's because I'm not trying to market anything myself, but I have no respect at all for reposters. Further, I think reposters should never be called "curators" and to confuse the two is just giving power/legitimacy to the reposters.
- btmiller 8y ago
  Seems to me that disgust for the practice grows exponentially with reposter's audience size. If I see something worth resharing with friends, I'd never consider Instagram as an outlet to do so. Instead, I opt for a personal sharing channel like a DM or iMessage thread.
  - iratewizard 8y ago
    Eric Bauman is a great case study as eBaumsWorld has lived its full life cycle and he was one of the first 3rd party aggregation pirates that reached international success.
    - astrodust 8y ago
      Fuck that guy too.
  - seanwalker08 8y ago
    Although that was initially my feelings (when an account steals my content, I would view their account size and get pissed when they had more followers than me) but now I feel equally pissed at every account that steals my content. If it's a legitimate account that's sharing it i'm fine, but if it's an account that only shares other peoples posts, I report and block them. They shouldn't be able to make money from other peoples posts. Instagram should at least attempt to do something about this issue other than relying on users to report them. All of these accounts have similar patterns on how they operate. They shouldn't be too difficult to find.
  - kelnos 8y ago
    I think intent and circumstances matter. If you have a private account and only allow people you know to follow you, and you repost something, that's a lot different from having a public account where your purpose is to amass followers and try to monetize.
rkho 8y ago
Instagram's IP guidelines are a complete joke. Go deep enough down the rabbit hole and you're going to find a bunch of accounts doing nothing but reposting memes, images from video games, and video clips from TV shows.
- kevindong 8y ago
  You really don't need to go deep at all. Much like Facebook and Twitter, a very large chunk of the most popular accounts just shamelessly steal other people's content.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
prklmn 8y ago
I wonder how viable a class action lawsuit by the content owners against him would be.
- rchaud 8y ago
  It'd be hard for them to prove that they were the originator of the meme, simply because there is no 'reverse image search' for a meme template; they're designed to be as generic as possible, so that you can mark it up with text that's relatable to your audience.
jelliclesfarm 8y ago
I was under the impression that the whole point of a meme was to be copied and distributed. Aren’t those who are offended kinda missing the point? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme [..]A meme (/miːm/ MEEM[1][2][3]) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture—often with the aim of conveying a particular phenomenon, theme, or meaning represented by the meme.[4] A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures.[5] Proponents theorize that memes are a viral phenomenon that may evolve by natural selection in a manner analogous to that of biological evolution. Memes do this through the processes of variation, mutation, competition, and inheritance, each of which influences a meme's reproductive success. Memes spread through the behavior that they generate in their hosts. Memes that propagate less prolifically may become extinct, while others may survive, spread, and (for better or for worse) mutate. Memes that replicate most effectively enjoy more success, and some may replicate effectively even when they prove to be detrimental to the welfare of their hosts.[6][..]
- joshu 8y ago
  You are conflating two different things. Originally memes (the notion of idea + transmissibility) with analogy to genes. And image macros and other internet frippery.
  - jelliclesfarm 8y ago
    I understand. I know memes as in Dawkins’ ‘meme’..but isn’t it the same principle..if it isn’t viral, then it doesn’t live it’s purpose? Hence, Not A Meme.
mavaddat 8y ago
Internet comedian Vic Berger made a parody video clowning on FuckJerry and exposing their theft of comedian's material. These guys dismiss requests or pleas from content creators to (at least) please put creators' names on the material that they re-post. So predictably, one of the FuckJerry team (their chief content officer James Ryan Ohliger aka “Krispyshorts”) filed a false DMCA on the video and had it pulled from YouTube. Here is that video: https://vimeo.com/315339461 https://vimeo.com/315339461
hnzix 8y ago
Joke stealing is not a new phenomenon [0]. See Joe Rogan calling out Carlos Mencia [1], or the recent Amy Schumer accusations. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke_theft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke_theft [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdugSUFbzws https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdugSUFbzws
visionsxxl 8y ago
Giphy built their business scrubbing tumblr for gifs and reposting on their servers. Stolen from countless gif artists with zero repercussions.
miker64 8y ago
Instagram's lack of a re-post feature is specifically because their platform was meant for original works, not memes or reposts. It's dismaying that they aren't standing behind that.
ykevinator 8y ago
We spend too much money trying to protect things that don't take much time or effort to make.

124 points by danso 8y ago

Similar view from someone who had content stolen - https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/vic-berger-opinion-cancel-fuck-jerry-media-789699/ https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/vic-be...

eltoozero 8y ago
That’s good to see Vic writing for RS, like to see him busy.

qgsrw3fd 8y ago

As an end user, I'm happy that curators exist. Not talking about this "Fuck Jerry" individual in particular, but I follow many meme accounts that just repost stuff, and they are great value for me, because I don't want to, instead, follow thousands of creators and have to scroll through thousands of posts that aren't really that good.

andyfleming 8y ago
I agree that there's some value to curation. It'd be nice to see it built in as a first-class feature. Let someone repost, but automatically credit the original poster. Also maybe do some sort of revenue split on ads. 30% to the curator and 70% to the original creator or something along those lines.
- P_I_Staker 8y ago
  Isn't that just a retweet? I'm not much of social media guy, but it's there no re-graming or inst-again, or similar?
  - qgsrw3fd 8y ago
    No. Instagram has refused to add that feature.
seanwalker08 8y ago
As a user with a decent amount of followers(almost 28k), all of these accounts make me angry. I spend so much time filming and editing posts only for some T-shirt woodworking account to steal it and gain more followers than me. I don't care what size the account is that is sharing it. I report them and block them. These accounts are stealing content and making money from stolen content. It makes me sick seeing these accounts have #ad in posts because I know they didn't work hard to get where they are.
- kelnos 8y ago
  I would expect that reporting them doesn't do all that much, since Instagram doesn't really have an incentive to make that right for you (unless, of course, you're a large content creator with a ton of followers; in that case, I'm sure Instagram does want to keep you happy). Instead, file a DMCA takedown notice with Instagram referencing the stolen work. They're required by law to comply and take it down. I expect that most content thieves won't see it as worth it to contest the takedown and open themselves up to legal liability.
  - overcast 8y ago
    Not true at all, I've reported MANY of my unauthorized posts and all have been swiftly dealt with by Instagram. In my experience, they take it seriously when you provide proof of your post, and theirs.

joshuawright11 8y ago

Genuinely curious, are there any sort of legal rights or entitlements for people who share memes/funny pictures on social media? I don't disagree that FuckJerry's behavior is pretty shady, but cmon... the entire meme community is pretty much built on reposts. Isn't that the whole point of sharing stuff on social media. Why are people acting so entitled? Seems to me they just saw the huge revenue pie and want a piece.

nickthegreek 8y ago
There is no stopping meme accounts and I do see 'original creators' getting upset at the lack of credit in the reposts. The most common answer is, if you care, watermark your work.
- seanwalker08 8y ago
  I've got buddies on Instagram that watermark their work and when it gets stolen do you think people are going to look at the watermark and go follow them? It doesn't do anything for the original creator on Instagram.
  - jessaustin 8y ago
    Perhaps the problem is that the watermark itself does not function as a link? If the platform wanted to, it could treat any "registered" watermark as a link to the original poster on that same platform. This wouldn't help when the watermark gets cropped or scrambled, but that's more work... maybe there is room in the jpeg file for an "invisible" canonical link to be encoded? If not then future image formats should totally do this.
    - smacktoward 8y ago
      The problem is that "curators" like FJ will just crop out the watermark. That's what makes these accounts so uniquely infuriating. They're not accidentally omitting credit out of laziness or ignorance. They do extra work to make sure the original creator gets cut out of the loop.

joemi 8y ago

Maybe it's because I'm not trying to market anything myself, but I have no respect at all for reposters. Further, I think reposters should never be called "curators" and to confuse the two is just giving power/legitimacy to the reposters.

btmiller 8y ago
Seems to me that disgust for the practice grows exponentially with reposter's audience size. If I see something worth resharing with friends, I'd never consider Instagram as an outlet to do so. Instead, I opt for a personal sharing channel like a DM or iMessage thread.
- iratewizard 8y ago
  Eric Bauman is a great case study as eBaumsWorld has lived its full life cycle and he was one of the first 3rd party aggregation pirates that reached international success.
  - astrodust 8y ago
    Fuck that guy too.
- seanwalker08 8y ago
  Although that was initially my feelings (when an account steals my content, I would view their account size and get pissed when they had more followers than me) but now I feel equally pissed at every account that steals my content. If it's a legitimate account that's sharing it i'm fine, but if it's an account that only shares other peoples posts, I report and block them. They shouldn't be able to make money from other peoples posts. Instagram should at least attempt to do something about this issue other than relying on users to report them. All of these accounts have similar patterns on how they operate. They shouldn't be too difficult to find.
- kelnos 8y ago
  I think intent and circumstances matter. If you have a private account and only allow people you know to follow you, and you repost something, that's a lot different from having a public account where your purpose is to amass followers and try to monetize.

rkho 8y ago

Instagram's IP guidelines are a complete joke. Go deep enough down the rabbit hole and you're going to find a bunch of accounts doing nothing but reposting memes, images from video games, and video clips from TV shows.

kevindong 8y ago
You really don't need to go deep at all. Much like Facebook and Twitter, a very large chunk of the most popular accounts just shamelessly steal other people's content.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

prklmn 8y ago

I wonder how viable a class action lawsuit by the content owners against him would be.

rchaud 8y ago
It'd be hard for them to prove that they were the originator of the meme, simply because there is no 'reverse image search' for a meme template; they're designed to be as generic as possible, so that you can mark it up with text that's relatable to your audience.

jelliclesfarm 8y ago

I was under the impression that the whole point of a meme was to be copied and distributed. Aren’t those who are offended kinda missing the point? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme [..]A meme (/miːm/ MEEM[1][2][3]) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture—often with the aim of conveying a particular phenomenon, theme, or meaning represented by the meme.[4] A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures.[5] Proponents theorize that memes are a viral phenomenon that may evolve by natural selection in a manner analogous to that of biological evolution. Memes do this through the processes of variation, mutation, competition, and inheritance, each of which influences a meme's reproductive success. Memes spread through the behavior that they generate in their hosts. Memes that propagate less prolifically may become extinct, while others may survive, spread, and (for better or for worse) mutate. Memes that replicate most effectively enjoy more success, and some may replicate effectively even when they prove to be detrimental to the welfare of their hosts.[6][..]

joshu 8y ago
You are conflating two different things. Originally memes (the notion of idea + transmissibility) with analogy to genes. And image macros and other internet frippery.
- jelliclesfarm 8y ago
  I understand. I know memes as in Dawkins’ ‘meme’..but isn’t it the same principle..if it isn’t viral, then it doesn’t live it’s purpose? Hence, Not A Meme.

mavaddat 8y ago

Internet comedian Vic Berger made a parody video clowning on FuckJerry and exposing their theft of comedian's material. These guys dismiss requests or pleas from content creators to (at least) please put creators' names on the material that they re-post. So predictably, one of the FuckJerry team (their chief content officer James Ryan Ohliger aka “Krispyshorts”) filed a false DMCA on the video and had it pulled from YouTube. Here is that video: https://vimeo.com/315339461 https://vimeo.com/315339461

hnzix 8y ago

Joke stealing is not a new phenomenon [0]. See Joe Rogan calling out Carlos Mencia [1], or the recent Amy Schumer accusations. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke_theft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke_theft [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdugSUFbzws https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdugSUFbzws

visionsxxl 8y ago

Giphy built their business scrubbing tumblr for gifs and reposting on their servers. Stolen from countless gif artists with zero repercussions.

miker64 8y ago

Instagram's lack of a re-post feature is specifically because their platform was meant for original works, not memes or reposts. It's dismaying that they aren't standing behind that.

ykevinator 8y ago

We spend too much money trying to protect things that don't take much time or effort to make.