Stephen Forgets That He Isn't On The Internet

Submission 22,772

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About

Stephen Forgets That He Isn't On the Internet is an exploitable image macro series depicting an internet troll starting a conflict with another man in real life. The format has spawned many edits and is typically used by replacing the troll’s word bubble with text someone would use as an online insult, most of which were conceived to take a jab at various online communities and behaviors.

Origin

The original webcomic was published in January 31th, 2001^[1] on the website Geek Culture, as part of a series titled The Joy of Tech!, courtesy of Nitrozac and Snaggy; at that time, it already displayed a bold geek, physically reminiscent of nerdy stereotypes, but one actually in charge of the situation, as depicted below:

The artist and origin of the popular edit are unknown, but it was created no later than January 22nd, 2012, where it appeared on Meme Buzz^[2] (shown below). The picture shows the same man aggressively provoking his much taller interlocutor, with the lower caption changed to: "Stephen forgets that he isn't on the internet." The implication is that he acts as if he still was protected from the consequences of his action by virtue of distance and/or online anonymity.

Spread

Many online have used this artwork as a template for their own memes, where the internet troll stereotype was replaced by another online stereotype, be it for a behavior, community, fandom or meme. On May 5th, 2015, MemeCenter^[3] user metallion uploaded another example to the site depicting a stereotypical anime fan being insulted, receiving several comments (seen below, left). On September 8th, 2016, Tumblr^[4] user dvenuti posted a variant featuring Overwatch character D.va, receiving over 1,029 notes in four years (seen below, right).

Another edit, which focuses on Antifa, was posted on Reddit's /r/The_Donald^[5] on June 11th, 2017, and received over 13,333 points and 270 replies in six months (shown below, left). On January 11th, 2020, an anonymous kontraband^[6] user posted a version referencing PC Master Race, receiving over 134 points in 10 months (shown below, right).