You Can Help By Expanding It refers to a line often found in Wikipedia that encourages users to add to the entry. Online, people have places the title of a violent or offensive article on top of the "you can help by expanding it" like and an image of a smiling character. The "expanding" thus means to continue the acts detailed on the page, rather than adding to the information.

The earliest available instance of this meme as an image macro appeared on MemeCenter in 2015. MemeCenter^[1] user sremil2011 posted a screenshot of the Wikipedia entry for "List of terrorist incidents in Great Britain" above the line "This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it" and a middle eastern man smiling, referencing Islamophobic stereotypes about terrorism and Islam. The post (shown below) received more than 640 likes in two years.

Precursor

Before becoming an image macro, the line was often featured in Screenshots of Despair. Much like the macro, images of the line were taken literally for comedic purposes.

Over the next few years, people online began placing next to images of characters, such as Batman and "Bolbi Stroganovsky":memes/bolbi-stroganovsky, to express exaggerated excitement. On April 2nd, 2017, Instagram ^[2] user @sp00py_is_my_middle_name posted an image of the line from the "List of school massacres" Wikipedia between pictures of Batman frowning and smiling (shown below, left). Two weeks later, on April 20th, Facebook ^[3] user CrusaderDante posted one with Stroganovsky (shown below, right). Two days later, Redditor ^[4] posted the meme on the /r/dankmemes subreddit, garnering more than 3,500 points (91% upvoted) and 60 comments in five months.

On July 31st, Facebook^[6] user comemenism posted the line and the entry for "Victims of Communism" super-imposed over a picture of Joseph Stalin. The post (shown below) received more than 1,000 reactions, 180 shares and 80 comments in three months.