Shitpost

Shitposting is an internet slang expression, with several varying meanings, depending on the context.

It usually refers to the non-conforming behavior of users, or to the creation of off-topic posts and memes, that are way out of context and serve to push the conversation of its original path.

“Shitposts” are almost always low quality, with little to no concrete value and are mostly made for trolling others.

“Shitposting” as an act has its roots in the early 20^th century art movement, called Dadaism, which was defined by its out of context creations, as well as its deliberately provocative compositions, with an intentional low quality.

The earliest known documented case of the term “shitpost” comes from the Something Awful forums, from 2007, when reflecting on useless posts.

The term made its appearance on Urban Dictionary in 2008 and had been adopted by the communities of message boards and forums, such as Reddit and 4chan.

During the 2010’s, “shiposting” became closely associated with memes and a larger and larger amount of out of context memes were created and uploaded to the internet.

Some say, that “shitposting” has a strong influence, thanks to meme magic and some even attribute the results of the 2016 U.S. presidential election to the power of “shitposting”.

• New Statesman – What is shitposting? And why does it matter that the BBC got it wrong?
• The Guardian – BBC podcast’s attempt to define ‘shitposting’ leaves viewers baffled