For all of the brand-new information and diversions that the Internet brings us each day (and which you closely follow on sites like this one), some of its brightest treasures exist in forum threads from long ago. People with odd image libraries, Photoshop, and too much time on their hands sculpted and collected the amusing and bizarre pictures that still pop up, often without context, to this very day.
ITT Below, we’ve gathered some of the longest and highest quality image threads, with themes like “you nostalgia, you lose,” CAPTCHArt, Caturday, and, of course, animated GIFs. Warning: Any one of these could easily suck up a good portion of your day.
Internet forums being Internet forums and not tidy public squares, there may be some degree of NSFWness in any one of these, although really, if you’re spending all of your time reading image threads, you’re probably long gone already.
1. You nostalgia, you lose [link]
A classic imageboard pastime, “you nostalgia, you lose” consists of people, and is always the most interesting of the “you X you lose” family. This enormous NeoGAF thread unearths enough prized relics of the ’80s and ’90s to make us all losers many times over.
2. Star Wars characters Photoshopped into great works of art [Part 1, Part 2, Part 3]
This incredible series of Worth1000 Photoshop contests places Star Wars characters in classic works of art. Perfect for art geeks and geek geeks alike.
CAPTCHArt, or works of art MSPaint inspired by those squiggly CAPTCHA codes some websites make you type in to post or comment, is making a comeback lately since 4chan implemented it recently, but we’ve got to give Something Awful credit for pioneering the form. This is also the origin of Internet hero Responsibility Scallop.
4. Animated GIFs [link]
Who doesn’t love animated GIFs? Well, aside from lame-os with slow Internet connections. This Cracked thread, dating back to the era when David Wong‘s Pointless Waste of Time was a sovereign nation, may melt your mind, but it’ll be worth it.
5. Sad Keanu [link]
The Sad Keanu meme has yet to prove its longevity, but the odds are fairly good that it’ll endure: Even if not, this eBaumsworld megathread proves what the human spirit can accomplish when Photoshop and a forlorn-looking celebrity with a sandwich collide.
6. Destroy the picture above you [link]
Really creative, occasionally horrifying thread that really has to be taken as a whole to be appreciated: Each person attempts to destroy the picture above them by posting its weakness below, which the next person tries to destroy with their own posting. So field of cotton is defeated by fire, which is defeated by water … it gets far loopier than that. This is the most NSFW of the threads we’re posting here, so take care; also, if you want to see endless Chris Hansen vs. Pedobear combos, you won’t be disappointed.
7. Can’t believe it’s not Photoshop [link]
Things that are so ridiculous, you can’t believe they exist in real life. Another mega-long PWoT holdover, and deeply satisfying.
8. Caturday [metalink]
Funnily-captioned cats have become the clichéd go-to Internet meme, but they have a long and vibrant history, whippersnapper. Cromely has tirelessly rounded up a list of Fark Caturday threads going back to 2007 that you may bask in that rich history, and see that even back then, people were complaining about LOLcats.
