At the end of the day, in-jokes are great if and ONLY if you're part of the in-group making them. The main problem with memification (is that a word?) on the internet is that it's a lot harder to be part of the "in-group" unless said group is both relatively small (>150 people) and includes a fairly regular communication setup. Diluted amongst tens of thousands, memes turn into "small talk," where instead of actual inside jokes and jargon, they're just the way we know how to talk to strangers without having serious discussion.
There's a few groups I used to belong to on reddit- I left most of them due to time constraints over the last year - that have private Skype rooms and IRC chats, and while they're as circle-jerk-ish as the rest to an outsider, the vibe I wound up with at the time was that of a group of friends just hanging out. We've all done that in real life, where our clique has old stories and references and buzzwords that make no sense to anybody else. It's a form of bonding. But that doesn't seem to scale on Reddit.
At the end of the day, in-jokes are great if and ONLY if you're part of the in-group making them. The main problem with memification (is that a word?) on the internet is that it's a lot harder to be part of the "in-group" unless said group is both relatively small (>150 people) and includes a fairly regular communication setup. Diluted amongst tens of thousands, memes turn into "small talk," where instead of actual inside jokes and jargon, they're just the way we know how to talk to strangers without having serious discussion.
There's a few groups I used to belong to on reddit- I left most of them due to time constraints over the last year - that have private Skype rooms and IRC chats, and while they're as circle-jerk-ish as the rest to an outsider, the vibe I wound up with at the time was that of a group of friends just hanging out. We've all done that in real life, where our clique has old stories and references and buzzwords that make no sense to anybody else. It's a form of bonding. But that doesn't seem to scale on Reddit.