Thumbs Up If

About

“Thumbs Up If” is an expression used to preface pleas for users to up vote a comment on the video-sharing site YouTube.

Origin

On August 23rd, 2007, YouTube released an update to its comments section interface that allowed users to “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” comments. On March 25th, 2010, the site rolled out a new “Highest Rated Comments” section, which prominently displayed the highest voted comments in a separate area on the video page.^[2] Soon after, comments containing up vote pleas began appearing on the site.

Spread

On September 9th, 2010, “thumbs up if” comments were mentioned in an article on the Internet news blog Urlesque^[3] about as “proof that humanity is doomed.” On March 14th, 2011, YouTuber ADoseofBuckley uploaded a video titled “YouTube Comments,” in which he laments the thumbs up pleas in comment sections (shown below, left).

On June 1st, the user interface blog UX Movement^[6] published a critique of “thumbs up” and “like” buttons, arguing that the up vote comment games stifle meaningful conversation. On May 7th, 2012, the pop culture blog Seoul Beats^[5] published an article criticizing cliche YouTube comments, listing “thumbs up if” among the examples. On June 27th, the Internet news blog UpRoxx^[4] published a slideshow highlighting screenshots of thumbs up request comments. On March 18th, 2013, YouTuber undertakerfreak1127 uploaded a public service announcement video asking for an end to “thumbs up if” comments.

Notable Examples

“Thumbs up if you agree” is used as a simple appeal for the viewer to up vote a comment if they agree with its premise.

“Thumbs up if X sent you here” asks visitors from specific websites to provide up votes to a comment.

“Thumbs up if you were the X viewer” comments are often used to joke about the frozen view counts displayed for new YouTube videos.

Search Interest

External References