Original artwork, not a still
Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins
Normal Person + Anonymity + Audience = Total Fuckwad
— Penny Arcade · 1998
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The equation is the internet's first folk theory of trolling: put an ordinary person behind a username in front of a crowd and the worst of them appears. Fans reach for it in every comments-section argument, and it is still cited in discussions of online harassment, long after the game lobbies that prompted it.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Penny ArcadeShow the scene
Penny Arcade published 'Green Blackboards (And Other Anomalies)' on 19 March 2004, a reaction to the behaviour of players in the shooter Unreal Tournament. The strip puts an equation on a blackboard: a normal person, plus anonymity, plus an audience, equals a total jerk (the original uses a stronger word). The comic is written and drawn by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. That June, psychologist John Suler published 'The Online Disinhibition Effect', which gave the idea an academic frame.
Sources (2)
- Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory, Know Your MemepageReference checked
- Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory, Meme.com summarypageReference checked
Context reviewed