Mike, I’m not around here much any more and have little desire to interact with people on anything of substance, but I stumbled onto this thread and am a bit dismayed that people seem to want to die on hills like this. It’s a motorcycle forum that happens to allow a lot of off topic leeway. It is owned and funded privately and there are rules, some of which are open to interpretation, by design, for reasons Enchanter described. In the past, when things like the definition of a meme are written like a machine part specification, inevitably, someone makes it a game to toe the line and cause issues.
As a non-moderator, let me offer a definition that should serve as a common sense weathervane:
“A political meme is a piece of digital media—typically an image, short video clip, GIF, or altered piece of text—that uses humor, satire, ironies, or pop culture references to communicate a political opinion, mock an opponent, or comment on public policy and current events.”
That’s a response from a GPT tool and it seems to describe the range of things most of us would consider memes. I’d guess you have a sense for when something might be questionable. You get to decide what to do in that case; color inside the lines, or take the chance that the crayon is going to scribble on the tablecloth. It’s not the end of the world either way. What makes it seem more like that is how one chooses to react.
An unmoderated forum soon turns into a place inhabited by five assholes who ran everyone else off. Moderation is not always perfect, but this group tries hard to be fair. I hope you can see that.