It's just a neat little shibboleth for terminally online nerds. There isn't a real joke anymore - like originally it was mocking a terrible webcomic, but at this point the joke is that you recognise the webcomic. It's a more intricate and creative version of the game
It's sort of like a pun with a slightly elaborate setup, except instead of playing with the patterns in words it's playing with patterns in images. Basically, the joke is that it's an elaborate setup for a very stupid payoff.
I've been an internet forum lurker for well on 20-25 years. I see stupid "is this loss" posts every so often. I don't get it and I never will.
:angry Abe Simpson yelling at cloud:
It's just a neat little shibboleth for terminally online nerds. There isn't a real joke anymore - like originally it was mocking a terrible webcomic, but at this point the joke is that you recognise the webcomic. It's a more intricate and creative version of the game
It's for posts that fit the following criteria(parentheses are how it relates to the original comic, cw: it has implications of miscarriage):
-4 panels
-first panel has one person(Dude rushing to the hospital)
-second panel has two people(Dude talking to the nurse)
-third panel has two people(Dude talking to the doctor)
-fourth panel has a person standing and a person laying down(dude seeing his wife in the hospital bed)
You can replace the people with objects or shapes as long as they vaguely resemble a human silhouette.
It's sort of like a pun with a slightly elaborate setup, except instead of playing with the patterns in words it's playing with patterns in images. Basically, the joke is that it's an elaborate setup for a very stupid payoff.