E3 2017: How the Shack Meme Wall Works

Quakeholio. Shugashack. The Shack. “That black-and-green website.” If one or more of those names mean anything to you, you know a least a smidge of Shack history and what makes us more than just another website covering the games industry. If you're new, welcome! You're in for a helluva ride.

Shacknews turned 21 years old this past February. Last year at E3 we rang in the big 2-0 by hosting our very own booth at E3. We’re back this year, and like an Apple product, our second annual booth is bigger and better than its first-gen predecessor. Not only will we be broadcasting live from the event,  our booth hosts the Meme Wall, a veritable canvas of Shacknews in-jokes and historical references derived from over two decades of Chatty tomfoolery.

Maybe you're a regular in our Chatty community, someone who posts so frequently as to put "[fry]" or "virus" to shame, but you've forgotten some of our greatest hits. Or maybe you're a lurker, a newcomer to these parts, and are wondering just what a Chatty is and how you can become a part of it. Either way, our meme wall will serve you well—if, that is, you can decipher its content.

Think of this article as your cipher to decoding the meme wall. Below, you'll find a snapshot of the wall and an explanation of its contents. If you plan to attend E3—they sold tickets to the public, you know—come see us in the West Hall of the Convention Center, put your feet up in our lounge area, and watch our live coverage.

The Meme Wall

The Meme wall puts some of the Chatty community's favorite memes on full display for E3 passersby to enjoy. Curious as to what one or more of them mean? Take a stroll down memory lane by perusing the definitions (and links to the Shack Wiki or comment threads where available) below.

• God Hands: Not everyone sees this image, created by Chatty user edgewise, as the homage to goatse that it is. Some of your older relatives might have tagged you in this image on Facebook. To them, this image of beatific hands pulling clouds wide is proof that the Almighty exists. Break the truth behind “God Hands” to them gently. 
• SM Virus:  One of our regulars, virus has become Chatty's de facto point of contact for any and all questions, comments, concerns, and idle thoughts related to certain products. "SM" stands for Shack Message, the Chatty community's private messaging service.
• NUKE'D: When a post gets nuked, it's no longer viewable to anyone. Ever. Unless you know the password and secret handshake.
• Dinosaur Comics: Remember the dinosaur comic where every panel was the same except for the text spoken by the two rampaging dinos? Shacker "boring gegtik" wrote some of those. We're very proud of him.
• $300 Jeans:  Chatty poster ArizonaBay took great pride in his fashion sense. His $300 jeans reflected his refined taste.
• Shack Crest: Lamp, Sand, and Lime: Lamp, Sand, and Lime is the hydra of Shack memes, its three heads each a separate meme that, together, resulted in the Shacknews crest.
• I ATE A CAT: Some Chatty users with exceptionally long stories to tell like to whet appetites by writing a post alluding to their tale, and then leave Chatty hanging as they type out the full story. In what is believed to be the earliest instance of this meme, fellow community member pupismyname, impatient for details, filled the gap with this supposition. “I ATE A CAT” became a standard reply given to any Chatty member who lacked the Shack etiquette to type out his or her story before teasing it.   

• y u throw chip?:  Not all Shack memes originated on the Shack. This one came from Something Awful, and we liked it enough to assimilate it. The story goes that a guy and his friend, feeling boisterous, began tossing chips (French fries) at a Burger King. One piece of greasy shrapnel struck the girlfriend of a Korean man making his way up a set of stairs. The Korean gentleman, possessing only a fleeing grasp of the English language, stormed up to the two friends and shouted “WHY YOU THROW CHIP?” The guilty party, reasonably enough, explained what had happened and apologized. That wasn’t good enough for the Korean gentleman, who made as if to walk away only to turn and throw a punch. A brawl ensued, the police were called, the friends made a clean getaway, and a Shack meme was born.
• Ham and Cheese Sandwich: Shortly after Shacknews CEO Asif Khan purchased our little corner of the Internet, a Shacker asked him how much the acquisition set him back. This Shacker no doubt expected an answer with at least three (maybe two) zeroes at the end. Asif, however, is sticking to his story: Shack cost him a ham sandwich, not a penny more or less.
• Part of my daily wages are restaurant tickets: Chatty member hamgasm hates his job. If part of your daily wages were restaurant tickets, you would too.
• Thirsty Deer:  Take a look at the deer head mounted atop the Shack Crest. That regal creature stems from this Shack meme, which started with an Apple joke that fell flat and ended with a Photoshopped image of a deer drinking water. This one might be the most inside of inside jokes, but it's still worth revisiting.

• RIP DON:  Ever had a friend who ended all of his or her messages with a cryptic, annoying, and/or dumb signature? While trying to sell a bike on Craigslist, Chatty user Slowtreme heard from an interested party who ended every text message with "R.I.P. DON." RIP indeed, Don. Helluva ride.
• Lamp, Sand, Lime: See "Shack Crest" above.
• [lol]:  Chatty is something of an open-source endeavor. Some of our most passionate community members give of their time and energy to create extensions for our little corner of the Web. ThomW's claim to fame is the Shack [lol]script, a way to mark a Chatty post as funny—ironically or otherwise.
• Hover Boards: Do you like hover boards? Yes or no? This meme stemmed from Marty McFly’s pink hover board in Back to the Future 2 and a post from new user Dgriffin04. Ms. Griffin found her way to Chatty via the Latest Chatty app on the iTunes App Store. She liked to write in pink text and, speaking of all things Mattel, made an earnest case to Chatty that hover boards were real, had been invented during the 1980s, but were squelched because the powers that be deemed them unsafe. Chatty disagreed with her account of past events. 
• I accidentally a car:  Chatty community member spect3r expressed interest in a snazzy-looking car posted to eBay—more interest than he intended, it turns out, because he accidentally bought it. Hence, "I accidentally" became a running Shack joke for any occasion in which any of us kind-of-but-not-really-accidentally purchase anything, especially something one would not want to purchase by accident.
• Quake vs Unreal:  Like Ranger in a hotly contested deathmatch on Q1DM6, Shacknews spawned as a Quake fansite. Then Unreal came along. Crips versus Bloods. iHop or Denny's. Quake vs Unreal. Our community has been divided ever since.
• Shugashack logo: Shack was born Quakeholio, a Quake-oriented fansite. "Shugashack" was a rebranding that reflected the site's evolution into an outlet that covered industry news and events outside the id Software sphere.
• Girlshack:  A mythical paradise where the female populace of Chatty rise to power as mods, post pictures of guinea pigs when posts are nuked, and generally rule with an iron fist. We’d all be better off. I've been told Pinterest is Girlshack's base of operations until they put their plan to take over Chatty into action.
• Dadshack:  Founded in 1996, Shacknews started as a gathering place for users who, by and large, met two criteria: loved id Software's Quake game, and were young and unattached. As the years passed, our members brought future Shackers into the world. Consequently, the content of their Chatty posts shifted from stories of all-nighters playing Quake and Battlefield 1942 to all-nighters comforting sick kiddos.
• Sexy gentleman wearing a sombrero:  Shacknews founder Steve Gibson (aka "sTeve," aka "sCary") hanging out at a Shack meet-up. New and old, Quake fan or Unreal pagan, every Shacker owes their ties to our community to Steve. Just be prepared to find another way to kill time at work when he inevitably drops a server and takes Shack offline for an agonizingly long period of time.   
• MY GIRLFRIEND: Some Shackers like to slip mentions of their girlfriends into casual conversation. Chatty, being a reasonable bunch, interpreted these mentions as subtle bragging.
• Television. Had quite a bit of work experience.:  Shack founder Stevve Gibson once made a typo, accidentally misspelling "television" as "telivision." Because he held the keys to the kingdom, he did what no other Shack can do: he went into the database and edited his post. Editing! On Shacknews! Unfortunately, Steve flipped the wrong switch and temporarily changed every Chatty post to "Television, had quite a bit of work experience."   

• BUT SHOW THEM TO ME:  Kids say the darndest things. Take Chatty user zakazi's 6-7-year-old nephew, who was so desperate to see naked ladies on the Internet that his uncle found "NAKED GIRLS BUT SHOW THEM TO ME" in his search history.    Bored Edgewise: Meet edgewise. Another regular from Chatty's ranks, edgewise once attended a Shackmeetand was photographed paying Guitar Hero. The expression on his face suggests that he was immortalized during a moment of extreme concentration or extreme ennui.
• Uncle Sam:  Shacknews used to get you chicks, per our previous slogan. In point of fact, some members of our community did meet on Chatty and tie the knot. In 2016, Shack CEO Asif Khan did away with "It Gets You Chicks" and rolled out "Do it For Shacknews," a more fitting call to action. Whatever you do, wherever you do it, do it for the Shack community. Then tell us about it. And share pics + divx or I regret to inform you that it simply did not happen.   
• Thanks.txt:  For some Chatty members, some faux pas are too much to handle. A "thanks.txt" post is, theoretically, a user's farewell to the community.

David Craddock

Long Reads Editor

David L. Craddock writes fiction, nonfiction, and grocery lists. He is the author of the Stay Awhile and Listen series, and the Gairden Chronicles series of fantasy novels for young adults. Outside of writing, he enjoys playing Mario, Zelda, and Dark Souls games, and will be happy to discuss at length the myriad reasons why Dark Souls 2 is the best in the series. Follow him online at davidlcraddock.com and @davidlcraddock.