New Tagger Riots

## Belligerents

* **TheOnlyGuyEver**
* **Marmot**
* Player 1 + Player 2
* Around 75% of the active userbase.

* **Bonkspenser**
* Le Tryhard Hunter
* New Taggers
* Around 25% of the active userbase.

The **New Tagger Riots** refer to a period of four to five days wherein a large influx of new taggers arrived on TF2Tags following the combination of advertising efforts by Bonkspenser and Dr. Dos's fixing of a site bug related to logins. These riots are remembered for cementing the idea of the insular nature of First and Second Generation Taggers, though in reality the community was in some ways divided on the issue.

## The Absence of Dr. Dos

On January 7th, 2016, Makin' Bacon posted a set reflecting on the absence of Dr. Dos, who had not appeared on the site since November, when he came to fix to the Taggenings. Makin' brought some grievances up about what the site had become during that time, citing a steady increase in bad taggers, the community's increasing cancerous nature, Sensible Haircut still being banned, no new unusual effects from recent updates, and the slow drain of good jokes forcing people to make shit tags and Undertale references. A handful of similar sentiments were made in the comments.

Not long after, Ulysses would make his own set responding to Makin's. He concluded that Dos was pretty much confirmed to be gone, and in that time it was up to the Taggers to determine how the site would run. He gave the community a simple choice: to form a democracy and wait for Dos's return, or try to force Dos back by "letting all hell break loose". The responses to this set were mixed. Smash Z was all for starting a riot and encouraged Ulysses to start one, to which Mr. Copycat and Egg-Z agreed to join. Others, however were quick to criticize this riot approach. TheOnlyGuyEver advised Ulysses to dial things back a bit, while Relk\_Cehi did as Relk does and called the rioters doofuses. Marmot agreed with Relk's sentiments, and began to wait for things to blow over.

Mr. Copycat quickly went to work trying to incite the riot by making a tag in the same vein as one of Smash's Maximum Overdrive jokes, goading Smash into starting another tagging spree. This, however, never manifested, as instead Smash went about making a set parodying a song from *The Nightmare Before Christmas* about how they were going to kidnap Dr. Dos. Relk went ahead and continued to mock the fledgling rioters, likening them to fat Dorito-eating manchildren. TOGE then expressed a then-unpopular statement that he did not care about Dos being gone, which netted him some misses.

## New Taggers and Subsequent Riots

During this discussion about what should be done about Dos's absence, a slew of new users suddenly began to pour into the site en-masse, and with these users came an equally-large slew of terrible tags that quickly saw a massive number of misses and taggers complaining about them, especially towards one named Bubby, whose tags remain some of the few surviving examples of bad tags from this event.

It is unknown how this information was revealed, but shortly after these new users began to appear, it was found that Bonkspenser had been advertising TF2Tags on other platforms, especially Reddit. The earliest surviving evidence of this information comes from a tag by Mr. Copycat, who was more than content to hide from these new taggers for the time being. Ironically, this was also around the time where a riot *did* actually start to occur, but this one was done in response to these new taggers. Taggers just coming into the site for the day began to jump onto the rioting bandwagon, like Blast (who adopted the persona of "Macho Man" Randy Savage) and even TOGE, who had been against the idea of a riot to bring Dos back, stating that Bonkspenser had doomed everyone. Mr. Copycat then later came out and actually came to the new taggers' defense. He compared blaming new taggers ruining the site to the idea of immigrants coming and taking your jobs. He told everyone to stop acting so closed-minded and perhaps open up to these people. This sentiment was criticized by Qror and Digi, who mocked the controversial real-world comparison.

As the riots continued on into their second day, Marmot returned. While she still criticized people's "crying into their bibs" about Dos's disappearance, she also commented that Bonkspenser "started a flood of morons." While she wouldn't go about any rioting, she would go on to be extremely critical of Bonk through the rest of the event for his actions. Le Tryhard Hunter would later appear and also take a stand against Bonk, asking why he thought it would be a good idea to make the site "mainstream", as mainstream stuff was equivalent to cancer in internet eyes.

During the second day of riots, some taggers tried to take a more constructive approach by attempting to give advice to these new taggers. The first to do this was M3Lucas, who made a somewhat passive-aggressive set outlining basic things for new users to keep track of. Others like Egg-Z would comment on bad tags and give some tips, such as not naming tags after songs and using the description to link a YouTube video of said song. Others, however, would either continue to harang against new taggers or simply make jokes about the situation. On a tag Marmot made about the continued presence of shitposters, Crimson Blitz expressed his disagreement with the popular sentiment of the community, as Bonk's advertising would only make the site more popular and grow, which was a good thing. Marmot would argue against this, as most of the new users were terrible, despite the occasional good new arrival.

As the third day began, TOGE posted a strawpoll, with the question of whether or not Bonk should be executed for ruining the site. The results were 75% in favor of execution, with 25% against. With the community growing more and more angry and aggressive towards Bonk, some began to grow worried at the more radical side of some taggers. Blast, who had been happily rioting up until this point, returned to a cooler head and made a set outlining why the community was so angry at the influx of so many users. He believed it was because the site did not have new users for a long time, and suddenly a bunch of them started flooding in to a site where the status quo was respected. He advised people wait for awhile to see who stays and who goes, and be helpful and welcoming to those deciding to stay while continuing to be aggressive to those refuse help and shitpost. Relk expressed somewhat similar feelings. Having been on the site since around the 30,000th tag, he had seen such patterns happen frequently.

Immediately after this, Le Tryhard Hunter posted a set titled "An Important Announcement". In it, he unveiled that there had been a login bug on TF2Tags for quite some time that prevented people from signing in and, thus, using the site. People had apparently gotten into contact with Dr. Dos about it recently and the error had been fixed on the 5th of January. All of this information could be corroborated through comments on Dos's Steam profile. This meant that Bonkspenser wasn't the one solely responsible for the influx of taggers, and Dr. Dos had not actually abandoned the site after all. With this information in mind, Tryhard went about welcoming the new taggers to the site by starting his own little mini-series he named "TF2Tags Academy", where he would essentially write tutorials about the site.

Unfortunately, Tryhard's revelation would not immediately sway public opinion away from Bonk, as a tag by a user named Corruption would reveal. The comments of this tag showcase most taggers still blaming Bonkspenser for the influx of shitposters, including Marmot, TOGE, Relk, and Makin'. Bonkspenser blame would continue on through the rest of the 9th of January and into the 10th. Things weren't helped by the fact that Bonk wasn't helping his own cause, as a tag by Player 1 + Player 2 revealed that he was following P1P2 into TF2 matches and continued to advertise the site, accusations which Bonk himself did not appear to deny. Bonk would go on to defend his actions, but in his (now deleted) explanation TOGE caught that Bonk seemed to know that the increased amount of shitposters came from his adverts, and wondered why he would even advertise in the first place if he knew this to be the case. Bonk did not respond to this criticism. TOGE would later go on to continue mocking Bonk. As this was going on, Tryhard made his second entry to TF2Tags Academy, which was received positively though some taggers took issue with Tryhard's insistence that one's points on their profile do not matter. Also around this time, Smash Z questioned where the riot about Dr. Dos's tyranny and absence was, as it never seemed to manifest. TOGE commented that rioting and progress contradict each other.

With the Bonkspenser hate continuing, Tryhard made a tag expressing his desire for the harassment to stop, as he had previously proved that Bonk was not entirely responsible and thus undeserving of the community's full rage. Crimson Blitz agreed wholeheartedly with the sentiment, likening it to the way the community treated CP during the Banning of AFI back in August 2015. New tagger Twelve Hour Respawn, who had joined the site after the login error was fixed, cited that bug being fixed as the main reason for the tagger influx. He admits that he had been trying to use the site since July 2015, and only now could he do it. Marmot, however, defended the anti-Bonk side, stating that it was half his fault, noting that he still continuously advertised a website that largely wanted to be left alone. Legownz appeared and expressed mixed feelings, stating that he was mad at Bonk for apparently shitposting and spamming during this event but also hoping the community's lesson was learned from the Banning of AFI. P1P2 rejected any sympathy for Bonk, stating he should have known better and that this was deserved.

After this, things slowly began to peter out. The rioting slowed, but was still active through the night. On January 11th, it had nearly stopped entirely. Tryhard posted his third and final entry of TF2Tags Academy, and that tag saw an entire other event occur that took the community's mind off the riots, where they ultimately ended.

## Aftermath and Legacy

The Great Comment Crash initiated on the third entry of TF2Tags Academy, and because of this the riots appeared to come to an end. However, unlike with CP in August, many taggers still held a grudge against Bonkspenser for his part in inciting the riots (as well as his role in the Great Comment Crash which saw the implementation of unpopular comment limits). While he would not be excommunicated from the community, many would look at him differently after this event, which could also be a potential reason for his later change in behavior.

Overall, the New Tagger Riots cemented TF2Tags as a largely insular community that was harsh to outsiders and caring only for those already in the fold of the community. Genuinely new taggers (as in, those that would go on to be considered major) would continue to be a rare occurrence, though some such as Twelve Hour Respawn would sometimes find their way in and achieve great success in the community (THR himself would rise to become the second most-critted tagger of all time for many years, and third overall by the Tagpocalypse). There were also exceptions to this mindset, as displayed in the words of Crimson Blitz, Mr. Copycat, and eventually Le Tryhard Hunter. However, they were a minority at the time.

## Gallery

Makin' Bacon laments the state of the site after two months of no activity from Dr. Dos. Comments show general agreement and discontent with the site's owner.Ulysses responds to Makin's set, insinuating that a riot should be started to force Dos back. There is mixed reception towards this idea.Mr. Copycat attempts to start a riot by calling upon a new Smash Z spree. Sadly, it never manifested......instead Smash made a set about kidnapping Dr. Dos, parodying a song from his favorite move, *A Nightmare Before Christmas*.Relk mocks those who believe Dos has abandoned the site and that a riot would improve anything.TheOnlyGuyEver has similar sentiments, not really caring if Dos is present or not.Greg the Mannequin wants to be informed.As new taggers start appearing, M3Lucas makes an analogy.An example of some of the surviving horrid tags from the influx of new taggers. Bubby's tags are apex examples of the shitposting that occurred during this time.People reject Bubby. Calls for new users to leave seem to be prevalent during this event.This is the first tag by Twelve Hour Respawn, one of the few new taggers who stayed following the riots. He would go on to be one of the highest-performing taggers ever.This is the first time anyone mentioned Bonkspenser's advertising of the site. It is unknown how Copycat got this information (likely from a deleted tag), but this is when the rock-throwing at Bonk starts.Blast is ready to riot.TOGE states that Bonk has doomed the site.Mr. Copycat comes to the defense of the new taggers. Commenters criticize his metaphor.Macho Blast is REALLY getting into riot mode.Marmot, who took a few days off after declaring no participation in any riot, comes back to see the riot bigger than anyone could have predicted.A potential reference to this event made by Makin' Bacon, as it seemed the community did go to "war" against the new taggers.Expand announces a break from tagging. Bonkspenser seems to have commented on this tag regarding his actions. Marmot criticizes him for what he has done.Le Tryhard Hunter asks Bonk why making TF2Tags "mainstream" was a good idea.M3Lucas throws together a quick guide to new taggers on how the site works.A new tagger makes a type of joke typically downvoted: the link-to-music joke. Egg-Z tries to be a good sport and give some advice.Marmot is annoyed at the new taggers. Has an exchange with Crimson Blitz, who is for the new blood.TOGE creates a community poll to hang Bonkspenser for treason.The results of TOGE's poll.Blast simmers down and calmly and rationally explains why people are upset.Tryhard comes to Bonk's defense, revealing that Bonk was not at fault and that Dos hadn't left after all.Tryhard starts a new miniseries to educate the new users in the ways of TF2Tags.A tagger comes by and asks what is going on. The people still seem to be against Bonkspenser.Egg-Z makes a joke somewhat related to the situation.More examples of bad tags by new users.TOGE on the state of TF2Tags.Another bad and overdone tag. The people are still blaming Bonk for this.Bonkspenser had apparently been following Player 1 + Player 2 around on TF2, continuing to advertise the site despite most of the community turning against him for it.Greg makes a joke at Bonk's expense. TOGE and Bonkspenser had an exchange in the comments, but Bonk's comments have been deleted.The second entry of TF2Tags Academy, by Le Tryhard Hunter.TOGE makes a joke at Bonk's expense.Smash Z is disappointed that the riot against Dr. Dos never really manifested.Tryhard once again comes to Bonk's defense. Crimson agrees, noting similarities to the way CP was treated during the Banning of AFI. Marmot points out that Bonk isn't entirely innocent, however.Another red glasses joke.The third entry of TF2Tags Academy. It was here that the riots seemed to have ended, mostly due to this being the tag where the Great Comment Crash began.