Trevor is a familiar face here on Bored Panda. We’ve written previously about his other Facebook group “The Best and Worst of Twitter 2” several times. It’s a place for interesting takes on almost everything from X (formerly Twitter) and is second in popularity amongst all of Trev’s curated groups. 

“Memes I Wish I Could Tag My Cat In” takes the crown as the first with 339 thousand members as of September 2023. There are 14 groups in total on Trevbook (a term you’ll notice many times in this article) – some cute, some funny, some NSFW. Trev says he created the group to honor the supreme rulers of the internet – cats. “The idea for this group was inspired by the fact that cats are still the kings of the meme jungle.”

“No other animal, or genre of content, for that matter, really comes close,” he admits. “While there's no shortage of places to go for cat content on the internet, those of us in the world of 'Trevbook' take pride in doing everything our own way – and having our version of something be the best!”

“Memes I Wish I Could Tag My Cat In” has two moderators that assist Trevor with the upkeep of the group. Bonnie is the primary mod and her day involves a lot of coffee, cat snuggles, approving new members (sometimes up to 20,000 in one day!), removing stale memes and pictures of people's cats.

“It's a meme group, people!” she jokes. “There's a bazillion other cat groups where you can post your beloved Fluffykins, Martha!” Bonnie also doesn’t hide her obsession with cats in real life. She has four indoor cats and a small TNR'd ( Trap-Neuter-Return) stray colony that calls her yard their home. “I was an obvious choice for moderator of the Trevbook cat meme group,” she says proudly.

The other moderator David agrees and gives credit to Bonnie and Trev for their work. “My role is to pick up the slack when needed, so when things pop up on my feed I take a look, but Bonnie (or Trev) have usually already dealt with things,” he admits.

Trev believes there’s a logical reason behind why cats are so beloved on the internet. “Cats are the most popular because they are uniquely suitable pets for the kind of person that spends a lot of time online."

"Those of us who spend the most hours on the internet, creating and sharing our own content, tend to be more introverted, indoors individuals. Cats are the perfect indoor pet and are relatively low-maintenance compared to dogs,” shares the creator.

In Trev’s mind, people who own other pets, such as dogs, perhaps spend less time in front of their computers. “Dogs often need a lot of attention and physical exercise, and for a pet owner that means time away from the computer. I'm sure the dog people would make some brilliant memes, but unfortunately they're too busy picking up poop off a sidewalk somewhere so we'll never know.”

Funny cat content has been with us almost from the inception of the internet. “Memes have definitely come a long way,” Trevor agrees. “It is correct to say that the original cat memes, like the 'I Can Haz Cheeseburger?' are mostly seen as cringe today.

That's just the nature of humor in general. Audiences mature and cultures change over time. If someone tries to submit a stale meme to our groups, they are liable to be banished from Trevbook forever. Thankfully, we haven't had too many people insulting our refined taste.”

However, that doesn’t mean there are no novelties in the realm of cat memes. “One current trend that I see becoming more popular as time marches on is using AI to generate hidden text within images of cats,” Trev says. “Frankly, this could be used for some very nefarious purposes, but it could also continue to yield very funny results.”

“I also think cats are increasingly portrayed as sarcastic, grumpy and reluctant companions, which they often are,” Trevor goes on. “Older memes typically focused on the more wholesome side of the feline personality, but like ogres and onions, cats too have many layers. Especially the fat ones.”

“One way we try to be original is in how we run and curate our groups. Most internet communities are run like piping hot dumpster fires. They're akin to a zoo where all the animals have been released from their cages. Thankfully, we run a much tighter ship than that. All of our animals ("members") are kept on a tight leash, and so long as they behave they continue to receive their tasty little meme morsels,” Trevor explains.

Trevor is very passionate about creating safe spaces online. “At Trevbook, we make sure all of our communities are inclusive,” he says. “Anyone, regardless of their identity or background, will feel safe and welcomed. There is a zero tolerance for things like bigotry, which unfortunately is very common in lesser internet spaces.”

Both Bonnie and David agree that other Facebook groups lack in the regulation against bigotry. “Unlike Facebook, Trevbook has no tolerance for the intolerant,” Bonnie says. “The only people that get banned are bigots.”

David attributes Trev’s commitment to inclusivity to why he became one of the moderators. “Most Facebook groups are barely performative at enforcing ‘no hate, no bigotry’ community standards, but Trevor sincerely meant it,” David says.

“Personally responsive and forthcoming, he never quibbled or put up with devil's advocate rhetoric – he simply and eloquently did not tolerate sexism, racism, homophobia, hate or bigotry in any form.”

He and Trev struck up a friendship after some unfortunate events with past moderators. “We've never met in person (but hope to, some day) and I count Trevor as one of my dearest friends,” David tells Bored Panda.

“I learned the hard way how awful people can be in this world and I've pitched more than my share of hardballs in this life,” David opens up. “I'd rather spend my time and experience advocating for responsibility, fairness and kindness – and humor. Trevor telegraphs those values and that gives me hope.”

I felt it almost mandatory to ask the team how they feel about dogs. Bonnie was very clear with her preference: “Cats rule! Kidding… dogs are alright.” David has owned many animals and is more diplomatic: “I've also learned not to to weigh in on the virtues of one over the other because that just turns too quickly into an opportunity for hurt feelings.”

“At present I have a house full of birds, and cats aren't particularly a good mix with them,” David says. “But there are tons of neighborhood cats where I live so I do spend a bit of time talking to them and hearing their views, and leaving them treats.”

Despite occasionally teasing dog people, Trevor says he loves all animals. “My life will likely someday come to an end as a direct result of me petting something I shouldn't have. But, at least I went out doing what I loved. One of my strongest beliefs is that we should try to domesticate bears.” Bonnie seconds him: “Next step, domesticated bears. Can you imagine the memes?”