Writer, content creator, and media expert Ariane told Bored Panda that people need attention, approval, and love. "It’s a human need to want approval from others, and there are far more people available to provide approval online than in real life," she explained why so many individuals want to go viral and make a splash online.

"Online validation is also there forever for everyone to witness. It’s a rare person who is completely impervious to the thrall of millions of strangers liking what they do—it’s exciting and boosts your self-esteem."

Media expert Mike, from LA, sees people's desire for fame online as a way to massage one's ego. "Trying to go viral and get recognition online is really mostly about ego. Everyone wants recognition, everyone wants their fifteen minutes of fame, and getting it online is a relatively easy way to do it, all from the comfort of your home," he told Bored Panda.

According to Ariane, there are definitely more content creators now than ever, but that doesn't mean that all of their content is going to be especially strong. "If you’re an exceptional creator you’ll still stand out," she said that quality content tends to get noticed in the sea of information. "Of course, the more followers you have, the more chance there is that people are going to see, like, and share your content, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to break through."

For her, the two main things that help creators stand out online are the quality of the content creator's work and how prolific they are. "Post content daily if you can, but don’t compromise on quality as a result," she told Bored Panda that consistency and quality are very important.

"Speed is key if you produce topical/reactive content. But again, it’s better not to post than to post something substandard. Creating and maintaining an online presence does take work and effort, but it’s a really fun thing to do. If it feels like work, you’re doing it wrong!"

From Mike's perspective, it's very difficult to stand out online. "Anyone can create content, but you’re competing against literally tens of millions of users to create memorable content. It takes a lot of work, and can easily become what feels like a second job," he warned that internet fame can be very time-consuming.

"To stand out online, what you post has to be carefully crafted. Quality content stands out online. Think it through carefully, ask yourself, 'Is what I’m posting memorable, inspirational, informative, funny, will it make people think, or feel good, or start a conversation?' If it doesn’t meet any of those benchmarks, it’s probably not going to stand out and go viral. There’s a lot of junk out there, it takes effort to rise above it," he said.

Previously, a few of the moderators helping run r/madlads spoke to Bored Panda and we got a feel for the (sometimes overwhelming) energy that the entire team has. They definitely love having fun, enjoy proper banter, and are living proof that the pen is mightier than the sword.

For instance, moderator u/RalphiesBoogers gave us an interview under the condition that we call them the greatest mod that Reddit has ever known. 

However, some moderators believe that the r/madlads subreddit was “completely ruined” after legendary YouTuber PewDiePie, Felix Kjellberg, uploaded a video about the community.

"We got flooded with his meme-spewing preteen fan army who are incapable of understanding that 'madlad' is ironic,” redditor u/steveofftheinternet told us that a subreddit that was purely ironic was ‘invaded’ by a lot of new members who completely misunderstood what the group was all about.

“Mad-laddery is when you do something incredibly mundane, such as making spaghetti, sweeping the hallway, or being a Bored Panda writer, and then acting like it's the craziest thing ever,” moderator u/N8theGr8 gave a few examples of what the original intent of the subreddit was. However, the culture of the sub changed after the group went viral online.

According to u/N8theGr, r/madlads was created in response to an image of "a guy putting a pan or something on his head and everyone else being like whaaaaaaaaat.” That’s all you really need to know about the roots of the community. Deeply steeped in irony. So sarcastic, you can practically feel it through the screen.

"I don't know if I want to encourage too many madlads, since the last time we got too popular some impressionable kid put sugar on their already Frosted Flakes, and it was chaos,” the moderator suggested that too much popularity on the internet isn’t always a good thing. Quality members might be better than having a ton of random followers in some cases.

Bored Panda wanted to know where the line is between something madladdish and something that clearly isn’t. 

"Contrary to popular belief, it's not an actual physical line like the International Date Line or that line you dance on when line dancing. It's also not a picket line, as those individuals who are fighting the bourgeois against the exploitation of labor under a system of capital are not to be dismissed as mere mad lads, but compatriots in the fight against our chains of oppression. It's also not rickrolling, since that joke is like 30 years old," the moderators had fun misinterpreting the question and showing off their banter skills.

“For the most part, we just try to manipulate the price of GME. The main point of this subreddit really is to manipulate the NYSE and various other currency markets. The majority of our posts are code for market movements. We decisively curate and control the information here in order to send clear market signals that our followers use as predictors. I understand your skepticism, but that's how it works,” mod u/RalphiesBoogers joked that the main goal of r/madlads is to manipulate the stock market for financial gain.

They added, jokingly, “The other mods will say what they're paid to say. Just to be clear though, everything I said is true.” 

Mod u/RalphiesBoogers stressed that the term madlad itself is very open to being misinterpreted by the public.

“It's about people who take something very mild and comment on social media as though it is not. However, most of the users here are like 12 so they think it's all about being actually wacky or being a first-world anarchist or something,” they said that the art of recognizing irony has been lost (or never learned in the first place) by many.

“Truly, this misconception plagues the subreddit in ways that have cost the dow several hundred points this past week. r/madlads isn't about being mad. It's about taking way too much excitement in mildness or mundane things, and also driving Dogecoin to the moon,” the moderator quipped.

According to the mod, more people now than ever want fame and love, and attention online. “I see everyone, everywhere, screaming for attention and trying to stand out all the time endlessly, and careers being constantly pursued to become the next wacky social media star,” they told Bored Panda.