What is Downvote Bomb the Fourth Comment in The Chain?

It is a Reddit social game where users downvote the fourth reply in any given comment chain, often under a post that specifically tells them to do so.

Where did Downvote Bomb the Fourth Comment in The Chain come from?

The pattern appeared on Reddit as early as January 2022, when a /r/TooAfraidToAsk thread asked why fourth replies were being buried, and it went viral on July 29, 2022 after Redditor lemmeberedgoddamn posted a meme about it to /r/shitposting.

What does Downvote Bomb the Fourth Comment in The Chain mean?

The idea is that the fourth reply in a chain is usually a redundant, attention-seeking take, so Redditors agreed to pile downvotes on that position as a running joke.

How do you use Downvote Bomb the Fourth Comment in The Chain?

Reply to a thread that calls for the game, typically with just the Moai emoji 🟿, and let the fourth entry in the chain absorb the downvotes from everyone else.

Is Downvote Bomb the Fourth Comment in The Chain still popular?

The game saw its heaviest activity on comedy and meme subreddits in mid-to-late 2022, with notable posts on /r/dankmemes as late as October 2022.

Downvote Bomb the Fourth Comment in The Chain

2022social gamesemi-active

Published November 15, 2026

Downvote Bomb the Fourth Comment in The Chain, also called Downvote the 4th Comment, is a Reddit social game where users pile dislikes onto the fourth reply in any comment chain, often under a post telling them to do so. The convention appeared in early 2022 and took off that July when Redditor lemmeberedgoddamn posted a meme to r/shitposting instructing people to bury the fourth reply. By late 2022, Moai emoji chains had turned into the signature format, with the fourth 🟿 commenter taking the hit.

subreddit origin memes reddit memes participatory game memes comment culture memes 2022 memes

Overview

Under a thread that calls for the game, users build out long reply chains, sometimes with every participant posting the same word, phrase or emoji, and whoever lands in the fourth slot gets flooded with downvotes 1. The Moai emoji 🟿 became the signature payload, with every reply consisting of a single 🟿 and the fourth entry buried by the rest of the thread 3.

The joke can feel self-aware: participants know the fourth spot is doomed before they click reply, and plenty volunteer anyway for the gag 2. On /r/OutOfTheLoop, one of the most upvoted explanations argued that fourth replies tend to bring redundant takes from someone 'just looking for attention,' so burying them fits a kind of folk justice 5.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Reddit (/r/shitposting viral spread)

Date

2022

The earliest documented mention of the game came on January 8, 2022, when a Redditor asked on /r/TooAfraidToAsk why 'the 4th comment specifically gets insanely downvoted' on Reddit chains, a thread that earned around 16 upvotes in nine months 4. On July 25, 2022, a nearly identical question on /r/RandomThoughts drew more than 700 upvotes, and one top answer offered the theory that the fourth commenter is usually 'just looking for attention' with a redundant thought 2.

Four days later, on July 29, 2022, Redditor lemmeberedgoddamn posted a meme to /r/shitposting captioned 'Downvote bomb the 4th comment in the thread,' and that post cleared 10,000 upvotes within three months, the earliest widely shared call to play the game 1.

How It Spread

Through the summer of 2022, Downvote Bomb the Fourth Comment in The Chain moved across meme and comedy subreddits. On July 30, a Redditor asked /r/OutOfTheLoop 'what's up with the 4th comment being downvoted,' and the thread drew more than 190 upvotes as other users explained the inside joke 5.

One day later, on July 31, a post to /r/memes asked users to flood the chain with Moai Emojis, giving the game its visual signature and earning over 5,200 upvotes by October 2022 3. On August 1, Redditor TornSuit posted about the format to /r/ComedyCemetery, which drew more than 1,000 upvotes in two months 6.

By mid-October, the game was in regular rotation on default dank meme feeds: Redditor Cobalt_Korkskrew shared a meme to /r/dankmemes on October 13, 2022 titled 'ah yes the infamous fourth reply to a comment,' which earned over 500 upvotes and 40 comments within five days 7.

Timeline

2022-01-08

A Redditor asks /r/TooAfraidToAsk why the fourth comment on Reddit chains gets 'insanely downvoted,' the earliest documented mention of the pattern [4].

2022-07-25

A /r/RandomThoughts thread raises the same question and clears 700 upvotes, with top answers framing the fourth commenter as attention-seeking [2].

2022-07-29

Redditor lemmeberedgoddamn posts a meme to /r/shitposting captioned 'Downvote bomb the 4th comment in the thread,' the first widely shared call to play [1].

2022-07-30

/r/OutOfTheLoop runs an explanation thread about the pattern, pulling over 190 upvotes [5].

2022-07-31

A /r/memes post asks users to run a Moai emoji chain and downvote the fourth 🟿, cementing the emoji as the format's signature [3].

2022-08-01

Redditor TornSuit posts about the game to /r/ComedyCemetery, which earns over 1,000 upvotes in two months [6].

2022-10-13

Redditor Cobalt_Korkskrew shares a meme about the game to /r/dankmemes [7].

How to Use This Meme

Participants reply to a Reddit thread that calls for the game, typically with the Moai emoji 🟿 and nothing else, so every node in the chain looks identical and the fourth reply takes the downvote hit without earning it 3. Some players count from the parent comment, others from the chain's first reply, and arguments about which position counts as fourth are part of the joke 5.