History OlderThanTheyThink / WebOriginal

* There are many people who think the memetic "[[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Who's that Pokémon]]?" "[[ComicallyMissingThePoint It's Pikachu!]]" originated on a Website/{{Vine}} video, but [[TheyCopiedItSoItSucks a different video with the same purpose]] was originally uploaded in 2007 by [=YouTube=] user gameboy659.

* The Virtual Youtuber craze lasted long before characters like WebAnimation/KizunaAI and Kaguya Luna became well known for it. Website/NicoNicoDouga users used to (and still do) use VisualNovel-style 2D avatars when they wanted to do a LetsPlay or make informative videos,[[note]]making them also older than the 2D [=VTuber=] platform Nijianji[[/note]] though they would often use text-to-speech software in place of their own voice.

* [[TheMetaverse A Metaverse]] of connected virtual worlds run by different owners is currently being conceived and designed by companies who think they're pioneers in something that has never been done. ''VideoGame/OpenSimulator'' ''has'' done it as early as 2008 when it introduced the Hypergrid. Nowadays, the Hypergrid connects several thousand big and small grids, at least 95% of all ''[=OpenSim=]'' grids. Also, the term "metaverse" has been used in ''[=OpenSim=]'' circles before 2010 already. Not to mention that it was invented in TheNineties by Creator/NealStephenson for his novel ''Literature/SnowCrash'' and not by [[Website/{{Facebook}} Mark Zuckerberg]] two decades later.

** Interestingly, an UrExample of Youtube Poop can be found in ''WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck in Hollywood'', a [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1938]] short in which Daffy edits a film reel to produce [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWEpbYffbF8 this]].

* Aarrgh, those amateurs all over the Internet who make LeaveTheCameraRunning videos about their private life that nobody is interested in! Surely this phenomenon never existed before the Internet was invented, right? Well... already in the 1960s, Creator/AndyWarhol was making movies in which a shot of the Empire State Building was shown for 24 hours straight or a man was just eating for minutes on end. Also take in account many of Music/JohnLennon and Music/YokoOno's albums, which often feature a lot of audio footage of them fooling around by making weird and often annoying sounds or them expressing their love for one another. Not to mention [[UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood silent-era]] cinema in the Soviet Union, such as ''Film/ManWithAMovieCamera'', which were quick scenes of ordinary people doing ordinary things.

* Based on comments on Website/YouTube on the Max Headroom Incident, you'd think that the idea of [[{{Troll}} trolling]] on the internet is only about 15 years old and that the internet was invented around 1994 (see above for details). Truth is, it dates back to the late 80s at the very least, but back then it was an initiation process for newbies where someone would ask a question everyone knew the answer to for purpose of weeding out the newbies and only the newbies would answer, it was called "trolling for newbies". Website/{{Snopes}} is someone who participated in this early form of trolling. However, the direct ancestor to what's known as trolling today dates back even further, to at least the late 70s, but until the term "trolling" evolved, these people were known as "griefers". Evidence of this behaviour can be found as early as 1981 on Google Groups archives of Usenet.

* Thuddingly literal example: almost any comedy video on Website/YouTube that references current pop culture will have comments added years later about how the reference is so dated or played out, in the delusion that all videos they haven't seen yet must be new. Direct parodies seem to suffer from this most heavily.

* Some Website/YouTube commenters think that LetsPlay/DeceasedCrab was the first person to ever do a LetsPlay. While DC ''was'' one of the first to put video [=LPs=] on Website/YouTube, he wasn't the first [=LPer=] by a long shot.

* Many people think that Jonathan Paula and Jory Caron invented the microwave show genre with "Is It A Good Idea To Microwave This?" in July of 2007, but there are older microwaves shows on Website/YouTube such as microwavecam (who began in April 2006), dOvetastic (March 2006), and quite a few others, including those that predate [=YouTube=]. Brainiac was doing "Cooking with Microwaves" on British television in 2003! Two years before [=YouTube=] was even created! And Mythbusters also has been doing experiments with microwaves for a long time.

* Some Website/YouTube commenters think that LetsPlay/DeceasedCrab was the first person to ever do a LetsPlay. While DC ''was'' one of the first to put video LP's on Website/YouTube, he wasn't the first LP-er by a long shot.

* WebAnimation/YoutubePoop was preceded by some of the YTMND fads (for an example, You Forgot Poland) which featured random pictures, lots of SensoryAbuse and became more elaborate as the time went by.

* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8TrohViKpyLf-yeDdWmjEssR7mA8i2za Old Gays]]'' is a Youtube series about four older gay men discussing their lives and reacting to modern gay culture. In one video, they each discuss a past love from their younger days: how they met, how long they were together, etc. When it was Jesse's turn, he showed a picture of himself and his ex from 23 years prior. When the (much younger) producer asked how they met, Jesse said they met online, much to the producer's surprise. The men laughed at him for being so naive; after all, it was 1996, right when the Internet was going mainstream, and the LGBT community ([[AllGaysArePromiscuous especially gay men]]) took to online dating ''much'' faster than straights.

* Holly H, the [=TikTok=] content creator, is not original with this as her stage name; in 2013, Holly Hamilton, BBC reporter, was always given this as a FanNickname by listeners to Cool FM in Northern Ireland where she did news reports for that radio station.
* Hot Girl Summer was not a meme or slang invented by Music/MeganTheeStallion in August 2019, contrary to popular belief. The phrase was believed to have first been used ''circa'' June 2002, to describe the then-nascent popularity of adult women in their 20s and 30s [[BareYourMidriff wearing crop tops during summertime]]. The phrase "Hot girl summer" is believed to have originated in Preston, Lancashire, although its originator is at best an AnonymousAuthor or unknown. One source claims it was also used to describe the women in Alton Towers around this time, in a pre-social media era. Although the originator is disputed, the meaning is not: "a summertime with attractive women [[BareYourMidriff in crop tops]]."

* [[Wiki/SCPFoundation SCP-173]] is a statue that moves when you aren't looking at it and tries to kill you. It's easy to assume that the Foundation found a [[Series/DoctorWho Weeping Angel]]...but, as the FAQ points out, the entry was submitted a few months ''before'' that episode aired. Ironically, the reverse became true after the rediscovery of the [[https://lostmediawiki.com/SCP-173_(found_4chan_post;_2007) original SCP-173 entry]]: it turns out the Weeping Angels made their first appearance thirteen days before SCP-173 did.

* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8TrohViKpyLf-yeDdWmjEssR7mA8i2za Old Gays]]'' is a Youtube series about four older gay men discussing their lives and reacting to modern gay culture. In one video, they each discuss a past love from their younger days: how they met, how long they were together, etc. When it was Jesse's turn, he showed a picture of himself and his ex from 23 years ago. When the (much younger) producer asked how they met, he was shocked when Jesse said they met online. The older men laughed at the producer for being so naive. After all, it was 1996, right when the Internet was going mainstream, and the LGBT community ([[AllGaysArePromiscuous especially gay men]]) took to online dating ''much'' faster than straights.

* Many people that hear the Microsoft Sam voice being used for anything instantly associate it with Master Chief of the Machinima/ArbyNTheChief series. This voice, along with Mike and various other text-to-speech voices, were used mostly in Flash movies made by the Clock Crew of Newgrounds.

* Some would think Wiki/TheOtherWiki was the first wiki site. The term originates with the Website/PortlandPatternRepository, and several other wikis, including everything.com and [=h2g2=] (based on ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''), also predated the better-known encyclopedia.

[[folder: Site-specific Examples]]

** Possible actual example: during his ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' tribute, the Critic appears to attribute TheSmurfettePrinciple to WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick. Wiki/TVTropes had an article on the topic ''long'' before she touched it, and we didn't invent it out of whole cloth either.

* PoesLaw is named after Nathan Poe, who posted on a Christian forum site in 2005 discussing the difficulty in distinguishing parody/satire of religious discussion written in text format from sincere beliefs. However, the idea that parody/satire in text format on TheInternet can easily be mistaken for sincere beliefs existed long before 2005, with Jerry Schwarz commenting on the phenomenon as early as 1983 on Website/{{Usenet}}.

* Social media in general existed as early as 1979 with Website/{{Usenet}} being the earliest social media application in existence.

* The "[[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/girl-explaining yelling[=/=]screaming girl]]" meme, which became unavoidable on American social media in August of 2022, derived from a picture taken at nightclub in UsefulNotes/{{Argentina}} in 2018 (the girl was actually singing to her boyfriend) and had previously gone viral on Spanish-language social media in 2019.

* Some would think Wiki/TheOtherWiki was the first wiki site. The term originates with the Wiki/PortlandPatternRepository, and several other wikis, including everything.com and [=h2g2=] (based on ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''), also predated the better-known encyclopedia.

* There are many people who think the memetic "[[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Who's that Pokémon]]?" "[[ComicallyMissingThePoint It's Pikachu!]]" originated on a WebOriginal/{{Vine}} video, but [[TheyCopiedItSoItSucks a different video with the same purpose]] was originally uploaded in 2007 by [=YouTube=] user gameboy659.

* The Hampsterdance music was originally from Disney's ''Westernanimation/RobinHood'', laugh and all.

* Holly H, the TikTok creator, is not original with this as her stage name; in 2013, Holly Hamilton, BBC reporter, was always given this as a FanNickname by listeners to Cool FM in Northern Ireland where she did news reports for that radio station.

* The Nigerian Prince scam goes back at least as far as the 16th century. It was called the Spanish Prisoner scam back then and send out through regular mail, but everything else is exactly the same.

* RuleSixtyThree was around before Internet Explorer. The main character in the video game ''VideoGame/{{Faria}}'', which came out in 1989, has been seen as a gender swapped version of Aldo from the video game ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' multiple times.

* The Hamsterdance music was originally from Disney's ''Westernanimation/RobinHood'', laugh and all.

* Sadly [[http://boards.4chan.org/b/res/411047287 this 4chan board]] or omegle did not create the line, "hi, welcome to stealth," that right goes to Music/BadReligion with their song "Stealth" off of their album ''Recipe for Hate'' made in 1993.

* Matt and Pat of ''WebVideo/TwoBestFriendsPlay'' turned the phrase "Do you know how many [object] I have to [verb]? More than you'd think, and less than you'd hope," (and its many, many variations) into a RunningGag. They first used it in their ''Soul Caliber V'' video, which they uploaded on February 26, 2012. In a July 2013 video of a ''Deadly Premonition'' playthrough, they noticed that one of the characters in the game says, "I know more than you'd think, but less than you'd hope." ''Deadly Premonition'' was released in 2010. Matt and Pat were flabbergasted to realize they'd been unwittingly copying ''DP'' that whole time.

* Aarrgh!! Those amateurs all over the Internet who make LeaveTheCameraRunning video's about their private life that nobody is interested in. Sure this phenomenon never existed before the Internet was invented, right? Well... already in the 1960s Creator/AndyWarhol was making movies in which a shot of the Empire State Building was shown for 24 hours straight or a man was just eating for minutes on end. Also take in account many of Music/JohnLennon and Music/YokoOno's albums, which often feature a lot of audio footage of them fooling around by making weird and often annoying sounds or them expressing their love for one another. Not to mention [[UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood silent-era]] cinema in the Soviet Union, such as ''Film/ManWithAMovieCamera'', which were quick scenes of ordinary people doing ordinary things.

* There are many people who think the memetic "[[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Who's that Pokémon]]?" "[[ComicallyMissingThePoint It's Pikachu!]]" originated on a WebOriginal/{{Vine}} video, but [[TheyCopiedItSoItSucks a different video with the same purpose]] was originally uploaded in 2007 by [=YouTube=] user gameboy659.

* PoesLaw is named after Nathan Poe, who posted on a Christian forum site in 2005 discussing the difficulty in distinguishing parody/satire of religious discussion written in text format from genuine beliefs. However, the idea that parody/satire in text format on TheInternet can easily be mistaken for genuine beliefs existed long before 2005, with Jerry Schwarz commenting on the phenomenon as early as 1983 on Website/{{Usenet}}.

* [[Wiki/SCPFoundation SCP-173]] is a statue that moves when you aren't looking at it and tries to kill you. It's easy to assume that the Foundation found a [[Series/DoctorWho Weeping Angel]]...but, as the FAQ points out, the entry was submitted a few months ''before'' that episode aired.

* Based on comments on Website/YouTube on the Max Headroom Incident, you'd think that the idea of trolling on the internet is only about 15 years old and that the internet was invented around 1994 (see above for details). Truth is, it dates back to the late 80s at the very least, but back then it was an initiation process for newbies where someone would ask a question everyone knew the answer to for purpose of weeding out the newbies and only the newbies would answer, it was called "trolling for newbies". Website/{{Snopes}} is someone who participated in this early form of trolling. However, the direct ancestor to what's known as trolling today dates back even further, to at least the late 70s, but until the term "trolling" evolved, these people were known as "griefers". Evidence of this behaviour can be found as early as 1981 on Google Groups archives of Usenet.

-->'''Nathan Poe:''' ''(in 2005)'' Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is utterly impossible to parody a Creationist in such a way that ''someone'' won't mistake for the genuine article.
-->'''Jerry Schwarz:''' ''(in 1983)'' Avoid sarcasm and facetious remarks. Without the voice inflection and body language of personal communication these are easily misinterpreted. A sideways smile [[{{Emoticon}} :-)]], has become widely accepted on the net as an indication that "I'm only kidding". If you submit a satiric item without this symbol, no matter how obvious the satire is to you, do not be surprised if people take it seriously.