For almost a decade the internet has quietly maintained an obscure Futurama joke

Once in a very long while, strangers on the internet will put aside their differences in the name of an important cause. It’s never something so divisive as humanitarian aid or the restoration of our democracy. That’s the stuff you’re supposed to fight over. No, the collective energy of internet users should be saved for something truly worth their time. Like making sure this 5-second clip of the Neutral President from Futurama which has had an equal number of likes and dislikes for nearly a decade.

Of course, while this may appear to be a miraculous, inspiring instance of cooperation all in the name of a mildly interesting joke, some people on Reddit were quick to point out that it’s more likely the result of an algorithm written into the page’s code. No one could provide any proof of this fact, but they were likely just employing Occam’s razor and considering the low probability that something this pleasant could persist on the internet for almost ten years without a gang of marauders storming in and ruining everyone’s fun. Some commenters even noted that past groups on Reddit and 4Chan have attempted to disrupt the equilibrium, only to have it immediately even out again.

The algorithm theory becomes a little harder to refute once you start looking up similar clips of the Neutral President, all of which have an equal number of likes and dislikes:

So, is it an algorithm or is it the collective effort of a bunch of committed nerds? We have no strong feelings one way or the other.