On 1st of April 2015, reddit experienced a phenomenon of unprecedented proportions not experienced since the infamous "Twitch Plays Pokemon".

The Button is believed to have been created by the admin /u/powerlanguage who posted 10 minutes before its unveilment on the new subreddit /r/thebutton. It is a button which sits next to a simple timer that counts down from 60 seconds. When the button is pressed, the timer resets. Crucially each account could only press the button once (YOPO) and only accounts created before 1st April 2015 were able to press it. This meant there were only a finite number of clicks in the world.

Those who pressed it were given coloured flairs next to their name based on the time the button had receded to before it was pressed. Those who did not press the button had a grey flair declaring them a "non-presser". On the 8th of April, an update including a wiki added white flairs for those who could not press as their account was new. At first, the press rate was very high, resulting in only purple 59s and 60s flairs being given. The 60s flairs were a product of clicks shortly after a 59, before the timer could tick over and restart.

Following a short panic about what the button existed for, with many scanning the CSS code for hints (to no avail), many, assuming that the button was finite and would stop if it reached zero, realised that in order to keep it around for as long as possible, clicks would have to be conserved. This did not happen, despite many calls.

Other groups then formed that wanted the button to end as soon as possible to find out what lay on the other side, encouraging abstinence from pressing. Support groups such as /r/NoTap developed to help people in their non-pressing.

Those who had clicked often expressed regret for their actions and started regret threads. Others tried to defend their choices.

Emerging from these groups came two essential factions. The "Non-pressers" and the "Pressers" and tensions rapidly rose between them. Within the pressers, varying flairs caused further subdivisions. The 60s (later renamed the minutemen), being the smaller majority, believed themselves to be superior and formed groups such as /r/team60s whilst the 59s, in the majority, were largely ridiculed by the 60s for being inferior (though not as bad as non-pressers). Many 59s and non-pressers therefore mocked the 60s for being impatient and wasting their click, further dividing the groups.

It was shortly after this that the user /u/thebutton turned up. His confused post about why he had received so many messages achieved the highest upvoted post on the subreddit. Many began to "worship" him as a prophet and he was incorporated into various faith groups that has arisen to worship the button. Two of the most influential of these were /r/churchofthebutton and /r/cultofthebutton. The cult initially started off as the larger group but was rapidly overtaken by the more promoted church within the first few days.

The words of /u/thebutton were often quoted in faith subreddits as "Only 60s may be saved. All others are lost", which led him to be a leading figure in 60s patriotism. This was a major factor in a brief but important crusade that the Church declared against the cult. The crusade was redirected against the non-pressers when both the Church and Cult agreed to endorse the Knights.

Other examples of religious (or "Buttonist") groups include the more underground /r/allhailthebutton, which gave rise to /r/gospelofthebutton. Larger religious groups that supported non-pressing included /r/Holy0 which was the largest religious group of all. The first major religious post was that of /u/jacobugath who posted a "reading" from the "Book of the Button".

Following this rise in groups, many attempted to categorise them all, including a survey by /u/2daMooon which was very influential. It included what would become the two opposing forces of Button ethics. These were Followers of The Shade (/r/followersoftheshade) and Grey Hopeful (/r/thegreyhopeful), who were dedicated to remaining grey until the timer ran out, and The Knights of The Button(/r/knightsofthebutton), who became a huge group that trended briefly and decided to organise themselves into battalions that would ensure the button kept being clicked for as long as possible. They were motivated by some who wished to keep the button around and others who wished to use the group to get rare red single digit flairs. Something which had been established existed through analysis of the CSS. The latter were termed the redguard. The non-pressers attempted to infiltrate this group by posing as Knights and forming the "assassins of the button" who would intentionally not click when it was their turn. However, the knights formed contingency plans against this. Inevitably, propaganda was produced (Here & Here). The Knights even got an Ad and many others followed. Other attempts at categorisation can be found Here (In /u/betaray s Encyclopaedia Buttonica), Here, Here and Here though many more exist.

Some other notable groups that emerged included the foreverholders, who aimed to rig their mouse and hold the button down forever, thus avoiding the clash of ideologies by taking a middle route. Also arising were the unpurples who had glitched or forgotten to show their flair when they clicked and so ended up remaining forever grey and /r/blankness who, frustrated with the partisan aspects of emerging groups, denounced their flair in the name of equality. Some called them progressive, others hippies, in a perfect microcosm of modern American politics.

Some tried to gather statistics and analyse the social science of the button. Notably, some formed "Catalogues" of rare button pressers (1,2,3, 4). At first only those in the mid fifties existed but on the 2nd April, the number of clicks per minute had fallen such that some with blue sub-41s flair began to emerge and were worshipped as demigods, though many initially suspected them of cheating. By the 4th, green sub-51s flairs began to be seen, those there was initially confusion as it appeared the server bestowed the mark upon many who had clicked at the same time. These organised themselves into the Bluetherhood and Green Legion/ Emerald Council, though their numbers were small. It wasn't until the 10th that the first yellows appeared and gathered in subs such as /r/themiddleway. Those in the 42s category declared themselves the Hitch-hikers and achieved their rapture at 7am GMT on the 4th of April.

In other cases, some made mathematical predictions of when the button would end. More raw statistics, and recordings of the event were gathered, leading to the naming of groups such as "The Scientists" and "The Historians". These are only some of the examples that can be found. More may be found under subreddits such as /r/gospelofthebutton, /r/encyclopediabuttonica and /r/buttontheory. If in doubt, browse the wiki.

Major events on /r/thebutton included The Glitch when for many the timer reverted to its placeholder for an extended period of time, or disconnected from the servers, causing it to appear to reach 0 for many. Later, the "503 mafia" attacked, leading many to be unable to access the servers. Fortunately, in both cases, the button kept going, as reassured by a rare post from /u/powerlanguage himself. Another major event was the Knights election(s), in which leaders were assigned specific battalions ("buttalions") of knights. Subdivisions (Battalions) such as the Britguard served specific timezone roles or had specific motivations behind joining the Knights. The assassins notably claimed to have rigged this election but it is yet to be seen what damage they really caused.

With the rapid growth of the phenomenon, the button rapidly achieved over 550,000 clicks and went on to achieve nearly 700,000 by the time I am writing this edit. Some created pieces of software based around the button such as Chrome extensions and other sites used to monitor it or simple target practice (And Here). Others tried to sell their press (on Ebay) for economic gain or to trick others for reddit Gold. Quickly the news spread to other major subreddits such as /r/ads Here and here in /r/funny. You could even buy button related items. Some began to say The Button had changed their life, for better or for worse. It even made the mainstream news and major online news sites Here, and Here.

More recently some such as /r/OKCC have attempted to gather together the many factions to talk. There was briefly talk of this within the church but it did not come to fruition. For a somewhat complete multireddit of button related subs Click Here.

Ultimately, many memes and materials came about from this. Here are a select few 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. (All taken from the Top 2 pages of /r/Thebutton, many more great pieces of material of course exist for you to browse for on various subs).

Other favourites: 1, 2, 3, 4.