Server Hamster Invasion - After Action Report

The wheels have been greased, and dust has settled. Their reign may have been brief, but their impact on Imgur will be long lasting. The community embraced these temporary overlords with open arms, much to their delight. From memes memes declaring fealty to repurposed car commercials depicting a theoretical HamTV, Imgurians kept the Server Hamsters sufficiently fed.

Now satiated and ready to run off their meals, our furry royalty have left gifts for a lucky few.

The Server Hamsters like to see humans scramble, so they hid four trophies on Imgur. Here's how they were unlocked:

Server Hamster Coup: Post to #server_hamster

Server Hamster Secret Trophy - Meme Gen: Use the meme template or post to #unsatisfied_server_hamster

Server Hamster Secret Trophy - First time: Logged into Imgur, submitted a post, or commented

Server Hamster Secret Trophy - Seeing double: Logged back in, submitted a second post or comment later in the day after receiving the first trophy

Tens of thousands of trophies were awarded, but only roughly 500 Imgurians were able to uncover all four. Of those 500, twenty-five lucky subjects were chosen at random to receive prizes.

Our 25 winners of Imgur Emerald and Stickers are:

@LordoftheSpell, @angryjeep, @Muffyns, @justherefortheconfession, @ausernamewhat, @Yakeshinu , @glovelyday, @realbluesofa, @NachoPete, @therabidferrett, @Templarmx, @SlayerOfGoat, @RainbowFlerken, @SpareMyReality, @Percs, @Diaphoni, @mikenco, @IndianaJawns, @thetonestarr, @TouchSt0ne, @AllDemApples, @Huntertroll, @HeyOP, @PoppyBee, @lvl30blackdude

Congratulations to our champions! Your loyalty has pleased the hamster overlords, and your prizes will be awarded soon. Keep an eye on your inbox for a message from the Community Crew.

Note: If you have an active emerald subscription or have received stickers in the past and want to nominate another Imgurian to receive them, we can work that out as well.

(Featured: @SarahTheEverlame, @knubberrub, @rhinokitty, @J3lek, @C0ZM0, @TinyOctopus, @OccasionalManatee)

Imgur is at its best when the community takes a meme and runs with it. From sea slugs and otters to acorns and server hamsters, your creativity knows no bounds when it comes to meme culture. Speaking of memes, our (not so) sneaky way of bringing attention to Meme Gen with the hamster had a purpose.

Starting today, we're bringing the community in on updates to the content offered there. Meme Gen saw a 600% increase in usage on the day, and we think this is an underutilized piece of the sandbox you all can play with.

(Note: Suggestions must abide by the community rules to be considered)

In the comments below share some meme templates you'd like to see included. We are also open to suggestions to task the design team with! We'll take your meme, and recreate it in the Imgur style. Moving forward, ICYMI will include a section on the month's community-voted memes, and collect the next set of suggestions in the comments.

This template wasn't available on desktop, and we acknowledge this wasn't ideal. We know that the desktop meme maker isn't up to par and we'd like to update it with our own Imgur made meme maker in the future. Once that's done, desktop and mobile web users will also get access to the new templates we're adding each month.

We want to enable you to have more "for Imgurians by Imgurians" moments, and a more robust, actively updated meme library will allow you to do that. Be on the lookout for an update from the Product Team in May!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the great Server Hamster rebellion of 2025. Long live the Server Hamsters!