Dan Olson's long Folding Ideas video on the GameStop meme stock phenomenon, its online community and the conspiracy thinking around it. It runs over two hours.
Why Hacker News points people here: Recommended as a thorough, sober critique of meme-stock culture and a good starting point whenever GameStop news appears.
“I would highly recommend "This is Financial Advice" by Dan Olson to anyone not already familiar with the community.”HN comment, 2024
“his "This is financial advice" video addresses the GameStop cult”
Addresses the GameStop cult and Ryan Cohen following
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Dan Olson covers NFTs very solidly in "Decentraland is a dead mall" ( link ) and "Line Goes Up" ( link ). Both as well worth watching. Since this is also about GameStop specifically, his "This is financial advice" video addresses the GameStop cult, and to a lesser extent the bizarre cult around GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen, really well: this video Also, cue some apes/NFT investors coming in to ask "why do you care about my money?" and other oft-repeated talking points.
Strongly recommendseroppleMar 2024
“Worth watching in its entirety, both for entertainment value and for its thorough treatment of the subject.”
Sober, well-researched critique of meme-stock culture
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The newfound hype around DRS arises as a meme directly out of the Gamestop crankfest/fever-dream. It is harmless, but also meaningless; equities are not any more "yours" because of undertaking the timewaster of DRS and the concept is in current discourse as a shibboleth for membership in weird fin-cult silliness, which is exemplified really well in the parent poster's link to breathy, red-Arial-on-black "Central Bankers" fearmongering. Dan Olson covers it effectively in "This Is Financial Advice", which is a sober and well-researched drubbing of the meme-stock culture from which this nonsense comes. Worth watching in its entirety, both for entertainment value and for its thorough treatment of the subject. this video (If you want to see a real-life BSOD, get one of these people into a corner and ask them how equities are going to survive the "market collapse" they magically-think is right around the corner, regardless of method of registration.)
Strongly recommendsrichbellJun 2024
“I would highly recommend "This is Financial Advice" by Dan Olson to anyone not already familiar with the community.”
Introduces the GME community
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> If that is the case half of the superstonks subreddit would have to be charged. You could make a compelling argument that they should be. Superstonks doesn't just post their positions. They, too, try to manipulate the market by hyping up GME. I would highly recommend "This is Financial Advice" by Dan Olson to anyone not already familiar with the community. this video
RecommendskiernanmcgowanApr 2024
“This is Financial Advice (2023) is also excellent”
Fallout of the memestock craze
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This is Financial Advice (2023) is also excellent - this video Its about the fallout of the memestock craze and where the community ends up.
RecommendsjcranmerMay 2024
“I thought I knew how bad it was, and then I saw Folding Idea's video on the post-crash meme stock phase”
Post-crash meme stock cult behavior
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I thought I knew how bad it was, and then I saw Folding Idea's video on the post-crash meme stock phase here: this video So, apparently a lot of the people who are still holding onto the stock have engaged in full-on apocalyptic cult insanity. They're under the delusion that the "Mother of All Short Squeezes" hasn't happened yet, and that when it will happen, it will be an absolute financial calamity, as literally all Gamestop stock will be held by "true" holders [1], who can therefore extort any price from the short sellers desperate to buy the stock back to cover the short squeeze, causing the price to hit millions of dollars per share, allowing the true holders comfortable retirement as billionaires. It really is an apocalyptic cult mindset, people seeing themselves as the sufferers who will receive redemption in the imminent apocalypse as their (currently more successful foes) receive absolute punishment at the same time. Although even compared to most apocalyptic prophecies, this one is particularly far-fetched: the means of deliverance is extremely vague, with the closest hint of an idea is essentially that the Big Bad who is currently oppressing them will somehow turn around and reward them handsomely for their perseverance (usually stated with some amount of cognitive dissonance--you get the sense that the adherents don't really believe this, but they need to justify deliverance somehow and there's no better option than this). [1] There's a belief that most of the shares
RecommendsmonroewalkerJul 2024
“On GME specifically, this is a good documentary to watch”
Documentary on GME for risky-investment context
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I'm sure you're already aware of the general consensus around how speculative cryptocurrency and meme stocks are but it's worth repeating that this is a very dubious approach. On GME specifically, this is a good documentary to watch: this video I think it's worth it for you to consider reducing your allocation to these even if you have strong conviction in their long term success. If you do 25% GME/crypto and 75% index funds (or target retirement) then you're still going to be doing extremely well if these assets take off as hoped for but you'll be much better off in the alternative and less surprising scenario where they don't
Recommendssurgical_fireMay 2026
“this is a good place to start”
Good starting point on GME events
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Apologies. Maybe you just came out of a coma that spans half a decade and is unaware of the events surrounding GME stock. It's a bit of a rabbit hole, but this is a good place to start: this video
RecommendskentmMay 2026
“gives you some perspective on the weird cult that has been built around GME.”
Perspective on the cult around GME
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For more information, see Dan Olsen's "This is Financial Advice." this video Its a few years old, but gives you some perspective on the weird cult that has been built around GME.
RecommendsaxpvmsMay 2026
“Also an fun long form video for anyone interested”
Long-form video on GME community
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They have an entire library regarding their "due diligence" by the way It's pre-ChatGPT, so people actually wrote all this out (they are reddit posts disguised as books) link Also an fun long form video for anyone interested this video
Cites itnoveltyaccountOct 2023Full comment
This probably isn't what you want, but this summarizer tool can give you a written version of the video. this video
Cites itnetsharcOct 2023
“the illusion must be defended at all costs, because the illusion is all that is.”
Conclusion about defending the illusion at all costs
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One of the video's conclusion from 2:14:27[1] - 2:18:03 is chilling, "the illusion must be defended at all costs, because the illusion is all that is.". He does call it outward-facing performance, but I'm not so sure if it's not also inward-facing, I think there are many "unhinged" out there who'd rather live in (and defend) the fantasy world rather than accept reality. Accepting reality would mean admitting they've been conned (or even, fooled themselves), that they're not as smart as they thought they were (because in their view: what smart people get conned?), and many of them have too fragile of egos to admit that, and would rather emotionally lash out rather than go down that "shameful" path of self-evalution when challenged. Throughout the whole video I'm reminded of the Game Designer’s Analysis Of QAnon[2], where people are thrilled about connecting dots and finding hints where there are none intended. To delve into politics, there are also many unhinged who put their hope of a better life, some of them probably did so first into Obama (Obama himself has said in his post-presidency book, he found it worrying when running in 2008 that people were putting their dreams and hopes into him), and some of them, when they found their lives hadn't gotten better in 2016, probably thought "Well, Hillary will be more of the similar, and Trump promises greatness (again), what the hell do I have to gain for voting 'similar', and what the hell do I have to lose for voting 'greatness
Cites itjcranmerMay 2024
“had a video on the Gamestop meme stock here”
Video on the GameStop meme stock phenomenon
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Folding Ideas (of Line Goes Up and In Search of a Flat Earth fame) had a video on the Gamestop meme stock here: this video Apparently, the people still holding Gamestop have devolved into absolute insanity, somehow believing that the Mother of All Short Squeezes hasn't happened yet, and they need to hold on for dear life to perpetuate the short squeeze, which will cause absolute financial calamity as the Federal Reserve will pay those people millions of dollars per share to bail out the hedge funds. These are the people who are helping to prop up the share price.
