The population: aggregation
The aggregator read the coders' work, never the record, and composed it into layers of themes and one model of how organizing unfolds.
Inputs, outputs, contracts, dates and costs
- Input
- the sealed work of the 705 community coders; hourly pixels per community; the literature (C3); the separately coded r/place field (C4)
- Output
- a coding structure of 197 third-order themes, 28 fourth-order themes and eight aggregate dimensions; the population model sent out at the return (30 elements, 21 arrows) and its account
- Who acts
- the aggregator, Claude Opus 5.5 (run claude-v43-1); independent readers at B2 and B3 (DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, 1,573 calls); separate readers who challenge the model at C2 and C5
- Contracts
- aggregator contract v43, its method, and the stage cards A1 to C5
- Dates
- 6 to 15 October 2026
- Counts
- 115,388 first-order codes and 7,844 second-order themes read; 134 recorded edits to the model
- Cost
- 157 session hours in 172 sessions; 27,922 million cache-read and 84 million output tokens by the run's counter, which counts most calls two or three times (time and costs)
- Data used
- The coders' outputs: 115,388 first-order codes and 7,844 second-order themes. The record in numbers.
Eight aggregate dimensions
| Dimension | What it covers in the model | Related literature |
|---|---|---|
| Coordination without command | How communities coordinate work on a shared artwork through design choices, progress reports, templates, scripts and chat, with occasional use of a leader or a vote. | Faraj & Xiao (2006) |
| Maintenance | How communities maintain completed artworks through repair and distinguish attacks from changes by allies or their own mistakes. | Graham & Thrift (2007) |
| Order without law | How communities manage claims to space and exchange help without authority over one another, including restraint, negotiated settlements and alliances. | Ellickson (1991); Ring & Van de Ven (1994) |
| Collective identity | How communities express collective identities through their artworks, where those identities come from, and what they defend or reject on the canvas. | Melucci (1995) |
| Imprinting | Legacies recorded during and immediately after the event: celebrations, canvas records, new emblems, intercommunity ties and new members. Persistence beyond the observation window remains to be tested. | Marquis & Tilcsik (2013) |
| Host framing | How existing communities frame and accommodate the event within their subreddit, including treating it as play, limiting its presence, or both. | Fiss & Zajac (2006) |
| Critical mass | How communities recruit participants, teach them to place pixels, and judge whether they have enough contributors to build their artwork before the event ends. | Marwell & Oliver (1993) |
| Contention | How communities challenge another community's artwork and sustain the contest through actions against the work and discussion that identifies the other community as an opponent. | Tilly & Tarrow (2007) |
The aggregator numbers the dimensions D01 to D08 in its own order. Its own definitions, in its words, are under The coding structure; each name above opens its dimension there.
In detail
Everything the run recorded for this part; each folded section says what it holds.
The coding structure: eight aggregate dimensions
Follow r/PlaceNL through this structure · The coding structure at C5 · The complete coding structure · Frozen third-order scheme
Layers of coding. The community coders write T1 first-order codes, in members' words, and T2 second-order themes within their community. The aggregator builds T3 third-order themes across communities, T4 fourth-order themes and the aggregate dimensions D01 to D08. The agents' own text calls a community a room
. All terms
Each aggregate dimension with the fourth-order themes (T4) that feed it, read left to right: what members wrote (T1), the third-order themes that gather it (T3), the fourth-order theme. Coordination without command is open: it holds more of r/PlaceNL's codes than any other dimension. Open any other by its name. Quotes: the theme’s gloss first, then up to two of the five quotes the aggregator sampled for the theme at stage C4, core before side, one per community. Third-order counts are placements of second-order themes; the theme counts are distinct second-order themes. Seven fourth-order themes are not in the model.
D01 Critical mass · 3 fourth-order themes
Critical mass
Whether a scattered readership gathers enough hands, who know how to place, to make a work viable on the clock; and how a community reads its own numbers.
we need more people.
r/MMA · c0432 · the theme’s gloss
Help make the hearthstone icon on the right of /r/place
r/hearthstone · c0309
910,465 je nizozemska zastava ako itko želi od tamo krenuti
r/croatia · c0010
- calling members in to place364
- recruiting kindred subs to help44
- cheering the builders on24
Show 2 more third-order themes
- timing a mass placement together2
- recruiting quietly to avoid attackers0
Mobilization
How does r/place work?
r/clashroyale · c0195 · the theme’s gloss
Huge mural on r/Place. Each user can put one pixel every 5 mins.
r/witcher · c0059
Rick Sanchez Vs The Void (cross-post /r/place)
r/rickandmorty · c0417
- explaining what the canvas is249
- remarking on neighbouring pictures64
- decoding the finished picture's details56
Sensemaking
not in the modelWe don't have enough people working on it to make it larger.
r/roosterteeth · c0032 · the theme’s gloss
Not without like 30 bots building and maintaining it.
r/gorillaz · c0097
Haven't seen the OW logo on /r/place yet. What gives?
r/overwatch · c0511
- doubting the community's strength44
- quitting the effort under strain20
- questioning the community's canvas presence19
Show 2 more third-order themes
- urging others to give up8
- judging the canvas too full4
Collective efficacy
D02 Coordination without command · 6 fourth-order themes
Coordination without command
How hands that no one can command come to place the same picture: what settles what the community acts on, and what aligns the placing.
Let's represent ourselves at r/place
r/stevenuniverse · c0013 · the theme’s gloss
Maintain our glorious stars
r/europe · c0287
Do you cunts reckon you could chuck us a hand with colouring the 'AUS' above our glorious flag? Cheers dickheads
r/straya · c0020
- settling the artwork's design306
- extending the community's work188
- proposing the community's artwork178
Show 11 more third-order themes
- building the homeland's flag109
- finding the community's artwork placed44
- drawing national emblems41
- signing the sub's name35
- adopting a sign others began8
- adding a personal piece7
- making a tribute alone5
- building memorials to the dead4
- leaving the work unsigned2
- animating the artwork in timelapse1
- heeding the creator's wishes1
Collective representation
We decided on the discord (which you should join cough cough)
r/drumcorps · c0082 · the theme’s gloss
Exactly what we've been thinking over at the Discord server.
r/coldplay · c0043
members of the discord have decided it would be fair to fix the diamond we damaged
r/dwarffortress · c0055
- moving planning into a chat268
- announcing what the chat decided33
- disputing the chat's authority9
Show 4 more third-order themes
- spying in a rival's chat6
- keeping planning in the thread3
- arguing which chat to use3
- hiding the plan from rivals3
Backstage decision-making
not in the modelRemember, you can use your old alt accounts to draw more pixels.
r/truestl · c0022 · the theme’s gloss
I wrote a rust bot to help!
r/rust · c0140
at first I was impressed by all the intricate logos, until I realized almost all of them were running bots
r/canucks · c0159
- running scripts for the work163
- arguing whether scripts are fair82
- placing beyond the pixel limit39
Show 5 more third-order themes
- working around the timer37
- switching off stale scripts24
- sharing one bot target7
- editing scripts to spare neighbours5
- lending accounts to a bot4
Workarounds
I'd rather just follow the template and not have these debates over that pixel.
r/xenoblade_chronicles · c0030 · the theme’s gloss
Roll Call - How Many People do we have? We could start at the corner of 1,998 where no projects seem to be ongoing - black void/other projects are going to swallow this
r/AmericanFlaginPlace · c0030
Guys stop making the I perfect, it's supposed to look like a chisel not a normal I :(
r/pathofexile · c0136
- sharing coordinates, templates and how-to221
- keeping everyone on one template30
- asking for coordinates and instructions13
Show 2 more third-order themes
- complaining the calls are scattered12
- messaging individual placers to stop4
Standardization of output
Hat is done, moving onto outline and glasses now.
r/physical_removal · c0012 · the theme’s gloss
We could make it bigger. There's just a bunch of junk under the Penn Logo, just pieces of green and pink we could exploit.
r/UPenn · c0015
Keep hitting refresh, too, because apparently it doesn't always show you what is actually there...
r/flyers · c0143
- building and reporting the artwork260
Direct information sharing
Can we elect you as our leader and have whatever we're doing edited into your post?
r/fireemblem · c0309 · the theme’s gloss
i am working on the left side water bit and also protecting our border on that side
r/indieheads · c0147
I'm not one to suggest that we brigade them, that would be against the rules. Don't downvote them into oblivion. Long live blue!
r/orderofthebluecorner · c0010
- putting decisions to a vote18
- excluding the community's own vandals13
- putting one member in charge6
Show 5 more third-order themes
- dividing the picture among teams5
- handing the work over4
- saying the community wings it2
- renewing the order's oaths2
- holding elections for office2
Decided order
D03 Maintenance · 2 fourth-order themes
Maintenance
What keeps a finished work alive on a surface anyone can change, and how a community decides what a change to its work was.
I will keep an eye on it when I can today and help to protect it.
r/wildhockey · c0143 · the theme’s gloss
Link to the location: https://www.reddit.com/r/place#x=309&y=104
r/uvic · c0002
The rainbow road must cease its expansion in blue territory.
r/ainbowroad · c0147
- defending the work against attackers425
- watching and repairing the work305
- choosing upkeep over expansion46
Show 3 more third-order themes
- concentrating effort on fewer pieces32
- covering the night shift24
- reshaping the artwork against tampering20
Repair work
Who keeps adding the unnecessary black squares on his right arm?
r/terraria · c0081 · the theme’s gloss
/r/UdeAfLoopen: hvad fanden er der lige sket?
r/denmark · c0232
Tek sad vidim ovo, evo pokušaću.
r/serbia · c0204
- tracing who changed the work125
- mistaking friendly work for vandalism46
- disowning placers outside the plan16
Show 1 more third-order theme
- blaming moderators for a loss5
Attribution
D04 Order without law · 5 fourth-order themes
Order without law
How communities that share one surface, with no authority over any of them, come to hold, spare, trade, settle and federate over space and help.
we did some diplomacy and managed to agree on a border
r/theexpanse · c0056 · the theme’s gloss
The reason we've been able to stave off attack here is that we talked to them, and accommodated them.
r/detroitredwings · c0194
That was probably an accident. It's very easy when you're mobile, unfortunately
r/harrypotter · c0237
- settling borders with neighbours445
- agreeing truces with rival communities112
- holding communities to their agreements22
Show 8 more third-order themes
- disputing who speaks for communities15
- acting as envoys between communities13
- disputing how an alliance went8
- staying neutral between two communities6
- negotiating across a language gap3
- arguing whether cooperation is surrender3
- trading away another community's work1
- mediating between other communities0
Negotiated order
we were here first. Want proof? I got lots of it.
r/Okami · c0036 · the theme’s gloss
The temple logo below Michigan? There's not that much space and they'll fight you for it.
r/Villanova · c0007
If everyone works together, we can rebuild!
r/calgaryflames · c0154
- choosing a canvas spot135
- relocating after losing the spot119
- asking a host for space55
Show 8 more third-order themes
- arguing who was there first18
- refusing to give up space18
- yielding space when asked17
- weighing fighting against moving17
- granting a neighbour community13
- vetting others' requests to build8
- disputing who approves a spot6
- relying on a bigger neighbour5
Territoriality
We will help you guys if you help us from Michigan.
r/purdue · c0056 · the theme’s gloss
you should share this with /r/browns because of the helmet they're working on.
r/minnesotavikings · c0126
We over at /r/megumin thank you for going behind her.
r/stlouisblues · c0019
- bartering help with neighbours121
- helping another community's work119
- asking other communities for help76
Show 4 more third-order themes
- thanking the community's allies66
- sending greetings to another community20
- turning away another community's request13
- letting neighbours adopt the work2
Reciprocity
Everyone over here, please respect the American Flag and build around it.
r/greenlattice · c0076 · the theme’s gloss
Again, please don't. Can we just keep this neutral overall - focus on maintenance instead of griefing others?
r/patriots · c0149
Our mission is to erase the grid because the hivemind is destroying our borders so we are retaliating. "We don't control them." okay, we'll do nothing about it then. Seriously. WE'RE NOT TRYING TO ERASE ANYTHING ELSE. WE'RE TRYING TO ERASE NOISE AND GET RID OF GRIEFERS, THAT'S IT.
r/rainbowgrid · c0022
- refusing to cover others' work88
- reining in the community's attackers60
- arguing whether covering is fair44
Show 8 more third-order themes
- apologizing to neighbours for damage34
- pleading with attackers to stop19
- turning attackers into helpers12
- making up with another sub10
- defying the call for restraint2
- mourning art the community covered2
- urging repair over retaliation1
- placing rival artworks together1
Live and let live
Reports are coming in that we might have Polish reinforcements!
r/physical_removal · c0046 · the theme’s gloss
Link to the Liquicity Discord is in the sidebar under Community Links.
r/foxstevenson · c0028
BTW, has anyone tried offering r/theblackvoid free transit and a place to store their gold?
r/SwissNeutralityZone · c0028
- forming alliances between communities97
- meeting other communities in chat31
- making joint artworks with others28
Show 2 more third-order themes
- gathering kindred communities together13
- tallying kindred communities' works6
Meta-organization
D05 Collective identity · 4 fourth-order themes
Collective identity
What membership the work carries: who the community is when it places, where that membership comes from, and what it will not let stand.
r/place is over... the hornet isnt finished, just like the game
r/starcitizen · c0375 · the theme’s gloss
BREAKING NEWS: Squirtle murdered by marquess of Pherae, Eliwood.
r/fireemblem · c0170
As is mandated by the national languages act
r/canada · c0043
- playing the community's in-jokes258
- carrying in the sub's quarrel23
- telling clashes as fandom lore16
Show 1 more third-order theme
- arguing ideology from the canvas15
Frame bridging
not in the modelGentlemen it's been an honour serving with you for our country, flag and sub
r/turkey · c0252 · the theme’s gloss
place oli praktiliselt teine/kolmas iseseisvus sõda meie jaoks :D
r/eesti · c0078
has been proposed as a symbol of our alliance and frienship at /r/place. Please help us make this happen. =)
r/FaroeIslands · c0054
- casting fights as national history27
- reading national politics in pixels23
- joining flags with a heart14
Show 7 more third-order themes
- feeling national through the canvas11
- making ethnic jokes about rivals10
- helping kin nations' flags9
- weighing the community against nations5
- disputing national belonging4
- debating friendship with historic enemies3
- arguing the nation's historical record2
Flagging the nation
not in the modelLONG LIVE THE BLUE CORNER! DEATH TO THE GREENCORNER
r/GreenCorner · c0023 · the theme’s gloss
Sorry, currently undergoing Operation Annexion. No can do
r/borussiadortmund · c0022
Boys I need an update on the shituation
r/theblackvoid · c0483
- spreading a faction's colour17
- professing loyalty to a colour16
- joining an outside group's build11
Show 3 more third-order themes
- splitting a faction over doctrine8
- hailing the colour corners5
- defecting from a rival faction2
Neo-tribes
not in the modelHelp remove the swastika appearing near/on our banner in /r/place
r/poland · c0093 · the theme’s gloss
Evenin' reddit and how's your day! ^^^besides-fixing-our-spot-in-r/place-lol
r/philippines · c0269
This sub had nothing to do with Donald. It was just Americans wanting our flag properly on the canvas.
r/afip · c0012
- arguing over political symbols25
- judging whether a joke offends12
- shutting down bigotry in chat8
Show 2 more third-order themes
- covering swastikas and hate symbols6
- calling to draw swastikas3
Symbolic boundaries
not in the modelD06 Host framing · 2 fourth-order themes
Host framing
What the standing community did with the event inside its own space: whether it keyed its space as play, contained the event, or both, and so on whose terms the community's canvas work was talked about.
Is this an April fool?
r/kerbalspaceprogram · c0083 · the theme’s gloss
I was playing the arena on Tales of Heroes, the mobile game by CleverInfrastructure and went up against this hacked unit? Will this be fixed?
r/fireemblem · c0062
My issue is sometimes Thais will try to speak English with me and then I reply in Thai. A good laugh ensues when the irony of the situation is realised
r/thailand · c0122
- staging April Fools fake news349
- running an April Fools takeover254
- testing others' April Fools claims101
Show 7 more third-order themes
- reacting to official April Fools99
- objecting to April Fools posts80
- switching off the prank styling49
- keeping April Fools changes afterwards35
- spreading the community's joke elsewhere16
- playing with granted moderator powers3
- calling a network boycott1
Keying
Please take all /r/place content to the stickied Megathread.
r/madokamagica · c0073 · the theme’s gloss
Others subs do it too. Megathread please.
r/cubers · c0210
Read this, it'll explain the plan
r/darksouls · c0162
- routing canvas posts into megathreads131
- removing canvas posts by rule90
- arguing the canvas's worth84
Show 5 more third-order themes
- objecting to the canvas flood73
- opening a canvas sub49
- changing the sub's posting rules18
- pausing the sub's usual events2
- moderators disowning the canvas work0
Boundary work
D07 Imprinting · 4 fourth-order themes
Imprinting
What the episode leaves behind in the standing community: what is marked, recorded, carried on, and brought in by being seen.
We did it reddit!
r/liquicity · c0001 · the theme’s gloss
lol yea, me and my siblings made that one
r/Dominican · c0012
Give More F***S, They Aren't In Short Supply [Final x-post from r/place]
r/elitedangerous · c0368
- celebrating the finished work478
- crediting who made the work167
- reporting one's own placing labour61
Show 5 more third-order themes
- announcing the artwork is up54
- reflecting on working together40
- rewarding helpers with prizes7
- feeling supported through the canvas7
- celebrating the feat in person1
Completion ritual
Figured I might as well take screenshots of it before it's inevitably destroyed.
r/rhythmheaven · c0044 · the theme’s gloss
this is a sad day for all of us black voiders
r/Thegreatblackhole · c0055
I destroyed it last night lol. Thought it was vandalism
r/sips · c0078
- reporting how the work fared221
- marking the canvas's end113
- saving screenshots and timelapses107
Show 3 more third-order themes
- mourning the lost work103
- imagining art the canvas missed10
- entering the work in atlases4
Collective memory
LONG LIVE THE LATTICE!! In the form of the official Steam group
r/greenlattice · c1156 · the theme’s gloss
For those that enjoyed /r/place, help us represent trees on pxls.space 420,420
r/trees · c0683
Someone made all year round version of /r/place
r/czech · c0201
- carrying work to new canvases146
- remaking canvas art elsewhere46
- adopting the artwork as emblem36
Show 3 more third-order themes
- repurposing the canvas sub19
- proposing ties beyond the canvas11
- arguing over selling canvas art5
Transition
Thanks to our pixel art in /r/place, we gained 80+ new subscribers in 2 days!
r/zootopia · c0195 · the theme’s gloss
Pay2Win. If this gets enough upvotes
r/dota2 · c0600
how much "comments karma" did you farm yesterday?
r/leagueoflegends · c1739
- recruiting canvas visitors85
- pushing posts up the rankings22
- drawing lapsed fans back8
Show 6 more third-order themes
- making passers-by notice a demand5
- seeking the creators' notice4
- sharing the work's press coverage4
- spelling slogans with post titles3
- fearing newcomers the artwork draws3
- placing a tile as payment2
Visibility returns
not in the modelD08 Contention · 2 fourth-order themes
Contention
How a community wages a contest with another community and carries it on: the moves against the rival's work, and the talk that makes the rival a party.
quick lads, lets destroy the union jack
r/ireland · c0484 · the theme’s gloss
It's here that it's being worked on https://www.reddit.com/r/place/#x=604&y=351
r/bees · c0004
PETITION TO TAKE DOWN THE /R/DOTA2 SIGN AND REPLACE IT WITH A SUPERIOR RIOT GAMES FIST
r/leagueoflegends · c0302
- calling to deface rivals' work176
- pushing into a neighbour's space66
- converting a neighbour's art61
Show 4 more third-order themes
- griefing the work for fun13
- planting disguised scripts on rivals3
- brigading one person off Reddit2
- relaying a streamer's attack call1
Repertoire of contention
We outlasted the overwatch logo on r/place
r/paladins · c0246 · the theme’s gloss
They have been trying to sabotage us from the beginning. THEY WILL LOSE!
r/stlouisblues · c0028
r/place is over, the only thing that is left is Pastor LUL
r/forsen · c0099
- trading taunts with rivals85
- blaming attackers after the close25
- claiming victory over rival communities23
Show 2 more third-order themes
- flooding rivals' threads with chants6
- saluting rivals after the fight5
Rivalry
Decided order: how many communities
The Technical Appendix counts 44 of the 705 communities with a clear signal of authority or order: a leader, a vote, an oath, a sanction or a division of work. 46 communities have at least one coder theme that the aggregator placed on the fourth-order theme Decided order (T4-011), through the eight third-order themes below: 52 placements in all. Two of the 46, r/monstercat and r/southafrica, are there only because members said they had no organization, which leaves 44. In three of those, r/Goodboye, r/eesti and r/homelab, every supporting code comes after the canvas froze, which leaves 41 while it was open.
| Third-order theme | Communities | An example code: community, code and hour |
|---|---|---|
| T3-066 putting decisions to a vote | 18 | Poll of Color for AMD logo on /r/Place(r/AyyMD, c0068, hour 30.67) |
| T3-121 excluding the community's own vandals | 13 | Use that report button so our mods can throw out the trolls spreading disinformation(r/AmericanFlaginPlace, c0502, hour 68.48) |
| T3-101 putting one member in charge | 6 | The hierarchy(r/TeamYellowPlace, c0005, hour 3.91) |
| T3-103 dividing the picture among teams | 5 | let us focus our current efforts on two tasks today(r/SquareSpiral, c0049, hour 19.81) |
| T3-187 handing the work over | 4 | I'm passing on this open source maintainership of these pixels to you the community(r/haskell, c0023, hour 45.47) |
| T3-172 renewing the order's oaths | 2 | a chance to renew your oaths and for new warriors to join our ranks(r/AprilKnights, c0041, hour 26.94) |
| T3-173 holding elections for office | 2 | Election for new leader!(r/GreenCorner, c0045, hour 9.61) |
| T3-125 saying the community wings it | 2 | Guys are doing their own thing.(r/southafrica, c0055, hour 26.09) |
When the model went back to the community coders, each answered its claim C01 from its own record. The aggregator's ruling found a decided element in about 119 communities at the first return; at the re-check, 148 communities spoke to the claim either way, an upper bound. Decided order is a minority pattern by every count: 6% of the 705 by coded theme, about 17% by the return.
The 52 placements: community, coder theme, third-order theme and supporting codes · The aggregator's ruling at the return, D3a-24, in its own words
Building and testing the scheme
First the aggregator walked through the coders' 7,844 second-order themes and built the scheme (B1): 197 third-order themes, 183 main and 14 rare, in 21 families, each with a gate that says what belongs and 578 exemplars in all. It placed 7,786 themes and left 58 unplaced. We decided when the walk stopped, after its saturation test.
Then fresh readers tried the scheme on hard examples (B2), and every one of the 7,844 second-order themes was placed twice, by two readers who did not see each other's answers (B3). The readers were DeepSeek V4.1 Flash. Agreement is the share of placements two readings have in common.
Show the agreement figures: readers with each other 0.79 over all 7,844 themes
| Test | Items | Readers with each other | Readers with the aggregator |
|---|---|---|---|
| B2, third pilot round, hard items | 50 | 0.73 | 0.68 |
| B2, unseen reference items, frozen scheme | 40 | 0.82 | 0.62; 0.80 on the main placement |
| B2, the same items, instructions reworded | 40 | 0.81 between wordings | |
| B3, the full reading, two readers per theme | 7,844 | 0.79; 0.84 on the main placement | 0.65 on 755 reference copies |
The two readings placed 5,443 themes alike and split on 2,401. Stage B4 returned to the evidence to settle the splits. Agreement measures whether the scheme is used consistently, not whether its categories are right.
The population model and its account
The model each community is read against (the revised model, frozen at stage D3 on 24 October), drawn across its eight dimensions as in the Technical Appendix. Its units are processes (P), conditions (K), claims (C) and roles (R), joined by arrows (A).
The model's account, in the aggregator's words
The site puts its own terms in place of the aggregator's: community for room, artwork for mark, population model for global model.
The model as revised at stage D3, in its seven parts. The fifteen candidates entered at D3 are left out.
Read the model's account in 7 parts
The start, the calls and building
A community's organizing runs in one order: a member starts an artwork, the community calls for hands, members build, and then they keep the work. Members who join answer the community's call; joining is not part of the starter's role. Most answers come by placing, or in a bare line, and a member who refuses usually says why. The community settles what its artwork will show by talk. It coordinates many hands by two routes that run largely apart: members post the state of the work in the thread, or they share a template.
Show the 8 elements and 5 arrows of this part
- R01. The starter: a member who proposes the artwork, maps it or begins placing it. Others joining is not part of the role: it is the answer to the community's call (P15), in the order A02 and A01 state. Range: from a member who only asks to a member who maps and places alone first.
- P01. The community calls its own members, and kindred subs, to come and place for a work: to start it, build it, finish it or hold it. Range: from one unanswered post asking who will help to a run of calls, cheering and a set time for placing together.
- P15. A member answers a call or proposal in one line that joins, assents, reports a part done or thanks, and the line asks for nothing back. Range: from 'On it.' to 'Did my part.'
- P20. The host sub draws a line around canvas talk: moderators gather it into a megathread, remove canvas posts by rule, change posting rules, pause the sub's usual events or disown the work; members open a canvas sub, object to the flood or argue the canvas's worth. Range: from one member asking for a megathread to moderators moving all canvas talk to a new sub and removing the rest.
- P02. The community settles what its artwork will show of it: a member proposes a picture, the community argues its design, makes its land's flag or emblems the artwork, signs it or leaves it unsigned, claims an artwork others made, adds to it or enlarges it, or adds a personal piece to a shared artwork. Range: from a single member's unanswered proposal to a design argued over days and redone, or a nation's flag sized and filled with its emblems, or one member asking to add their own words to a shared flag.
- P03. The community builds its artwork, and members report its state to the thread: what is placed, done or missing, and where. Range: from one report that the logo is half done to reports on each part of an artwork over two days.
- P04. Members circulate a template that lays out the artwork pixel by pixel, or coordinates that locate it, ask for them, and ask strays to keep to them. Range: from one anchor coordinate to an official template the community asks everyone to follow against other versions.
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P14. Members add placements with scripts, bots and spare accounts, and the community argues over these machine hands and adjusts them. Range: from one member running spare accounts to a shared bot holding several communities' works.
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A02 (R01 to P01; order, fair). Its gloss: a start gives the call something to gather around. A member who proposes or begins an artwork gives the community something to answer, and calls for hands gather around it.
- A01 (P01 to P03; order, fair). Its gloss: calls bring the hands that build. The community's call brings members to the canvas, who then build the artwork and say how far it has come.
- A12 (P01 to P15; transition, thin). Its gloss: the cheapest answer to a call. A call is the first part of a pair: posted to a thread, it makes an answer from each reader the next thing due, given in the thread or by placing. Joining is the answer the call prefers, so it comes bare, one line that commits and gives no reason ('I'm in'); declining is the dispreferred answer and, in conversation analysis, comes with a reason. In the written record a bare join is the ordinary way a call is accepted (25 of 31 read acceptances, F-023); a member can also accept by placing and write nothing, which the record cannot show.
- A20 (P01 to P20; order, strong). Its gloss: calls flood the host sub, and the host draws a line. Calls to the canvas flood the host sub, and its moderators or members answer by drawing a line around canvas talk: one thread, removals, a canvas sub.
- A11 (P02 to P04; transition, thin). Its gloss: a template settles a design argued in a thread. Design talk in a thread is settled by someone posting a template that lays out the agreed design pixel by pixel.
Keeping the work
Once an artwork stands on a surface anyone can change, keeping it becomes the work. Keepers repair the work to the form they know. So a change the community planned is repaired away as damage until the keepers are told of it. Under strain, members add placements by machine.
Show the 1 element and 2 arrows of this part
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P05. The community keeps its placed work against erosion: members watch it and repair changed pixels, and the community rallies to defend it under attack, covers the night, hardens its shape and puts upkeep before growth. Repair restores the form the keepers know. A change the community has planned or agreed (P02) is therefore repaired away as damage until its keepers are told of it, and it is lost or given up where the telling does not reach them. Range: from one member fixing stray pixels to shifts, scripts and calls to defend over many hours.
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A03 (P03 to P05; order, strong). Its gloss: a built artwork becomes an artwork to keep. Once an artwork stands on a surface anyone can change, keeping it becomes the work: a finished part is something to lose.
- A06 (P05 to P14; order, strong). Its gloss: scripts arrive under strain. Upkeep under attack outruns what one pixel per interval can hold, and members turn to scripts and spare accounts to keep up.
Other communities
Keeping the work brings the community up against its neighbours. Communities talk borders, truces and deals, trade help, join coalitions, and live as guests or hosts on one another's artworks. A member may act for the community toward another community. No community can make every placer keep an agreement, and members say so. A community spares a neighbour's work mostly on its own norm.
Show the 7 elements and 6 arrows of this part
- P08. Communities propose, settle and contest borders, truces and deals with neighbours by talk, through envoys, and hold each other to them. Range: from a one-line border agreed in a thread to treaties across languages kept and broken over a day.
- P07. Communities spare their neighbours' work, rein in their own attackers, apologise for damage and appeal to attackers to stop. Range: from one member refusing to cover a neighbour to a community restoring a work it had damaged.
- P16. Communities help one another's works and trade help: they give pixels to a neighbour's artwork, ask other communities for help, barter help for space or repair, thank their allies, greet them, and turn requests away. Range: from one member placing a pixel on a neighbour's flag to communities trading night-time repairs for room on their artwork.
- P17. Communities join other communities in coalitions: they meet in shared chats, form alliances, gather kindred communities in a hub, tally kindred communities' works and make joint artworks. Range: from two communities agreeing to defend each other to a council of kindred communities holding a stretch of the canvas together.
- P19. One community's work lives on another community's artwork or territory under the host's rule: guests ask for space or protection, hosts rule on requests, and both sides dispute who may approve. Range: from a small community asking to slip into a neighbour's lot to a flag hosting dozens of works by application and vote.
- R02. The envoy: a member who acts for a community toward another community, carrying a proposal between threads or chats. Range: from a member calling themself a diplomat once to a standing representative in a shared council.
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P21. Members dispute, or state the limits of, who may commit the community to an agreement with other communities: they say that one member's agreement does not bind every placer, deny that a treaty speaks for them, or ask another group for a leader to deal with. Range: from one member saying that a deal cannot stop everyone to a treaty announced in r/place answered 'You don't speak for me, man.'
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A04 (P05 to P08; order, fair). Its gloss: keeping the artwork brings the community to its neighbours. Keeping an artwork against erosion brings the community up against the neighbours whose pixels erode it, and the community turns to talk with them.
- A05 (P08 to P07; order, thin). Its gloss: a settled border is a line members keep. A settled border gives the community a line to keep: members spare the neighbour's work by it and remind others of it.
- A13 (P05 to P16; order, fair). Its gloss: short of hands, a community turns to other communities. A community keeping its work under strain runs short of hands and turns to other communities for help, and other communities send it.
- A14 (P08 to P16; order, thin). Its gloss: a settled border opens a channel for help. Talk over a border opens a channel through which the two communities then trade help: room for upkeep, pixels for protection.
- A19 (P05 to P17; order, thin). Its gloss: under attack, works defend each other. A community keeping its work against attack joins other communities whose works face the same threat, and they defend each other's works together.
- A21 (P08 to P21; order, bounded). An agreement made with another community in the community's name puts its members' compliance in question. Members who did not make it say that it does not bind them, or refuse it, or say that no one can bind every placer. Bound: A21 orders P21's stated limit and refusal after an agreement. P21's disclaimers of a member's own standing, and requests for someone who can speak for a group, come while another community's terms are proposed or accepted, at the making of terms and not after an agreement ('We have a deal! I can't speak for every member', polska-064; 'I approve that, but people are uncontrollable', finland-056): 36 communities. In 13 more communities members state the limit of who may commit the community in answer to another community's appeal, complaint or accusation, with no agreement in force (FloydVsVoid-033, turkey-029, uiuc-031).
The contest
A call to place can turn hands against a rival's work. The same community answers the attack call. Some members refuse it, the community reins in its attackers or apologises, or it points to a truce. Where the attack goes on, the contest is carried on in talk. Members work out who changed their work and why. A quarrel the community had before the canvas can come into it.
Show the 5 elements and 4 arrows of this part
- P09. Communities attack others' work by the recurring moves the canvas affords: erasing, encroaching, converting a sign, raiding on a streamer's call, planting a script, altering a work as a joke. Range: from one member's call to deface a rival to a coordinated raid.
- P18. Communities carry a contest with a rival community in talk: they trade taunts, flood the rival's threads, claim victory, salute the rival after the fight and blame attackers after the close. Range: from one taunt in a thread to days of chants, victory claims and an after-the-fight salute.
- P06. Members work out who changed their work and why: they trace placers and communities, find friendly fire or their own mistake, blame officers, or disown placers acting in their name. Range: from one question who keeps adding a line to a dossier on a rival's bots.
- K03. The community carries a quarrel from before the canvas into it: a rival sub, a sports or national rivalry, an old dispute. Range: from one member naming the sub's old rival to a community whose first canvas act is against that rival.
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C02. In some communities, a tie the community had before the canvas (a league or school rivalry, a nation's history, an ideology, lore) names the rival in the same turn that calls for or carries out the attack. Range: from a team's colours turned on a league rival's logo to a war from the nation's history named as the reason to cover a neighbour's flag.
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A15 (P01 to P09; order, strong). Its gloss: a call's hands can turn on a rival. A call brings members to the canvas, and some of them turn its hands against a rival's work instead of, or before, building the community's own.
- A16 (P09 to P07; order, strong). Its gloss: an attack call is refused inside the community. A call to attack makes an answer from the community due in its thread. Members who do not want the attack refuse it, rein in the attackers or apologise to the target; refusing is the dispreferred answer, so in written replies it usually comes with a reason (23 of 38 read pairs, F-014), and the reason states the community's norm or the attack's cost ('Nah, keep /r/place neutral.'; 'Why? That'll just cause them to want to attack us').
- A17 (P09 to P08; order, fair). Its gloss: an attack call is met with a truce. A call to attack is met by the community's relations with its neighbours: the community invokes a truce, or proposes a deal instead.
- A18 (P09 to P18; order, fair). Its gloss: an attack is carried on in taunts. An attack makes the rival a named party, and the contest is carried on in talk: taunts, chants, claims of victory, a salute after the fight.
A loss, and a move
After its work is erased or overrun, a community weighs fighting for the spot against moving. A community that judges its hands too few stops fighting for the spot; it moves, or it gives the work up. No loop is drawn: no counted arrow runs from the move back to building.
Show the 2 elements and 1 arrow of this part
- K02. The community judges that it has too few hands or too little room for the work it wants: doubt, a canvas judged too full, a work judged absent or outclassed. Range: from one member saying there are not enough people to defenders told to give up.
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P10. After the work is erased or overrun, the community weighs fighting for the spot against moving, and moves: a new spot, a smaller version, a fresh start. Range: from a lone member asking where to rebuild to a community relocating together within two hours.
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A10 (K02 to P10; order, thin). Its gloss: too few hands, so the community moves. A community that judges it has too few hands to hold its spot stops fighting for it and moves.
The close, and after hour 73
Placement stopped at hour 73 for every community. The community marks the work, records it, and decides what of the effort to keep. After hour 73 members record and curate, and they contest which version of the canvas and of the event is kept. No one can place.
Show the 4 elements and 3 arrows of this part
- P11. When a work is up, the community marks it: announces it, celebrates it, credits makers and helpers, reports members' own parts and says what working with strangers meant. Range: from one 'We did it!' post to threads of credit and reflection at the close.
- P12. The community records what happened to its work and to the canvas around it: screenshots and timelapses, reports of its fate, mourning, imagined art, atlas entries, the end marked. Range: from one screenshot request to a full account of the week.
- P13. Near the close and after it, the community decides what of its temporary effort to keep: a later canvas, a new purpose for its canvas sub, the artwork in its banner, ties with other communities, the work remade elsewhere. Range: from a wish to do better next year to a canvas-born collective announcing a group to carry on.
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P22. After placement ends, members contest which version of the canvas and of the event is kept: they ask a cleanup of a shared copy to fix their work, take part in it, argue that the cleanup should keep the damage as history, and correct accounts of the event that describe their group wrongly. Range: from one member correcting a claim about the community's work, or asking that a logo be cleaned in a shared copy, to a community arguing that its scars are its history.
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A07 (P03 to P11; order, strong). Its gloss: a finished artwork is marked together. An artwork reported done gives the community a finished thing to point at, and the community marks it together: announcement, credit, pride.
- A08 (P11 to P12; order, strong). Its gloss: what is celebrated is kept on record. Marking the work together turns the community toward keeping it: members ask for the final image, the timelapse, the list of what changed.
- A09 (P12 to P13; order, fair). Its gloss: the record is what passes on. A record of the work gives the community something to carry: the image into the banner, the plan into the next canvas.
Beside the work
These entries run beside the work and carry no arrow: the model claims no effect of them. The claim stands on a finding.
Show the 3 elements of this part
- K01. The host sub is keyed as play for April Fools: members post fakes and takeovers under the one-day licence, and a claim in it, a call to the canvas included, may be a joke. Range: from one fake post in an ordinary sub to a sub given over to parody for a day and a half.
- K04. The community acts as a body it was before the canvas, or as a faith in a colour: it argues the nation's history, belonging and politics beyond its flag, carries in the sub's quarrel, lore, jokes or ideology, or professes and spreads a colour. Range: from a fandom's running joke in canvas talk to a canvas fight told as the nation's history.
- C01. Most communities worked on their artworks without deciding how they were organized: a decided element of order (a leader, a vote, an oath, a sanction, a division of the work) is coded in 46 of 705 communities (F-006). Range: from communities that say they wing it to colour factions holding elections.
Read the full returned model · Final D6 account and figure · Interview the final account
Steps, strengths and limitations
Show the 7 steps, with r/PlaceNL beside each
Read the communities (A1).
The aggregator writes a short note on each community before naming any common scheme.
r/PlaceNL
From its note on r/PlaceNL:
What it was not: a single command; it said its plans did not control the Dutch masses.
Build a scheme (B1).
Third-order themes grounded in the community themes, named in the communities' words where possible.
Test, place and adjudicate (B2 to B4).
Independent readers place a pilot without seeing each other's answers; disagreements are examined; independent readers place the rest; the aggregator rules on every disputed placement and freezes the scheme.
r/PlaceNL
Each of the community coder's themes, from third-order theme to dimension Theme (T2), the community coder's Third-order (T3) Fourth-order (T4) Dimension moving live coordination into Discord moving planning into a chat Backstage decision-making Coordination without command Group into fourth-order themes (C1).
Third-order themes gather into fourth-order themes and eight aggregate dimensions.
r/PlaceNL
r/PlaceNL's 246 codes lean to coordination without command (89) and order without law (73), with none on host framing or critical mass.
Build and challenge the model (C2).
Elements (processes, conditions, roles) and arrows between them, each grounded in communities; a separate reader attacks it. Every change is recorded with its reason.
Literature and r/place (C3, C4).
The model is compared with the literature, then with the separately coded r/place subreddit, which adds two elements and an arrow as tentative.
Write and challenge the account (C5).
Separate readers check the account; the model closes as the version sent back to the communities, on 15 October.
Show where each component runs: 2, with their instructions and folders
| Component | Who or what | Instructions and outputs | In the repository |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instructions | aggregator contract, method, stage cards | contract, method, stages A1 to C5 | aggregator/instrument/ |
| The run | notes, scheme, model, history | the coding structure, the model | aggregator/runs/claude-v43-1/ |
The full research repository can be shared with the editor on request.
Show the strengths and limitations: 3 and 3
Strengths
- The aggregator works only from the coders' sealed work, so its model can be tested against accounts written without it.
- Independent readers place themes blind, and every disputed placement is ruled on with a reason.
- Every edit to the model is recorded with its reason; nothing is deleted.
Limitations
- The aggregator composes descriptions; whether the model is a theoretical contribution is our judgment.
- One aggregator built both the scheme and the model, so these checks are internal.
- Two further population models, one from term clustering and one from cross-case tables, are planned to test it.
Question the agent at its checkpoints: A1, reading block · B1, scheme standing · B4, check and final placements · C2, closing pass · C5, table, model and figure.
In the contract
This page covers stages A1 to C5 of the contract v43 of the aggregator: the site summarizes the result of all 10, and each has saved checkpoints you can question.
| Stage | What it does | Its result on the site | Saved work |
|---|---|---|---|
A1 | Read each community on its own terms | one community's note: r/PlaceNL | Checkpoints |
B1 | Build a shared set of categories | building the scheme, above | Checkpoints |
B2 | Test whether others can use the scheme | testing the scheme, above | Checkpoints |
B3 | Read the material independently, twice | testing the scheme, above | Checkpoints |
B4 | Resolve placements by returning to evidence | the coding structure, above | Checkpoints |
C1 | Turn the categories into a structure | the eight dimensions, above | Checkpoints |
C2 | Build an explanation and try to break it | edits to the model, counted | Checkpoints |
C3 | Put the model into conversation with theory | edits to the model, counted | Checkpoints |
C4 | Compare the inside view with the wider event | r/place's entries, tested at the return | Checkpoints |
C5 | Write the whole account and expose its weak points | the model sent to the coders | Checkpoints |
The population: introduction and all parts · How this part works