It all started so innocently. Nick Loman (@pathogenomenick) expressed his dissatisfaction with yet another PLOS Computational Biology article that uses the 10 Simple Rules… template:

“@gedankenstuecke: Ten Simple Rules to Win a Nobel Prize http://t.co/EjeDRcdvE2” please make these stop
— Nick Loman (@pathogenomenick) April 3, 2015

There were two immediate responses from Kai Blin (@kaiblin) and Phil Spear (@Duke_of_neural):

.@pathogenomenick or at least make a new journal called PLOS BuzzFeed for these. @gedankenstuecke
— Kai Blin (@kaiblin) April 3, 2015

@kaiblin @kbradnam @pathogenomenick @gedankenstuecke You won't BELIVE what the consensus sequence for this kinase is!
— Phil Spear (@Duke_of_neural) April 3, 2015

I immediately saw the possibility that this could become a meme-worthy hashtag, so I simply retweeted Phil’s tweet, added the hashtag #PLOSBuzzFeed, and waited to see what would happen (as well making some of my own contributions).

At the time of writing — about 10 hours later — there have been several hundred tweets using this hashtag. Presented in reverse order, here are the most ‘popular’ tweets from today (as judged by summing retweets and favorites):

This GWAS explains ALL of the missing heritability! #PLOSBuzzFeed
— Karyn MeltzSteinberg (@KMS_Meltzy) April 3, 2015

This bioinformatician received a genome as a Microsoft Word document … you won't believe what happened next! #PLOSBuzzFeed
— Lars Juhl Jensen (@larsjuhljensen) April 3, 2015

21 signs your cats microbiome is affecting your love life #PLOSBuzzFeed
— David W. Cleary (@Bacterioskeptic) April 3, 2015

Listen To These Bioinformaticians Pronounce De Bruijn Hilariously Wrong #PLOSBuzzFeed
— Nick Loman (@pathogenomenick) April 3, 2015

Scientists said that 80% of the human genome is functional. You wouldn't believe what happened next! #PLOSBuzzFeed
— Ian Goodhead (@IanGoodhead) April 3, 2015

Meet the 22 bioinformaticians who say angry things on Twitter #PLOSBuzzFeed
— Keith Bradnam (@kbradnam) April 3, 2015

This Bioinformatician Typed rm -rf $VARIABLE/ By Mistake .. You Won't Believe What Happened Next! #PLOSBuzzFeed
— Nick Loman (@pathogenomenick) April 3, 2015

16 Tricks to make your worthless data look statistically significant #PLOSBuzzFeed
— Elisabeth Bik (@MicrobiomDigest) April 3, 2015

17 Bioinformatics Tools Only 90s Kids Will Remember #PLOSBuzzFeed
— Jennifer Gardy (@jennifergardy) April 3, 2015

My telomeres were shortening every time my cells divided. What happened next absolutely killed me. #PLOSBuzzFeed
— Justin Payne (@crashfrog) April 3, 2015