ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

The Button (Reddit)

The button on Reddit is like a game we all played as kids called "Red Light, Green Light". Everyone starts standing in a line, and when the person in charge says "Green Light", we all move forward. But as soon as they say "Red Light", we have to stop. The person in charge keeps switching between "Green Light" and "Red Light", and whoever reaches them first wins.

The button on Reddit is like that game, but on the internet. There's a big button on the website, and everyone can see it. But the catch is, the button starts counting down from 60 seconds as soon as someone clicks it. You can only click the button once, and once you do, your account gets a special color depending on how many seconds were left on the countdown when you clicked it.

People on Reddit made a big deal out of the button, and everyone wanted to click it to get a cool color on their account. But some people decided to play games with it. They made groups and alliances to try and keep the button alive for as long as possible, because once it hit zero, it would be gone forever.

The button became a big social experiment, and people were even writing about it in newspapers and magazines. But eventually, after 1,008,316 clicks, the countdown hit zero and the button disappeared. But it will always be remembered as one of the most unique things to happen on Reddit!