Users who had not pressed the button had a grey dot, and users who had pressed it had a dot colored based on the state of the timer when the button was pressed. Īll users received a small dot called a 'flair' next to their username. There was also a cumulative count of all unique users who had clicked the button since its launch.

The button could only be pressed once by each unique Reddit account created before the event started on 1 April. When the button was clicked by any user, the countdown would reset for all users. The specific Reddit community ( subreddit) for the Button had the standard Reddit appearance but with a molly-guarded button next to a 60-second countdown timer at the top of the page. On 5 June 2015, the countdown timer reached zero with no button press attempts, ending the experiment.

The Button's countdown timer reached zero several times due to technical issues, but was reset since button press attempts were still being made. Various websites, browser extensions, and mobile applications were created for tracking the live statistics of the Button and enabling users to visit the Button when the timer dropped below a certain threshold. The Button garnered enthusiasm from Reddit users worldwide, attracting clicks from over one million user accounts. The game was started by a Reddit administrator. The experiment was hosted on the social networking website Reddit beginning on 1 April 2015 ( April Fools' Day) and was active until 5 June 2015, the first time that no user pressed the button before the timer reached zero. The experiment was created by Josh Wardle, also known as powerlanguage. The Button was an online meta-game and social experiment that featured an online button and 60-second countdown timer that would reset each time the button was pressed.

Do not press the big red button game