feedback loop 

A term used by management types to describe any sort of relationship in which one person gives feedback to another, even if nothing in the feedback process resembles a loop.

Wal-Mart "Associate": I feel like you're creating a hostile work environment by constantly pinching my ass.

Wal-Mart Manager: I'm glad we've set up the sort of feedback loop where you feel comfortable telling me that. You're fired.

feedback loop by EJP June 27, 2007

hipster feedback loop 

A phenomenon where a lack of originality or effort is perceived as creative and insightful for absolutely no reason, via the employment of hipster logic. This is usually observed when arguing with a contemporary author, artist, "thinker" etc. about the integrity of their work or the work of another. What's interesting is that any rebuttal made to the individual who is employing hipster logic will only reinforce that individual's standpoint, working toward the inevitable realization that other people just don't get it.

Joe: This is a toilet dude.

Hipster: You don't get it man, it's more than that.

Joe: Literally all that's here is a fucking toilet on a pedestal, this is not art.

Hipster: That's just the point the artist is trying to make, your ignorant confinement of 'art' is just a conformist attitude succumbing to the conceit of traditionalists. This artist is brilliantly fighting the status quo for a freer form of expression....

Joe: It's a fuckin toilet.

Hipster: Huh, you just don't get it, if you were able to get.....

Joe: Whoa whoa whoa, I see what's going on here, I've been trapped in a hipster feedback loop, and I'm getting out of here.

hipster feedback loop by jmoomoo420 April 28, 2013

Shitty feedback loop 

When a specialized system of thought becomes motivated by individual gain creating individual analysis and terminology that is false. In time, the systems exclusive terminology denies creative diversity locking it into a perpetual decline until system death.

I tried living in the United States last year, but damn, I couldn't secure my families basic needs because all jobs that pay a living wage require me to give up my cultural beliefs; the US is in a shitty feedback loop.

Shitty feedback loop by doubledutchwindmill November 1, 2013

Infinite feedback loops

No. The Infinite feedback loops I was talking about. Me. Not him.

Hym "You mean the Infinite feedback loops that I was talking about? Yeah... I'm a genius. Another brilliant observation from the guy you reference 100 times a week. See how little effort what you do takes for me? How many people have I saved? In 5 years? The mass shootings have gone down (because 😩 I'm a genius and you're not😩). I tell the Chinese people to rise up. The next day? Articles about just that. Should I do the Muslims next? CEOs maybe? That's gotta sting. And that what I think the real issue is: it's not the insinuations. It's that I said anyone could do the thing you do. And I was wrong! I'm just exceptional. Absolutely brilliant. A Goddamn genius. Wow! What a good job, me! ThAnKs oThEr Me! Am I just imitating competence? That's one hell of an imitation! That is some Itachi Uchiha level genjutsu right there! Even the imitation is so good it's laudable! Wonder how well my Logos works in the midst of a societal collapse 🤔 Guess we'll find out. No doubt better than yours but that's the feature and not the bug. It's gotta be weird to not be an archetypal figure. I can only vaguely remember what that feels like... Have fun with that! I'm also a cult leader too so, technically, I too am a prophet. Except with more of an impact."

Infinite feedback loops by Hym Iam July 29, 2022

Feedback loophole 

Someone who won’t shut up about something.

That genius is caught in another feedback loophole.

Feedback loophole by Hardly Q January 4, 2021

Feedback Loops of Debunking

A systemic phenomenon where debunking creates conditions that generate more debunking, forming self-reinforcing cycles. Debunking a claim gives it attention; attention brings new believers; new believers require more debunking; more debunking gives more attention. Or debunking creates a community of debunkers who reinforce each other's skepticism, making them more likely to debunk future claims. Or platforms algorithmically reward debunking content, creating incentives to produce more of it. Feedback Loops of Debunking mean that debunking doesn't just respond to falsehood—it actively shapes the environment in ways that produce more opportunities for debunking. The cure becomes part of the disease.

Feedback Loops of Debunking "He debunked a conspiracy video, which made it trend, which brought it to millions who'd never seen it, some of whom believed it, requiring more debunking videos. That's Feedback Loops of Debunking—debunking as amplifier, not attenuator. The loop means more debunking doesn't mean less falsehood; it might mean more attention, more engagement, more of everything. The feedback loop doesn't correct—it circulates."

Feedback Loops of Debunking by Dumu The Void February 28, 2026

Feedback Loops of Proof

A rhetorical tactic common in skeptical and atheist online communities, where one party demands proof, receives it, and then uses that very proof to demand more—creating an endless loop designed not to reach understanding but to exhaust and discredit the other side. The pattern: ask for evidence, receive evidence, dismiss it as insufficient (or as “not real proof”), ask for more, repeat. Each cycle raises the bar, often demanding impossible standards (e.g., “peer‑reviewed studies of your personal spiritual experience”). The feedback loop never terminates because the goal is not truth but domination: to make the target appear unable to provide satisfactory proof, and thus irrational. It weaponizes the principle of evidence against honest inquiry.

Feedback Loops of Proof Example: “She provided a study; he said it wasn’t double‑blind. She found a meta‑analysis; he said the field was biased. She offered personal testimony; he called it anecdotal. Feedback Loops of Proof: each answer fuels the next demand, forever.”

Feedback Loops of Proof by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal April 3, 2026