reply guy
noun
a habitual and often annoying replier on social media
What does reply guy mean?
Reply guy refers to a habitual and often annoying replier on social media. A reply guy may comment excessively on someone else’s posts in a way that is aggressive, flirtatious, pedantic, or that presumes a closer or more friendly relationship with the original poster than actually exists. A reply guy isn’t necessarily a troll (they may or may not be intentionally antagonistic) but is someone about whom the vibes are decidedly off.
Examples of reply guy
While no reply guy is the same — each reply guy is annoying in his own way — there are a few common qualities to watch out for. In general, reply guys tend to have few followers. Their responses are overly familiar, as if they know the person they're targeting, though they usually don't. They also tend to reply to only women; the most prolific reply guys fill the role for dozens of women trying to tweet in peace.
—Chloe Bryan, Mashable, 19 Feb. 2019
… I tweeted a photo of Noel Gallagher from 1996 playing an Epiphone hollow-body guitar painted with the Union Jack at their infamous Maine Road shows. The caption read “Look at this ICONIC IMAGE! My god! 😍” Likes and comments started flooding in. Then for whatever reason, one user chimed in with “Also pulp, blur, and suede are better than oasis!” This user then proceeded to explain Britpop to me using screenshots from Suede’s Wikipedia page. Classic Reply Guy behavior.
—What is up with reply guys on here? They come out of the woodwork to correct stuff that does not matter. You don’t follow me! Replying takes up precious seconds of your life you’ll never get back.
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Where does reply guy come from?
Use of reply guy originated—surprise!—on social media, and appears to have emerged, or at least gained momentum, in the late 2010s.
How is reply guy used?
Reply guy is used for someone whose social media engagement is unwanted, unasked for, and constant. It is not a compliment.
