Noooo, They Got TempleOS Too: Age Verification Everywhere
Why is this OperatingSystems meme funny?
Level 1: The Treehouse Gets a Doorman
Imagine every clubhouse in town starts requiring a photo of your ID and a video of your face just to come in — the arcade, the library, even the pool. So one kid builds his own treehouse, alone, with no door, no phone line, not even a mailbox, just so no one can ever ask him for paperwork. Then someone posts a picture showing a "SHOW YOUR ID" sign nailed inside the treehouse, and everyone groans "noooo, they got the treehouse too!" It's funny because the treehouse can't even receive mail — the sign is impossible — but it captures the feeling that the ID-checkers are coming for absolutely everywhere, even the places they could never actually reach.
Level 2: What You're Looking At
Decoding the artifacts for those who haven't met this legend:
- TempleOS — a hobby operating system written almost entirely by one man, Terry Davis (1969–2018), who believed God instructed him to build it with biblical constraints: 640×480 resolution, 16 colors, single address space. It's revered as one of the most impressive solo programming feats ever — an entire OS, compiler, and toolchain from scratch.
- HolyC — Davis's custom C dialect that doubles as the OS shell. Code is the command line; everything is JIT-compiled.
- Public domain — no license at all. Anyone can copy, modify, or sell it. The opposite of a platform that can impose terms on you.
- Age verification — laws now requiring sites to confirm users are 18+ via uploaded government ID or AI face-age estimation. Discord introduced such checks, which is what "it's not just Discord anymore" references.
- The Snapchat caption bar and 💀 emoji mark this as zoomer-format despair humor: screenshot, one-line wail, giant red arrow doing the work of a thousand words.
The early-career lesson hiding in here: platforms you don't control can change the deal at any time — and the spaces immune to that (open source, local-first, offline software) are precisely the ones the meme jokes about losing. When the most isolated OS in history "gets got," the joke is really about how few exits remain.
Level 3: The Last Sovereign Machine Falls
The image is a doctored screenshot of TempleOS v1.03 in all its 640×480, 16-color glory — the dense blue hyperlinked menus (Right-click menu, Keyboard Ctrls, Personal Menu), the pixelated golden cross with a dove, the proud label Public Domain Operating System — with one forged addition in red underlined text: Age Verification!. The fake dialog demands:
Please upload:
- A bitmap image of your Driver's License or Passport,
- A video (4s minimum) of your face. Yeah, it's not just Discord anymore.
A giant red arrow and the Snapchat-style caption "noooo they got TempleOS too 💀" complete the despair.
Why is this OS the punchline? Because TempleOS is the single most verification-proof artifact in computing. Terry Davis built it solo over a decade as a literal temple to God: its own compiler, its own language (HolyC), its own filesystem, ring-0-only execution — and, crucially, no network stack. There is no TCP/IP in the temple. An age-verification dialog on TempleOS is a category error so complete it loops back into commentary: the system physically cannot upload your driver's license, which makes it the last place on Earth the dialog could exist — so depicting it there says "nowhere is safe."
The satire targets the very real 2024–2026 regulatory wave: the UK's Online Safety Act forcing face scans and ID uploads for adult content and social platforms, Discord rolling out ID/face verification for British and Australian users, with similar age-assurance regimes spreading across jurisdictions. The technical community's objection isn't pro-teen-access; it's that the implementation creates honeypots of government IDs and biometric video held by third-party verification vendors — a data-privacy disaster with a compliance sticker on it. Every breach of an age-verification provider validates the meme's paranoia retroactively.
There's a sharper irony underneath. The dialog asks for "a bitmap image" — phrasing that's accidentally perfect, because TempleOS genuinely only speaks in its own sprite/bitmap formats at 16 colors. Your passport photo would be dithered into an 8-bit icon of itself, about as legible as the regulation that demanded it. And the OS being public domain — no owner, no company, no terms of service — underlines the absurdity: who would even receive the upload? Compliance theater requires a counterparty; the temple has only God and the user, and neither checks ID.
Description
A Snapchat-style meme with the caption 'noooo they got TempleOS too 💀' over a doctored screenshot of TempleOS v1.03, the public-domain operating system by Terry Davis. The classic 16-color TempleOS interface is visible with its blue hyperlinked menus, keyboard/mouse control panels, and a centered window with the iconic pixelated golden cross and dove, labeled 'Public Domain Operating System'. Below, in red underlined text, a fake dialog reads 'Age Verification!' followed by 'Please upload: 1. A bitmap image of your Driver's License or Passport, 2. A video (4s minimum) of your face. Yeah, it's not just Discord anymore.' with Submit and Close buttons and a large red arrow pointing at the dialog. The meme satirizes the spread of mandatory age-verification laws (UK Online Safety Act, Discord ID checks) by imagining them reaching the most sovereign, offline, divinely-mandated OS imaginable
Comments
52Comment deleted
An OS with no network stack now demands a webcam selfie - the only age check God's temple needed was whether you remember 640x480x16
Not gonna get us! Comment deleted
Oh, no. Astra Linux…not again. Comment deleted
That was just for a stereotype red star. ⭐️ I personally prefer ALT Linux for a wider package base and especially for native PortProton package for a plug-and-play gaming experience. Comment deleted
Oh my god. I know that Linux is always gonna be Linux, but using alt Linux on a daily basis seems like pain Comment deleted
why? and what distro for ya? arch?) Comment deleted
Yes arch, or fedora, if you need gaming support then cachyOS or Bazzite Comment deleted
fedora = like 🙂 All LDistro not for gaming at all. no one, bcause game made for Windows. Yes, according titles on SteamDesk - many games runs on LDistro, but... Games is for fun, not for pain when I try to running games on Linux =) Comment deleted
You have Bazzite, which is game optimized Fedora, I mentioned it separately Comment deleted
Ha. I use own macbook for homies, and game only on Youtube 🙂 Comment deleted
Не в бровь а в глаз. Red hat doesn't cut it for me Comment deleted
red os for corp in Russia 😉 Comment deleted
I use several distinct Linux systems on a daily basis at work and a couple of Linux systems at home, particularly ALT Linux for playing [Windows] games, which PortProton makes a "no thinking required" type of task. And, believe me, ALT Linux is not anywhere PITA, especially compared to some competitors. Comment deleted
Also, why would you use a Russian government affiliated distro? Comment deleted
1) Why shouldn't I? 2) Why would you use a US government affiliated and/or controlled distro? (virtually all of the so-called "FOSS" distros) 3) ALT Linux is mainly used in education and small business, unlike the aforementioned Astra Linux, which has monopolistic positions in military and critical infrastructure segments (that one is real PITA, indeed). Comment deleted
1) Why shouldn't you? Comment deleted
Why do you think I'm not using any? Comment deleted
1) if you like having backdoors on you machine I guess why not. 2) It would be very hard for me to say that something like arch is government controlled, or rather that it is controlled by the US government. 3) the team in charge of it works mainly in one company in Russia, which means that most probably they were pressured into creating a backdoor Comment deleted
1) ALT Linux, unlike many commercial distros, is completely open source, with the exception of some semi-closed architectures like Elbrus (e2k). 2) Arch Linux's terms of service clearly state that the services are governed exclusively by German law, and Germany is a US vassal currently. The same applies to any other software product that is headquartered or hosted in US, EU and British Commonwealth. 3) As XZ backdoor recently reminded us, injecting a backdoor into an open-source project has nothing to do with having contributors concentrated in one country. Same holds true for involuntary vulnerabilities like Heartbleed that stay undetected for years. Comment deleted
We are a US vassal? Comment deleted
Not at all. 🙃 Comment deleted
So meeting the leader of another country makes us a vassal? And trump being trump as well or what? Comment deleted
from avg russian pov yes Comment deleted
from avg russian pov everybody except them, china, iran and north korea is a us vassal :D Comment deleted
you can't work for the Russian government otherwise. if you want a good salary in russian IT, you should accept and emit their gvt propaganda as well. and while being gentle, they are masking their hate and ressentiment Comment deleted
It's a question of having a small and not diverse maintainer team all in one jurisdiction. The fact that Arch operates under German law says nothing about the contributors, the contributors are from all over the world. Arch has a maintainer team of around 80 people from all around the world, ALT has a smaller team and they are mostly in Russia. It's purely a numbers game, which distro has a worse chance of having a government backed backdoor Comment deleted
Let's take SUSE ToS as an example (hi, @DerKnerd!). Governing Law; Jurisdiction: This Website (excluding linked sites) is controlled by SUSE from its offices in Germany. You and SUSE agree that these Website terms and all matters relating to your access to or use of this Website shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law, without regard to the conflicts of laws principles thereof. You and SUSE agree, for the sole benefit of SUSE, that all legal proceedings in connection with the enforcement, construction, interpretation, breach or violation of these Website terms shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales and that jurisdiction and venue are proper in such courts, provided that nothing in this clause shall limit our right to take proceedings against you in any other court of competent jurisdiction. Export Control Laws: No software or Materials from this Website may be downloaded or otherwise exported or re-exported in breach of the export controls of the US Government or the UK Government and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, no software or Materials from this Website may be downloaded or otherwise exported or re-exported: (1) into (or to a national or resident of) Cuba, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, North Korea, Iran, Syria, or any other country to which the United States has embargoed or restricted goods or services; or (2) to anyone on the U.S. Treasury Department's list of Specially Designated Nationals or the U.S. Commerce Department's Table of Denial Orders; or (3) by or to anyone whose export privileges has been suspended, revoked or denied, in whole or in part, by the Bureau of Export Administration of the U.S. Commerce Department or any other U.S. Government entity or agency; or (4) in breach of the UK's Export Control Order 2008 (as amended); or (5) for use in the design, development or production of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons, or missile technology, or any other prohibited use. By downloading or using software from this site, you are agreeing to the foregoing and you are warranting that you are not located in, under the control of, or a national or resident of any such country or on any such list. You may not access, download, use or export the information, software, products or services contained on this Website in violation of U.S. export laws or regulations, or in violation of any applicable local laws or regulations. Not a vassal, huh? Comment deleted
Hmmm, yes a project exists in some jurisdiction, that is true for any projects, it will probably exist close to where it was started and where the users of the project are. Wtf is your point? Comment deleted
that germany is a vassal because suse exists in more than one jurisdiction :D Comment deleted
My point, as stated above, is that almost all FOSS projects are headquartered and/or hosted in the US/CA, EU, UK, AU, so are subject to US laws and restrictions, including not accepting pull requests from sanctioned countries and individuals. Comment deleted
Wow, you discovered the fact that most tech is built in thechnologically advanced countries 😱😱😱😱 Comment deleted
So your point is, when you are headquartered in a country you need to follow said countries laws? Comment deleted
So, what is so different between aligning to Russian and US laws (in terms of "being forced to add a backdoor")? Comment deleted
One is (still) a democracy, lets see how long Comment deleted
It not about being in a certain jurisdiction, its about a maintainer team not spread around and all in one company in one country Comment deleted
As you mentioned it, a team of ALT Linux maintainers was previously located in Ukraine, until they had to flee to Russia in 2014 (after US-sponsored coup) under the threat of being murdered by Ukrainian nationalists. There were also community members in Estonia, but it is hardly possible for them to continue collaboration as Estonian authorities charge a fine just for communicating in Russian. That's how "the free world" forces a development team to collapse to a single "authoritarian" jurisdiction. Comment deleted
I think you should stop watching Soloviev before sleep. Read a book or something, will do you some good Comment deleted
You tell that to the people being listed on the "Peacekeeper" database (a website operated by Ukrainian nationalists to publish personal data of people they hunt for political views), including those members of ALT Linux team that I personally know, and also those who are still waiting for their chance to escape Ukraine. Comment deleted
Boohoo, the Russian programmers that work with the state don't like that the Ukrainians don't appreciate them. Maybe don't work with the people that are actively killing them and you wont be in any databases? Also peacekeeper is not an official database, it is independent and noone fucking cares who is in it Comment deleted
+1 I'm listed, my gf is listed, and half of my family is listed too No issues entering or leaving Ukraine as a Russian :p (except the obvious "why is a Russian coming here" type of questions at the border) Comment deleted
Got detained for 3 days once, after we decided to go there after a long time of no-show, which uhh makes sense Comment deleted
And just for some info, no, I did not commit war crimes myself or support anyone doing so I went to Crimea a couple times, since my relatives live there since pre-2014 Comment deleted
As you may have forgot, in 2014 the only force killing Ukrainians were Ukrainian nationalists, who started a war with their own citizens not willing to accept the coup. Comment deleted
My god you are far gone. Vata ahh take Comment deleted
should we add you to the Peacekeeper database as well? Comment deleted
as a person who have used alt on their machine, what could you say about this distro? i've heard from others that it's actually a good one, but didn't have time to try out myself Comment deleted
You are free to try for yourself. Unlike other commercial Russian distros, this one is totally free for personal use, and offers multiple flavors — Workstation (Mate), K Workstation (KDE), Simply (Xfce), Education, Server. Comment deleted
Yeah, alt linux is the best alternative linux. Astra is just linux distro on my work)) Comment deleted
Wdym by alternative Linux? It's not like there is some main single distro Comment deleted
Thought you but! Sense I what thinking you are. Comment deleted
Ye Comment deleted
80iq geopolitics debater in devmemes comment section? Again? Comment deleted