Talk:Countryballs

It has been proposed in this section that Countryballs be renamed and moved to PolandballPolandball. A bot will list this discussion on the requested moves current discussions subpage within an hour of this tag being placed. The discussion may be closed 7 days after being opened, if consensus has been reached (see the closing instructions). Please base arguments on article title policy, and keep discussion succinct and civil. Please use {{subst:requested move}}. Do not use {{requested move/dated}} directly. Links: current log • target log • direct move

Countryballs → PolandballPolandball – 1. When this article was originally created, and at every stage in its history (save for the change in September 2021), the term "Polandball" was Presumed due to significant coverage with reliable sources, while the term "Countryballs" is a term primarily used by fandoms to refer to the characters included in Polandball comics and animations. Even now, when the Google search term "Polandball" is used, the Wikipedia article for "Countryballs" is the only search result not using that term, although Google clearly and inextricably connects the two terms.

2. The term "Polandball" has more Significant Coverage than the term "Countryballs." Even this article's own references section contains more hits for "Polandball" than for "Countryballs." Furthermore, of the 3 references listed that employ the term "Countryballs," two of them are about games, while the secondary sources referring to "Polandball" vastly outnumber the sources using the term "Countryballs."

3. On the subject of Reliable Sources Independent of the Subject, as I mentioned in point 2, the secondary sources cited by this article that refer to the term "Polandball" are all reliable sources that are independent of the subject.

For all of these listed reasons, it should be reasonable for this article to be titled "Polandball." That said, as is currently the inverse on the article, the term "Countryballs" should be included as an alternate name.

(this text is copied from the topic before this, just so it will say on the page that this discussion is happening) Finnfrog99 (talk) 10:53, 8 March 2026 (UTC)

Comment - Per Google Trends, while the term "Polandball" seemed to be more popular in the 2010s, the terms "Countryballs" and "countryball" seems to be more popular during the last years. Oakchris1955 (talk) 11:25, 8 March 2026 (UTC)

I think we should continue the conversation in the previous topic where it started Finnfrog99 (talk) 11:26, 8 March 2026 (UTC)

No I still say it as that so I don’t care ~2026-15826-88 (talk) 11:41, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Support - According to WP:THREE, the General Notability Guidelines, and WP:COMMONNAME, the term "Polandball" is the better name for this article. The term "Countryballs" is a later development that was retroactively applied to describe the medium.

1. The following resources employ the term "Polandball" more frequently to describe the medium: Polandball - A Case Study, Polandball is of Reddit: How r/polandball Transcends Memes through Carefully Curated Geopolitical Satire, and Deciphering Linguistic Stereotypes in Polandball Comics: A Qualitative Analysis of 'Engrish' and Cultural Representation. A fourth article (Cohesive Aspects of Humor in Internet Memes on Facebook: a Multimodal Sociolinguistic Analysis) employs the term "Countryballs" more frequently than "Polandball," however it still supports the argument that "Polandball" is an equally strong name to describe the wider phenomenon.

2. While I recognize that the terms are sometimes considered interchangeable (as seen in the citations I have included for my rationale), the term "Countryballs" does not meet notability guidelines outside of the context of the term "Polandball." The term "countryballs" more frequently refers to the figures/characters featured in Polandball comics, as seen in the cited resources, while the term "Polandball" generally refers to overall genre of comics.

3. The Common Name principle is the only point where Google Analytics results should be considered, but this is not a strong enough case on its own for the name of the article to be "Countryballs." ChickenScuttleMonkey (talk) 17:23, 8 March 2026 (UTC)

• Support. The current title is a solution to a problem no one needed solving. Yes, haha, it's funny that it's called Polandball even when it's not mostly about Poland. And it was funny when MTV was no longer about music videos, but nobody suggested renaming MTV. Use the common name. Red Slash 17:51, 9 March 2026 (UTC)
• Oppose. While GS does show Polandball wins at 2:1 (92 to 46 for "Countryball"), if we add "Countryballs" count at 70, WP:COMMONNAME becomes 50/50. And the article is more than just abount Polandball. It's about other-country-balls too. I prefer to have this under the name that makes the content of this clear. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 01:04, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

  @Piotrus Polandball isn't just Poland, it refers to every character. This is a common misconception Finnfrog99 (talk) 01:12, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

  Exactly. The only reason it is named Polandball is because it originated from a Polish website and because Poland is drawn upside down. Oakchris1955 (talk) 14:38, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

  WP:PRECISION: "Usually, titles should unambiguously define the topical scope of the article". Polandball does not do this. Countryball does. _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 14:51, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

  The name "Polandball" is not about the characters included in the comics, and this is always the point that people preferring the term "Countryballs" seem to miss when discussing the name. Yes, the name is rooted in the earliest comics' subject matter - a Polish user on Krautchan named Wojak - but the genre of geopolitical satire comics employing "countryballs" retained the name Polandball at every stage in the meme's evolution until, arbitrarily in 2021, people thought the name "Countryballs" was more inclusive and changed this article's name to reflect that.

  The rise of the name "Countryballs" to describe the meme is primarily related to a specific YouTuber who was not significantly connected to any Polandball-oriented community, but until somebody publishes original research that can be cited in this article, we have to keep having this debate based on the available research. I still maintain that, based on the available research, "Polandball" better fits the genre of geopolitical satire employing countryballs, while the term "countryballs" merely refers to the characters employed in these comics and other internet content.

  I recognize that the article - as it currently exists - is merely about the figures, themselves. However, countryballs as figures primarily exist to satirize geopolitical relationships and national stereotypes, and there is a name for that genre of internet content: Polandball. That is what I believe the existing research supports, and why I believe the article should be renamed. "Countryballs" are not notable outside of their connection to the genre of Polandball comics, while Polandball as a genre of geopolitical commentary and satire is the phenomenon that was notable enough to warrant an article on Wikipedia in the first place. ~2026-15311-59 (talk) 15:06, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

  There is a reason this was moved from Polandball to Countryballs in the first place,it is not just about the name popularity but also because the article name should be more neutral/less controversial too,the controversy petered out years ago anyway as this shifted from making fun of one country(Poland) to making fun of all them...(some of the text was copied from the old discussion)

  After all,like @Oakchris1955 said,the only reason it was named ¨Polandball¨ was because they where first drawn on a Polish website and because the meme was first originated from The 2009 ¨Cyberwar¨,a webcomic series designed to troll a Polish user,with the main character being a ball representing Poland.^[1] Darrrrmilk (talk) 20:54, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

  Fandom is unreliable, its like citing wikipedia on wikipedia. Anyone can change it Finnfrog99 (talk) 20:58, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

  thanks for telling me that @Finnfrog99 I didnt see it was from Fandom Darrrrmilk (talk) 21:00, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

  Ew ~2026-15826-88 (talk) 11:42, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Comment

• ^[1] Refers to the comics as Polandball, but the meme as Countryball. also "Polandball, or Countryballs, are online user-generated comics"
• ^[2] Refers to the meme as Countryball, but the community as Polandball. also " internet meme commonly known as Polandball or Countryball."
• ^[3] "Polandball tai countryball" only mentions countryball at the start, uses Polandball in Finnish for the rest of the article
• ^[4] Article is about the "Countrybollz comics" [sic] saying they originated from the Polandball meme
• ^[5] Refers to the meme and comics as Polandball, with the characters being countryballs
• ^[6] No mentions of countryball, only Polandball
• ^[7] Only mentions Polandball
• ^[8] Only calls them Countryballs
• ^[9] calls it the "countryballs/Polandball meme"
• ^[10] "They are referred to as ‘Polandball’, or ‘countryball’." outside of this, characters are countryballs, everything else Polandball
• ^[11] (machine translation) "Comics of this type also began to be created on English-language forums, and although the group of characters has expanded to include other countries, the meme is still called "Polandball.""
• ^[12] " Internet-famous Countryballs comic series." "Countryballs (or Polandball to those better versed in Internet culture)" refers to the characters as "(Country name)ball". outside of the two sentences I quoted, uses Polandball
• ^[13] Dont have access.
• ^[14] Removed from Wayback Machine. Only available if you contact the owner, so I dont have access
• ^[15] Refers to the memes as countryballs, community as polandball " internet meme commonly known as Polandball or Countryball" Mostly uses both terms interchangeably
• ^[16] "They are referred to as ‘Polandball’, or ‘countryball’" uses countryball 55 times, Polandball 358 times
• ^[17] Polandball used once, calls it countryballs mainly
• ^[18] Uses Countryballs
• ^[19] "Countryballs (also known as Polandball)" uses Countryballs
• ^[20] "Polandball/Countryballs" Always uses "Polandball/Countryballs"
• ^[21] Characters are countryballs, everything else Polandball
• ^[22] Dont have access
• ^[23] Uses Polandball
• ^[24] Dont have this book
• ^[25] Only uses Polandball
• ^[26] Uses Countryballs, refers to characters as "(Country name)ball"
• ^[27] Uses Countryballs
• ^[28] Uses Countryballs
• ^[29] Uses Countryballs
• ^[30] uses Polandball
• ^[31] Unsure, cant access the slide it's on
• ^[32] doesnt call it anything
• ^[33] refers to characters as countryballs
• ^[34] refers to characters as countryballs

Finnfrog99 (talk) 22:41, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

(ignoring the sources in the second note and google trends ref, wikipedia goes off sources, not google trends) Finnfrog99 (talk) 22:48, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

@Finnfrog99 Very nice; can you provide a numerical breakdown? _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 01:23, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

PS. For no access issues - have you tried Anna's Archive or like? _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 01:24, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

• Oppose move to Polandball or Countryball. Featured article on Russian Wikipedia with 130~~ sources uses the name countryballs, also many reliable English sources which appeared in late 10's use more often countryballs than polandball, see for example book from 2017 vs Dawid2009 (talk) 04:39, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

  Shut up ~2026-15826-88 (talk) 11:43, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

In the rules section, why are the entries all listed as “United States (USAball)”? Isn’t it implied that you can append -ball to any country or city name? While it does make sense for Kazakstan (as its a brick) or Israel (cube), it doesn't make sense for simple balls. - PhilDaBirdMan (Talk | Contribs) 17:07, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

Yeah ~2026-15826-88 (talk) 11:44, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

It seems the Rules section has been updated already.n - PhilDaBirdMan (Talk | Contribs) 11:46, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

I'll take a look at this later because according to the Official Polandball Tutorial, appending "-ball" to the country is generally discouraged - if this is mentioned in any of the reliable sources, I think this should also be referenced in this article. Appending "-ball" sounds unserious, anyway. ChickenScuttleMonkey (talk) 12:10, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

There was a part of the Rules section where it was just listing some country things like "Nepal (Nepalball) is depicted as …" but that section was recently removed, but there might be other relics of the recent merge - PhilDaBirdMan (Talk | Contribs) 12:12, 17 March 2026 (UTC)