I was never in on any of those jokes but it seemed like people were deriving some joy from them and they were usually in predictable subreddits so easily avoided. It kind of made me feel like people were so lonely they were reaching out to feel a connection over something shared even though that thing was very banal. For those who were not bots, is it really so terrible? Like it made me feel kind of sad because it was so empty but that would be a larger problem.
I also speculated it might help divert the bots from taking up space elsewhere. Just create this space of call and response for lonely people and bots to play with each other and keep one another occupied.