The conundrum of “Should I wear a costume people will get, or should I wear a costume that represents the true me?” has been around since the early days of Halloween parties — back when the overly ambitious chose to dress as specific local witches or characters from like, Cymbeline instead of Hamlet. How do you know what the scene will be like? Will there be enough people with pop culture frames of reference that align with yours? Will anyone even be wearing a costume? Or, worst of all: will everyone else be wearing a hot people costume? (Aka normal clothes with cat ears or vampire teeth.)

But the problem has gotten even worse in recent years thanks to the rise of internet culture. How do you determine whether an online phenomenon really…

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