I feel like I witnessed history because I happened to read the original reddit thread as it was happening. I can't find it now, might have been lost with imgur changes.
Same here! As I recall it, I saw the photo and thought, that banana looks suspiciously fresh. Then they followed up with the utterly brilliant "banana for scale", which became an instant legend. Because, of course, no one would lie on the Internet! :)
It was a golden (banana) age of Reddit, and a more innocent time. The karma gaming, and other gaming and tall-tales, that started very early on Reddit, turned into something less-lighthearted later, on Reddit and other social media. But for a time, it was innocent fun to read.