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| File:4chan front page.pngThe 4chan homepage on August 3, 2008 | |
| Type of site | Imageboard |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Owner | moot ("Christopher Poole") |
| URL | http://www.4chan.org/ |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | No |
4chan is an English-language imageboard website based on the Japanese-language Futaba Channel. Launched on October 1, 2003 by "moot" ("Christopher Poole"), its boards are primarily used for the posting of pictures and discussion of Japanese comics and television shows. Users generally post anonymously, and the site has been linked to "Anonymous" culture and Project Chanology. The Guardian describes 4chan as "at once brilliant, ridiculous and alarming."
4chan's "/b/" board is by far the most popular. Its theme is "random"; there are minimal rules on posted content. It is thus notorious on the Internet; Gawker.com claimed in jest that "reading /b/ will melt your brain". The site has generated significant media attention, and its members have been responsible for the formation and popularization of Internet memes such as lolcats, rickrolling, and the popularity of the Tay Zonday song "Chocolate Rain". It has also received media attention for its attacks against other websites and Internet users, and for the threats of real world violence that have been posted on it.
Formation
4chan was started in 2003 in the bedroom of "moot", a 15 year old from New York City. He intended the site to be a place to discuss Japanese comics and television shows, an American counterpart to the popular Japanese Futaba Channel (aka. 2chan) boards. moot purchased the server space for 4chan using his mother's credit card. Prior to starting 4chan, moot had been a regular participant on the Something Awful forums.
moot's identity
moot had his alleged real-world identity—"Christopher Poole"—revealed on July 9, 2008 in The Wall Street Journal. On the same day, Lev Grossman of TIME published an interview with him, describing him as "one of the most powerful people on the Web". Despite Grossman's article starting with the statement "I don't even know his real name", its second page identified moot as Christopher Poole. On July 10, Grossman wrote that there was a 5% chance that Christopher Poole was not moot's real name, but a reference to several 4chan inside jokes.
moot grew up in suburban New York City and started 4chan in his bedroom in 2003. He deliberately kept his real identity separate from 4chan, telling TIME "my personal private life is very separate from my Internet life ... There's a firewall in between." As moot, he has spoken at conferences at Yale University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Observer describes moot as "the most influential web entrepreneur you've never heard of".
Layout
The activity of 4chan takes place on message boards and imageboards. The boards generally cover topics related to Japanese culture. 4chan once hosted discussion boards on a separate domain called "world4ch", but these were later moved to the dis.4chan.org subdomain. The site has one employee; a programmer who moot met via online Tetris. All other moderators are volunteers.
Because 4chan is provided to its users free of charge and consumes a large amount of bandwidth, its financing often becomes problematic. moot acknowledges that donations alone can not keep the site online, so he has turned to advertising to help make ends meet. However, the pornographic content hosted on 4chan has deterred businesses who do not want to be associated with the site's content from advertising.
Anonymity
4chan consists of a collection of imageboards which allow users to post anonymously. Unlike most web forums, 4chan does not have a registration system. When posting, one can choose any nickname, even one that has been previous used by someone else, or not choose a nickname at all. In place of registration, 4chan has provided tripcodes as an optional form of authenticating a poster's identity. As making a post without filling in the "Name" field causes posts to be attributed to "Anonymous," a running gag on 4chan states that Anonymous is not a single person, but a collective of 4chan. Moderators will generally post without a name even when performing moderation actions. In this case, a "capcode" may be used, attributing the post to "Anonymous ## Mod", though moderators are welcome to post without a capcode.
Links to "Anonymous" and Project Chanology
See also: Anonymous (group) and Project Chanology
4chan has been labeled as the starting point of the Anonymous meme by The Baltimore City Paper, due to the norm of posts signed with the "Anonymous" moniker. The State News reported that Anonymous was "a loose coalition of Internet denizens" that congregated on 4chan. The National Post's David George-Cosh said it has been "widely reported" that Anonymous is associated with 4chan and 711chan, as well as numerous Internet Relay Chat channels.
Through its association with Anonymous, 4chan has been associated with Project Chanology, an organization that holds worldwide protests against the Church of Scientology. On January 15, 2008 a 4chan user posted to /b/, 4chan's "random" board, suggesting participants "do something big" to the Church of Scientology's website. This resulted in the Church receiving, by its reports, more than 6000 threatening phone calls. Unlike previous Anonymous attacks, this one was characterized by 4chan inside jokes, such as rickrolls and Guy Fawkes masks. The raid drew criticism from some 4chan users who felt it would bring the site unnecessary attention.
/b/
The "random" board, /b/, follows the design of Futaba Channel's Nijiura board. It is by far 4chan's most popular board. Gawker.com's Nick Douglas summarizes /b/ as a board where "people try to shock, entertain, and coax free porn from each other". Certain post numbers are sought after with a large amount of posting taking place to "GET" them. A "GET" occurs when a post's number ends in a special number, such as 12345678, 22222222, or every millionth post. A sign of 4chan's scaling, according to moot, was when GETs lost meaning due to the high post rate resulting in a GET occurring every few weeks.
/b/ has a "no rules" policy, save for a ban on certain illegal content, such as child pornography, invasions of other websites, and under-18 viewing, all of which are inherited from site-wide rules. This "no rules" policy applies to administrator and moderator actions as well, meaning that users may be banned at any time, for any reason, including no reason at all. Due partially to its anonymous nature, board moderation is not always successful. moot told The New York Times, in a discussion on the moderation of /b/, that "the power lies in the community to dictate its own standards" and that site staff simply provided a framework.
The humor of /b/'s many users, who refer to themselves as "/b/tards", is often incomprehensible to newcomers and outsiders, and is characterized by intricate inside jokes and black comedy. /b/ users, often referred to by outsiders as trolls, will regularly act with the intention of accumulating "lulz". Douglas said of the board, "reading /b/ will melt your brain", and cited Encyclopedia Dramatica's definition of /b/ as "the asshole of the Internet". Mattathias Schwartz of The New York Times likened /b/ to a "a high-school bathroom stall, or an obscene telephone party line".
Memes
See also: Internet memeLolcats
Main article: lolcat
In 2005 the lolcat meme was started on 4chan as "Caturday". Every Saturday, users would post pictures of cats with image macros relating to the day's theme. One Caturday, a user posted a picture of a cat asking "I can has cheezburger?", and received a reply of the same cat in a different pose declaring "Do not want!". Neither of these were related to the day's theme. Following this, the "rule" that cat pictures had to relate to a theme was lifted. The lolcat meme later spread to other animals; an example of this is the O RLY? owl.
Rickrolling
Main article: rickrollingIn 2005 the "duckroll" was introduced. This meme began when moot used a word filter to change "egg" to "duck" across 4chan. Thus, words such as "eggroll" were changed to "duckroll". This led to a bait and switch in which external links disguised as being relevant to a discussion actually pointed to a picture of a duck on wheels.
In March 2007, the demo for video game Grand Theft Auto IV was released. Its immense popularity caused publisher Rockstar Games' website to crash. A 4chan user employed the duckroll on a link to this site, but linked to the YouTube video for Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" instead of a duck picture. Thus, the "rickroll" was born. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Astley said he found the meme "bizarre and funny".
"Chocolate Rain"
Main article: Chocolate RainA link to the YouTube video of "Chocolate Rain", a song by Tay Zonday, was posted on /b/ on July 11, 2007. The Age reported that 4chan posters urged each other to "swarm" the video on YouTube and thus increase its ranking. The video has become an immensely popular internet meme, resulting in covers by John Mayer and Green Day drummer Tre Cool. The portion of the song in which Zonday turns away from the microphone, with a caption stating "I move away from the mic to breathe in", became a an oft-repeated meme on 4chan and inspired remixes.
Other memes
More memes were developed by 4chan, such as "So I herd u liek mudkipz", a meme involving a phrase based on Pokemon, which resulted in numerous YouTube tribute videos. 4chan, and other websites such as Encyclopedia Dramatica, are responsible for the development of significant amounts of leetspeak.
Media attention
Internet attacks
See also: eBaum's World controversy and KTTV Fox 11 news reportOn January 9, 2006 ,eBaum's World violated copyright laws in hosting an image of Lindsay Lohan originally posted on YTMND. As a result, users of 4chan, YTMND, Something Awful, and Newgrounds participated in a "raid" against the site including a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, and flooding of the website's chat room, forums and technical support. The attack caused the forums to go offline for an unknown period of time.
In December 2006 and January 2007, users of 4chan and other websites "raided" Hal Turner by launching DDoS attacks and prank calling his phone-in radio show. The attacks caused Turner's website to go offline. This cost thousands of dollars of bandwidth bills according to Turner. In response, Turner sued 4chan, 7chan, and other websites; however, he lost his plea for an injunction and failed to receive letters from the court.
On July 26, 2007, KTTV Fox 11 aired a report on "Anonymous", calling them a group of "hackers on steroids", "domestic terrorists", and collectively an "Internet hate machine". Slashdot founder Rob Malda posted a comment made by another Slashdot user, Miang, stating that the story focused mainly on users of "4chan, 7chan and 420chan". Miang claimed that the report "seems to confuse /b/ raids and motivational poster templates with a genuine threat to the American public", arguing that the "unrelated" footage of a van exploding shown in the report was to "equate anonymous posting with domestic terror".
On July 10, 2008, the swastika symbol (卐) appeared at the top of Google's Hot Trends list—a tally of the most popular search terms in the United States—for several hours. It was later reported that the HTML numeric character reference for the symbol had been posted on /b/, with a request to perform a Google search for the string. A multitude of /b/ visitors followed the order and pushed the symbol to the top of the chart, though Google later removed the result.
Threats of violence
See also: Jake BrahmOn October 18, 2006 the Department of Homeland Security warned NFL officials in Miami, New York City, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Oakland, and Cleveland about a possible threat involving the simultaneous use of dirty bombs at stadiums. The threat claimed that the attack would be carried out on October 22, the final day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Both the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security expressed doubt concerning the credibility of the threats, but still warned the relevant organizations as a precaution. The games proceeded as planned but under a higher level of security awareness.
The threats came to light in the national media after blogger Jake Brahm admitted to have posted the threats on 4chan and forty other websites. FOX News reported that the posts should not have been taken seriously as " would never take anything posted on 4chan as fact".
On October 20, 2006 Brahm turned himself in to federal authorities. He was charged with fabricating a fake terrorist threat and was taken into custody by police. On February 28, 2008, he pled guilty to the federal charges. On June 5, 2008 he was sentenced to six months in prison, six months house arrest, and ordered to pay $26,750 in restitution.
Hello, /b/.
On September 11, 2007, at 9:11 A.M. Central time, two pipe bombs will be remote-detonated at Pflugerville High School.
Promptly after the blast, I, along with two ther Anonymous, will charge the building, armed with a Bushmaster AR-15, IMI Galil AR, a vintage, government-issue M1 .30 Carbine, and a Benelli M4 semi auto shotgun.
—The Pflugerville threat.
Around midnight on September 11, 2007 a student posted photographs of mock-pipe bombs and another photograph of him holding them while saying he would blow up his high school—Pflugerville High School in Pflugerville, Texas—at 9:11 a.m. on September 11. Users of 4chan helped to track him down by finding the perpetrator's father's name in the Exif data of a photograph he took, and contacted the police. He was arrested before school began that day.
Jarrad Willis, a 20 year old man from Melbourne, was arrested on December 8, 2007 for posting a statement on 4chan stating "I am going to shoot and kill as many people as I can until which time I am incapacitated or killed by the police". The post was accompanied by an image, uploaded by Willis, of a man holding a shotgun who threatened a shopping mall near Beverly Hills. The post and image were later deleted from the site. Willis was later charged with criminal defamation, but he died before the case was heard.
See also
- List of Internet phenomena
- Yotsuba Koiwai, 4chan's unofficial mascot
References
- moot (2003-10-01). "Welcome". 4chan. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
- ^ Sean Michaels (2008-03-19). "Taking the Rick". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Nick Douglas (2008-01-18). "What The Hell Are 4chan, ED, Something Awful, And "b"?". Gawker.com. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
- ^ Jamin Brophy-Warren (2008-07-09). "Modest Web Site Is Behind a Bevy of Memes". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Lev Grossman (2008-07-09). "The Master of Memes". TIME. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Jerry Langton (2007-09-22). "Funny how `stupid' site is addictive". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Lev Grossman (2008-07-10). "Now in Paper-Vision: The 4chan Guy". TIME. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - David Smith (2008-07-20). "The 20-year-old at heart of web's most anarchic and influential site". The Observer. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - "FAQ - What is 4chan?". 4chan. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
- "FAQ - What were 4channel and world4ch?". 4chan. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
- moot (2008-02-12). "The long and short of it". 4chan. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
- "FAQ - How do I post anonymously?". 4chan. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
- "FAQ - Can I register a username?". 4chan. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
- "FAQ - How do I use a "tripcode"?". 4chan. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
- "FAQ - Who is "Anonymous"?". 4chan. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
- "FAQ - What is a capcode?". 4chan. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
- ^ Chris Landers (2008-03-02). "Serious Business". Baltimore City Paper. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
- James Harrison (2008-02-12). "Scientology protesters take action around world". The State News. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - David George-Cosh (2008-01-25). "Online group declares war on Scientology". National Post. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - moot (2008-07-11). "/b/". 4chan. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
- "FAQ on GETs". 4chan. Retrieved 2007-03-14.
- "4chan - Rules - /b/ - Random". 4chan. Retrieved 2006-08-18.
- ^ Mattathias Schwartz (2008-08-03). "Malwebolence". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Julian Dibbell (2008-01-18). "Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame on Griefers". Wired. Retrieved 2008-01-18.
- Jonathan Kay (2008-08-06). "You'll miss us when we're gone". The National Post. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Paul Richards (2007-11-14). "Iz not cats everywhere? Online trend spreads across campus". The Daily Pennsylvanian. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Sharon Steel (2008-02-01). "The cuteness surge". The Phoenix. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "The Biggest Little Internet Hoax on Wheels Hits Mainstream". FOX News. 2008-04-22. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
- David Sarno (2008-05-25). "Web Scout exclusive! Rick Astley, king of the 'Rickroll,' talks about his song's second coming". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Thread 32640395". 4chanarchive.org. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
- Matthew Ricketson (2008-07-16). "YouTube research shows picture is changing rapidly". The Age. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Mathew Ingram (2007-08-15). "Who is Tay Zonday?". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Garth Montgomery (2007-08-01). "Chocolate Rain goes huge". The Daily Telegraph. news.com.au. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
- Caitlin Moran (2008-06-20). "Scientology: the Anonymous protestors". The Times. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Christopher Boyd (2006-01-09). "Lindsay Lohan causes massive DoS war". Vitalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2008-01-20.
- "Harold C. "Hal" Turner v. 4chan.org". Justia. 2007-01-19. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
- "FOX 11 Investigates: 'Anonymous'". MyFOX Los Angeles. KTTV (FOX). 2007-07-26. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
- "Miang", CmdrTaco (ed.) (2007-07-28). "AC = Domestic Terrorists?". Slashdot. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
{{cite web}}:|author=has generic name (help) - David Sarno (2008-07-12). "Rise and fall of the Googled swastika". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Chris Dolmetsch, David Voreacos (2006-10-20). "Wisconsin Man Is Charged in Fake NFL Stadium Threats". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2006-10-20.
- ^ Roy Mark (2006-10-20). "Man Charged in Internet Bomb Threats". InternetNews.com. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
- Pierre Thomas (2006-10-16). "NFL Stadium Threat: Officials Skeptical But Issue Warning". ABC News. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
- Associated Press (2008-06-05). "Ex-Grocery Clerk Gets 6 Months for NFL Stadium Attack Hoax". FOX News. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
- Ronald Smothers (2006-10-20). "Man, 20, Arrested in Stadium Threat Hoax". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Sharon Gaudin (2008-06-16). "Man gets six months for posting terror threat online". PC World. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "4chanarchive - Thread 39101047". 4chanarchive.com. 2007-09-11. Retrieved 2008-01-18.
- "4chanarchive - Thread 39168208". 4chanarchive.com. 2007-09-11. Retrieved 2008-01-18.
- "Pflugerville Student Arrested After Posting Bomb Threats". KXAN. 2007-09-12. Retrieved 2008-01-18.
- "Police Investigate Bomb Threat at Pflugerville High School". Fox Television Stations, Inc. 2007-09-11. Retrieved 2008-01-18.
- "Teen arrested for threatening to blow up school". TWEAN News Channel of Austin, L.P. d.b.a. News 8 Austin. 2007-09-11. Retrieved 2008-01-18.
- "Juvenile arrested in Pflugerville H.S. bomb threat". KVUE.com. 2007-09-11. Retrieved 2008-01-18.
- Associated Press (2007-12-08). "Australian Police Arrest Man Who Threatened to Attack Los Angeles Mall". Fox News. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
- Fiona Hudson, Liam Houlihan (2007-12-09). "Student faces jail over online joke". The Herald Sun. news.com.au. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
- Associated Press (2007-12-09). "Student arrested after threats to attack campus". CNN. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
- Shaun Davies (2008-07-31). "Mall massacre hoax accused dies". ninemsn. Retrieved 2008-07-31.
External links
| Anonymous and the Internet | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Internet portal | ||