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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Via strass (talk | contribs) at 01:43, 30 June 2006 (→'Vanity': correct syntax). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Notes on Bantown

Someone brought this article to my attention. I would like to explain a little bit about Bantown. It is not a hacker group or troll organization nor is it any sort of organization at all. Bantown is a tactic just like Black bloc being a tactic and not an organization. There is no hierarchy and no members list. There are several affinity groups that operate under the Bantown banner but none of them are under any control by the frequent idlers of Bantown.

Sometimes frequent chatters receive titles (for example, hepkitten has "#1 mayor of bantown" and I am called the sheriff) that usually correspond to roles that would be played in a physical city. These titles convey no sense of power or authority, they are just for amusement or an inside joke.

Bantowning does sometimes involve hacking, trolling, or harassing targets. The rules Bantown culture encourages for this are simple:

• No major corporations or government getting owned and no significant money lost
• The underlying choice of target must be backed by a moral or ethical reason (ie punishment for wrongdoing)
• The hack should be high-visibility and employ imagery that shocks and offends those affiliated with the target.

I would edit this material into the article myself but I feel it would be a conflict of Interest according to Misplaced Pages's NPOV policy. I also highly reccomend linking to encyclopediadramatica:Bantown as that article is probably the most official thing about Bantown that exists. --Weevlos 00:18, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

'Vanity'

Please note that contrary to Sean Black's assumption in his edit summary, the nicknames of possible 'members' of Bantown were not added as vanity by the individuals in question or their associates. I am not acquainted with any member of Bantown, beyond having had a brief IRC conversation with 'weev' while researching this article. I added these names in good faith; as the external links and Weevlos' message above will confirm, all the nicknames in question have been associated with Bantown. However as Weevlos also points out, due to the precise nature of the entity Bantown, it would perhaps be unhelpful to revert this information.