4 ms·

Ahh, 4chan. I don't think 4chan, and /b/ in particular, get enough credit for being the... unique sociological artifact that they are. There are many that ext

Ahh, 4chan. I don't think 4chan, and /b/ in particular, get enough credit for being the... unique sociological artifact that they are. There are many that extoll the virtue of "free speech", but how many are able to gaze unflinching at its unrestrained exercise? The teeming, faceless horde that is 4chan's population is perhaps the truest, purest exemplar of the free exchange of ideas; unshackled from the restraints of purpose, propriety, coherence, and even (at times, on /b/, at least until the moderators notice) legality. It is likely impossible, in the course of normal social situations, to escape certain limitations; be they social, cultural, or even biological. Reputations are built or destroyed, relationships formed, a complex and pervasive network of interconnections. A person may be taller than you, or shorter; younger, or older; attractive or ugly; hesitant or confident; wealthy or poor; or any of countless factors that subtly, deeply, and inevitably color the way people interact. But in an environment like 4chan, all that is stripped away. No status games, no authority, no obligations, no expectations. What you say one minute matters not at all the next, crude obscenity and pearls of wisdom alike slipping into the seething, aimless morass. Cloaked in anonymity, where even the flimsy identity of a pseudonym is cause for mockery, what emerges is a shocking sort of honesty. Revolting, yet oddly beautiful; an ever-shifting, ephemeral monument to every embarrassing thought, guilty pleasure, squelched impulse and repressed desire--in short, an expression of humanity, in basest form. ...well, either that, or it's just about porn and cat macros. I'm not entirely sure.

Perceval 17y ago
Some credit may be due to Shii, who was the admin on 4chan who implemented FORCED_ANON on /b/. See: http://shii.org/knows/Shii http://shii.org/knows/Shii Some of his thoughts and findings on anonymity can be found here: http://shii.org/knows/Anonymous http://shii.org/knows/Anonymous http://blog.topix.com/archives/000106.html http://blog.topix.com/archives/000106.html http://wakaba.c3.cx/shii/ http://wakaba.c3.cx/shii/
- joshu 17y ago
  Moot disagrees.
  - nailer 17y ago
    Can you provide more detail?
    - joshu 17y ago
      I showed him the comment and he gave a longer response that I don't remember entirely. But basically it has more to do with the original cloned software.
elblanco 17y ago
4chan is one of the purest and most coherent exemplars of the philosophy of Absurdism I've ever seen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdism
- Perceval 17y ago
  Yes, somewhere between that and an unselfconscious Dadaism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada
Avshalom 17y ago
>But in an environment like 4chan, all that is stripped away. No status games, no authority, no obligations, no expectations. You know I here that one a lot, but really /b is a perfectly addictive status game. There are right and wrong responses to a situation, which you only learn if you hang out for a bit. Get things right you get praised, get them wrong you get flamed. The anonymity lets you take the praise to heart and basically ignore the flame. It's like tetris or peggle, when you fail you can blame it on the random nature of the game, but when you do well you can claim it was skill. /b is absolutely FULL of status games, obligations and expectations. What emerges is a game of one ups man ship and me too isms played 24/7 that has no bearing on honesty or the participants actual thoughts.
- vikstrous 17y ago
  I second that.

Perceval 17y ago

Some credit may be due to Shii, who was the admin on 4chan who implemented FORCED_ANON on /b/. See: http://shii.org/knows/Shii http://shii.org/knows/Shii Some of his thoughts and findings on anonymity can be found here: http://shii.org/knows/Anonymous http://shii.org/knows/Anonymous http://blog.topix.com/archives/000106.html http://blog.topix.com/archives/000106.html http://wakaba.c3.cx/shii/ http://wakaba.c3.cx/shii/

joshu 17y ago
Moot disagrees.
- nailer 17y ago
  Can you provide more detail?
  - joshu 17y ago
    I showed him the comment and he gave a longer response that I don't remember entirely. But basically it has more to do with the original cloned software.

elblanco 17y ago

4chan is one of the purest and most coherent exemplars of the philosophy of Absurdism I've ever seen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdism

Perceval 17y ago
Yes, somewhere between that and an unselfconscious Dadaism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada

Avshalom 17y ago

>But in an environment like 4chan, all that is stripped away. No status games, no authority, no obligations, no expectations. You know I here that one a lot, but really /b is a perfectly addictive status game. There are right and wrong responses to a situation, which you only learn if you hang out for a bit. Get things right you get praised, get them wrong you get flamed. The anonymity lets you take the praise to heart and basically ignore the flame. It's like tetris or peggle, when you fail you can blame it on the random nature of the game, but when you do well you can claim it was skill. /b is absolutely FULL of status games, obligations and expectations. What emerges is a game of one ups man ship and me too isms played 24/7 that has no bearing on honesty or the participants actual thoughts.

vikstrous 17y ago
I second that.