5 ms·

People are so enamoured by 4chan precisely because it isn't like reddit. Reddit, Facebook or any social media platform that rewards users with up votes, karma,

by typon 8y ago

People are so enamoured by 4chan precisely because it isn't like reddit. Reddit, Facebook or any social media platform that rewards users with up votes, karma, reputation, likes or whatever creates a system in which people want to please others and develop reputations they have to uphold. 4chan is free from those chains and people are able to freely throw ideas into the mix. This is why 4chan has been so instrumental in coming up thousands of memes that define internet culture today. Reddit, Facebook and others are usually consumers of those memes rather than generators. I know this is a massive generalization, but that's been my impression being on digg, reddit, Twitter and 4chan for 10 years now. The problem is that a lot of the original 4chan users either moved on or just grew up and at the same time 4chan got over taken by alt-light type folks. I still think the basic idea of 4chan has a lot to offer that maybe could be replicated on an other platform, with a fresh set of people.

misterdoubt 8y ago
Funny images and phrases, yes. Anything more substantive than that... quite rarely.
- dcbadacd 8y ago
  Pretty sure there was a math proof posted on 4chan originally.
  - jdhn 8y ago
    There was: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18292061 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18292061
  - lewilewilewi 8y ago
    Yep - someone posted an original proof of the lower bound for the Haruhi problem http://mathsci.wikia.com/wiki/The_Haruhi_Problem http://mathsci.wikia.com/wiki/The_Haruhi_Problem
  - misterdoubt 8y ago
    I wouldn't say never.
- Hrundi 8y ago
  Sleep sort came out of 4chan. https://web.archive.org/web/20151231221001/http://bl0ckeduser.github.io/sleepsort/sleep_sort_trimmed.html https://web.archive.org/web/20151231221001/http://bl0ckeduse...
  - coolness 8y ago
    > If you slept exp(n) instead of n it could easily include negative integers too! Hilarious!
- princeofwands 8y ago
  Hillary Clinton showed 4chan Pepe memes during her campaign. The Vice President is protected by soldiers who wear a Qanon-patch. Pizzagate and Podesta's hacked emails play a large role in the Russia investigation.
  - OldFatCactus 8y ago
    Lol what. Qanon patch?
    - na85 8y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon LMGTFY
      - Houshalter 8y ago
        >The account has falsely accused...The conspiracy theory..., has been widely characterized as "baseless",[11][12][13] "unhinged"[14] and "evidence-free".[15] Its proponents have been called "a deranged conspiracy cult"[16] and "some of the Internet's most outré Trump fans".[17] I have no idea what this is and im sure its ridiculous. But wtf happened to wikipedias neutral tone and point of view style? Ive read articles about all sorts of ridiculous conspiracy theories, cults, political parties, etc, and never seen this kind of language. Using quotes like this isnt an excuse.
        princeofwands 8y ago
        It really is lizardpeople-style crazy. It is halfway between a troll and a Russian PSYOP. That language really does it justice.
dymk 8y ago
At one point, 4chan was the source of a lot of internet culture and memes, but that ship has firmly sailed. Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, and even Facebook are now massive generators of original content and memes. The alt-lite type folk were always on 4chan. Just only "recently" has the political atmosphere shifted in such a way that we have a word to describe that sort of ideology and behavior.
- cududa 8y ago
  That is absolutely false. Shit tons of political memes and conspiracy theories picked up by the likes of Breitbart, Alex Jones, etc still originate there
  - dymk 8y ago
    I didn't say their meme output dropped to zero. I said that other websites are the dominant force for generating the memes we see today.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - typon 8y ago
      I agree with you that 4chan isn't the meme generator place it used to be. But I would say that the memes produced on reddit, Twitter or Facebook are different qualitatively. They have much broader appeal usually (normie) than 4chan. But yea..4chan is not the cool subversive place it used to be any more. People make a huge difference... Platforms are not enough on their own. And the people have moved on
- madeofpalk 8y ago
  But you can look at the memes that we have today, 'image macros' and their origins from things that started in places like 4chan.
agumonkey 8y ago
I don't mind principles or rules but I don't like what most websites have in place. 4chan was completely unpredictable and unorganized; no tension was trying to make something out of it except for the people there. Something there made me like that. I never really used it except for a few readings once a year.. and I always like this raw side. Somehow.. it's so raw it feels honest and trustable.
owlie 8y ago
>The problem is that a lot of the original 4chan users either moved on or just grew up and at the same time 4chan got over taken by alt-light type folks. This is relatable. I was a pretty notable figure on /mu/ for a few years, and my tripfriends WERE my social circle when high school couldn't do that for me. Then I went to college and realized how much toxicity it had instilled in me, and moved on. It's interesting to reflect on that bit of my teenage years!
- throwawaylolx 8y ago
  >I was a pretty notable figure on /mu/ Only Biotroll and CLT get to claim this status :P

by typon 8y ago

misterdoubt 8y ago

Funny images and phrases, yes. Anything more substantive than that... quite rarely.

dcbadacd 8y ago
Pretty sure there was a math proof posted on 4chan originally.
- jdhn 8y ago
  There was: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18292061 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18292061
- lewilewilewi 8y ago
  Yep - someone posted an original proof of the lower bound for the Haruhi problem http://mathsci.wikia.com/wiki/The_Haruhi_Problem http://mathsci.wikia.com/wiki/The_Haruhi_Problem
- misterdoubt 8y ago
  I wouldn't say never.
Hrundi 8y ago
Sleep sort came out of 4chan. https://web.archive.org/web/20151231221001/http://bl0ckeduser.github.io/sleepsort/sleep_sort_trimmed.html https://web.archive.org/web/20151231221001/http://bl0ckeduse...
- coolness 8y ago
  > If you slept exp(n) instead of n it could easily include negative integers too! Hilarious!
princeofwands 8y ago
Hillary Clinton showed 4chan Pepe memes during her campaign. The Vice President is protected by soldiers who wear a Qanon-patch. Pizzagate and Podesta's hacked emails play a large role in the Russia investigation.
- OldFatCactus 8y ago
  Lol what. Qanon patch?
  - na85 8y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon LMGTFY
    - Houshalter 8y ago
      >The account has falsely accused...The conspiracy theory..., has been widely characterized as "baseless",[11][12][13] "unhinged"[14] and "evidence-free".[15] Its proponents have been called "a deranged conspiracy cult"[16] and "some of the Internet's most outré Trump fans".[17] I have no idea what this is and im sure its ridiculous. But wtf happened to wikipedias neutral tone and point of view style? Ive read articles about all sorts of ridiculous conspiracy theories, cults, political parties, etc, and never seen this kind of language. Using quotes like this isnt an excuse.
      - princeofwands 8y ago
        It really is lizardpeople-style crazy. It is halfway between a troll and a Russian PSYOP. That language really does it justice.

dymk 8y ago

At one point, 4chan was the source of a lot of internet culture and memes, but that ship has firmly sailed. Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, and even Facebook are now massive generators of original content and memes. The alt-lite type folk were always on 4chan. Just only "recently" has the political atmosphere shifted in such a way that we have a word to describe that sort of ideology and behavior.

cududa 8y ago
That is absolutely false. Shit tons of political memes and conspiracy theories picked up by the likes of Breitbart, Alex Jones, etc still originate there
- dymk 8y ago
  I didn't say their meme output dropped to zero. I said that other websites are the dominant force for generating the memes we see today.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - typon 8y ago
    I agree with you that 4chan isn't the meme generator place it used to be. But I would say that the memes produced on reddit, Twitter or Facebook are different qualitatively. They have much broader appeal usually (normie) than 4chan. But yea..4chan is not the cool subversive place it used to be any more. People make a huge difference... Platforms are not enough on their own. And the people have moved on
madeofpalk 8y ago
But you can look at the memes that we have today, 'image macros' and their origins from things that started in places like 4chan.

agumonkey 8y ago

I don't mind principles or rules but I don't like what most websites have in place. 4chan was completely unpredictable and unorganized; no tension was trying to make something out of it except for the people there. Something there made me like that. I never really used it except for a few readings once a year.. and I always like this raw side. Somehow.. it's so raw it feels honest and trustable.

owlie 8y ago

>The problem is that a lot of the original 4chan users either moved on or just grew up and at the same time 4chan got over taken by alt-light type folks. This is relatable. I was a pretty notable figure on /mu/ for a few years, and my tripfriends WERE my social circle when high school couldn't do that for me. Then I went to college and realized how much toxicity it had instilled in me, and moved on. It's interesting to reflect on that bit of my teenage years!

throwawaylolx 8y ago
>I was a pretty notable figure on /mu/ Only Biotroll and CLT get to claim this status :P