4chan probably largely got so popular because it was the first English language image board, not because of a good idea. It was really just copied from a formu

4chan probably largely got so popular because it was the first English language image board, not because of a good idea. It was really just copied from a formula that was long popular in Japan, and being the first it became the biggest. An interesting matter is that Lainchan follows largely the same formula and is very civil in comparison, despite not enforcing it, perhaps because it's main focus is technology and not entertainment.