The lack of images is really an important "feature." Images seem to do something to the human brain. They grab attention in ways text does not as evidenced by

The lack of images is really an important "feature." Images seem to do something to the human brain. They grab attention in ways text does not as evidenced by the fact that a dumb image meme can be used as an anchor point to advance the most inane bullshit in either meme or short-attention-span text form. Image boards and their capacity to originate and amplify utterly inane bullshit are the canonical case, and the format illustrates the principle exactly. Each post consists of an attention grabbing catchy image along with text that is usually one or more of banal, mean spirited, or irrational, and the image meme sells the message to the point that these sites almost feel like cults. Take the images away and there is virtually nothing compelling there. Edit: there was interesting stuff on the chans once. 4chan was not always identical to /pol. The fact that /pol, originally a containment board, became 4chan and edged out everything else tells you everything you need to know about the format and the medium and what kind of thinking it encourages. Media guides discourse. This is the most important idea of Marshall McLuhan and why we still talk about him; "the medium is the message." When the quality of the ideas on a medium almost universally declines over time, the medium is the problem not the users of it.