4 ms·

Why do 4chan users go out of their way to be so offensive in their posts?

gpm 4y ago
Because we took the set of internet users, and sorted everyone who wants to be intentionally offensive into 4chan. Which means there's not only a high density of people who like being intentionally offensive there, but that being intentionally offensive is socially rewarded, so over time 4chan users grow to want to be more and more intentionally offensive.
fear_and_coffee 4y ago
[dead]
weberer 4y ago
Because the bump system combined with the finite number of threads incentivizes threads that get the highest number of replies per second. And the best way to increase replies per second is to start an internet fight.
- msm_ 4y ago
  And there is no voting, so the only possible gratification for posting is receiving a reply.
_blz2 4y ago
because it is effective in keeping a certain type of people out
- Cipater 4y ago
  People like me? (I'm black)
garbagecoder 4y ago
It's to preserve the users' mental health.
IAmNotACellist 4y ago
I think because you can't be anywhere else on the Internet anymore. It's like the system's pressure relief valve. A blaring steam whistle that's only getting worse and worse the more the Internet squeezes elsewhere.
orangepurple 4y ago
The same reason Penicillium molds produce β-lactam antibiotics. There doesn't have to be an intelligent reason, just a survival trick.
MrStonedOne 4y ago
[dead]
tekla 4y ago
It keeps people out that are unable to separate the internet from real life.
- Cipater 4y ago
  There's a lot of interesting stuff on there but I can't use the forum because I'm black and they're very earnest about telling me how subhuman I am even when it doesn't make any contextual sense to do so.
selfmodruntime 4y ago
Because it's really the onlY place left to go if you want to be offensive. First forums, then platforms censored offensive people out of their niche places. Even Cloudflare participates. 4chan remains the only privately owned large forum.
- gpm 4y ago
  > Even Cloudflare participates. 4chan is hosted by Cloudflare https://securitytrails.com/list/apex_domain/4chan.org https://securitytrails.com/list/apex_domain/4chan.org https://securitytrails.com/list/apex_domain/4channel.org https://securitytrails.com/list/apex_domain/4channel.org
  - selfmodruntime 4y ago
    Cloudflare has famously dropped websites which it deemed too controversial

gpm 4y ago

Because we took the set of internet users, and sorted everyone who wants to be intentionally offensive into 4chan. Which means there's not only a high density of people who like being intentionally offensive there, but that being intentionally offensive is socially rewarded, so over time 4chan users grow to want to be more and more intentionally offensive.

fear_and_coffee 4y ago

[dead]

weberer 4y ago

Because the bump system combined with the finite number of threads incentivizes threads that get the highest number of replies per second. And the best way to increase replies per second is to start an internet fight.

msm_ 4y ago
And there is no voting, so the only possible gratification for posting is receiving a reply.

_blz2 4y ago

because it is effective in keeping a certain type of people out

Cipater 4y ago
People like me? (I'm black)

garbagecoder 4y ago

It's to preserve the users' mental health.

IAmNotACellist 4y ago

I think because you can't be anywhere else on the Internet anymore. It's like the system's pressure relief valve. A blaring steam whistle that's only getting worse and worse the more the Internet squeezes elsewhere.

orangepurple 4y ago

The same reason Penicillium molds produce β-lactam antibiotics. There doesn't have to be an intelligent reason, just a survival trick.

MrStonedOne 4y ago

[dead]

tekla 4y ago

It keeps people out that are unable to separate the internet from real life.

Cipater 4y ago
There's a lot of interesting stuff on there but I can't use the forum because I'm black and they're very earnest about telling me how subhuman I am even when it doesn't make any contextual sense to do so.

selfmodruntime 4y ago

Because it's really the onlY place left to go if you want to be offensive. First forums, then platforms censored offensive people out of their niche places. Even Cloudflare participates. 4chan remains the only privately owned large forum.

gpm 4y ago
> Even Cloudflare participates. 4chan is hosted by Cloudflare https://securitytrails.com/list/apex_domain/4chan.org https://securitytrails.com/list/apex_domain/4chan.org https://securitytrails.com/list/apex_domain/4channel.org https://securitytrails.com/list/apex_domain/4channel.org
- selfmodruntime 4y ago
  Cloudflare has famously dropped websites which it deemed too controversial