3 ms·

This story resurfaces every few years but the original post was on the /sci/ board in 2011. That was a loooooong time ago and although no one back then would ha

This story resurfaces every few years but the original post was on the /sci/ board in 2011. That was a loooooong time ago and although no one back then would have said 4chan was good (it was never good), it also doesn't surprise me it was originally posted there at that time. I don't think it would happen now.

johnnyanmac 2y ago
4chan was great, but it very much was one of the oldest proprietors of the so called "normie filter". The biggest most offensive boards caused 95% of the trouble the site is known for. the smaller boards and threads could get some interesting stories and content (of all were of course, of reasonable falseness and potential homosexuality). The vibe was fine as long as you avoided the modern attitude and approach everything with hostility. Unlike say, modern twitter, everyone in 4chan was in agreement that they were full of shit. It was never trying to be this platform of serious debate. Understanding that ironically enough frees you of a lot of inhibitions. ---- All the "elites" were definitely gone by the middle of the 2010's, though. Probably to less controversial and more popular platforms. It's nearly impossible to replicate this nowadays.
- anal_reactor 2y ago
  4chan became the normie
- somenameforme 2y ago
  There's something great about enforced anonymity. It gets rid of people saying what they think they should say, and instead simply what they think. It reminds one of the wisdom of the masses experiments. If you take a bunch of people and ask them how many peas are in a jar, the average will come out extremely close to the right answer. But if you let those people collaborate, debate, and try to pick the smartest answer - it tends to be far less accurate. It's part of the reason that I think decentralize everything is the way to go. You'll never reach the utopic highs that a perfect centralization might offer, but you'll also never reach the dystopic lows that a flawed centralization can impose.
  - tstrimple 2y ago
    > There's something great about enforced anonymity. It gets rid of people saying what they think they should say, and instead simply what they think. No it absolutely does not. It enables people to hold whatever positions are immediately expedient regardless of personal beliefs. There is no way to call an anonymous person a hypocrite when you cannot connect their directly contradictory statements due to their anonymity. 4chan is a perfect example of group think overriding other opinions.
    - somenameforme 2y ago
      And does calling a person a hypocrite make them go 'Oh gosh, you're right. Let me immediately change my opinion.'? No, even the most justified ad hominem does nothing more than encouraging self censorship, which is completely contrary to what's desired when the goal is to understand what people truly think and believe. Humans are not consistent. We hold conflicting views, and in a decade we'll think a good chunk of what we believe today is idiotic. It's all fine and normal. I would also add that in many cases claims of hypocrisy are themselves somewhat disingenuous, because scarce (and perhaps even undesirable) is the human that holds any given view as absolute dogma. We all hold views and values on a spectrum. For instance utilitarianism and taking the 'intuitive' solution to the trolley problem are not mutually exclusive, because one's adoption of utilitarianism is often of the nature of simply generally preferring utilitarian solutions, rather treating it as the be all, end all, of decision making.
    - t-3 2y ago
      So what? Hypocrisy is part of the human condition. We can only rid ourselves of it by actually expressing and exploring our true beliefs and reflecting on them in the context of our actions. Carefully curating a public image to match what the blob expects doesn't assist in that at all.
- KennyBlanken 2y ago
  The smaller boards still had plenty of racism, homophobia, misogyny, etc. It's just that people went full Bigot on /b/.
dangrape123 2y ago
[dead]

johnnyanmac 2y ago

4chan was great, but it very much was one of the oldest proprietors of the so called "normie filter". The biggest most offensive boards caused 95% of the trouble the site is known for. the smaller boards and threads could get some interesting stories and content (of all were of course, of reasonable falseness and potential homosexuality). The vibe was fine as long as you avoided the modern attitude and approach everything with hostility. Unlike say, modern twitter, everyone in 4chan was in agreement that they were full of shit. It was never trying to be this platform of serious debate. Understanding that ironically enough frees you of a lot of inhibitions. ---- All the "elites" were definitely gone by the middle of the 2010's, though. Probably to less controversial and more popular platforms. It's nearly impossible to replicate this nowadays.

anal_reactor 2y ago
4chan became the normie
somenameforme 2y ago
There's something great about enforced anonymity. It gets rid of people saying what they think they should say, and instead simply what they think. It reminds one of the wisdom of the masses experiments. If you take a bunch of people and ask them how many peas are in a jar, the average will come out extremely close to the right answer. But if you let those people collaborate, debate, and try to pick the smartest answer - it tends to be far less accurate. It's part of the reason that I think decentralize everything is the way to go. You'll never reach the utopic highs that a perfect centralization might offer, but you'll also never reach the dystopic lows that a flawed centralization can impose.
- tstrimple 2y ago
  > There's something great about enforced anonymity. It gets rid of people saying what they think they should say, and instead simply what they think. No it absolutely does not. It enables people to hold whatever positions are immediately expedient regardless of personal beliefs. There is no way to call an anonymous person a hypocrite when you cannot connect their directly contradictory statements due to their anonymity. 4chan is a perfect example of group think overriding other opinions.
  - somenameforme 2y ago
    And does calling a person a hypocrite make them go 'Oh gosh, you're right. Let me immediately change my opinion.'? No, even the most justified ad hominem does nothing more than encouraging self censorship, which is completely contrary to what's desired when the goal is to understand what people truly think and believe. Humans are not consistent. We hold conflicting views, and in a decade we'll think a good chunk of what we believe today is idiotic. It's all fine and normal. I would also add that in many cases claims of hypocrisy are themselves somewhat disingenuous, because scarce (and perhaps even undesirable) is the human that holds any given view as absolute dogma. We all hold views and values on a spectrum. For instance utilitarianism and taking the 'intuitive' solution to the trolley problem are not mutually exclusive, because one's adoption of utilitarianism is often of the nature of simply generally preferring utilitarian solutions, rather treating it as the be all, end all, of decision making.
  - t-3 2y ago
    So what? Hypocrisy is part of the human condition. We can only rid ourselves of it by actually expressing and exploring our true beliefs and reflecting on them in the context of our actions. Carefully curating a public image to match what the blob expects doesn't assist in that at all.
KennyBlanken 2y ago
The smaller boards still had plenty of racism, homophobia, misogyny, etc. It's just that people went full Bigot on /b/.

dangrape123 2y ago

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