5 ms·

My official association with 4chan ended in 2010, but I still recognise a good third of those names and would wager the leak is legit.

delusional 1y ago
What kind of official association could one have with 4chan? 4chan was formative for my early connection to the internet, and I'm really curious what the organization behind it looked like. Was it professionally driven, or just some random guy mailing checks? stuff like that.
- no_time 1y ago
  Well... A full dump of the board exclusive to moderators and janitors was leaked too so now you could take a look yourself.
- geriatric-janny 1y ago
  I lied about my age and was given janitor access in the mid 2000s. There was a special /j/ board to coordinate on, but it broke relatively early, and you mostly had to hang out in the #janiteam channel on Rizon. I think almost everybody else was underage as well. There was a minimal web overlay that let you delete/escalate posts. You couldn't see people's IPs, but you could see how many outstanding ban requests they had. These numbers helped me deduce that many boards' most infamous personalities were all the same guy. We were all offered the chance to become mods in 2010, but moot wanted to see our faces on a Skype call. I thought that was a step too far and just gradually stopped caring after that. Seems like I made the right choice. On the whole it was barely held together technically and organisationally, mostly run by moot's personal friends, and fun all around. Things were far less serious then. And the checks arrived on time every month: $0.00
  - delusional 1y ago
    Sounds about like what I would have expected as a (also underage) user at the time. The suspicion was always that most of the memorable joke chains were probably just one guy self-replying (I always suspected that was the case for the hunter2 meme specifically). It didn't really matter, it was funny anyway. Thanks for taking the time to reply, and thanks for the fun back then :)
  - petecooper 1y ago
    >And the checks arrived on time every month: $0.00 Unexpectedly poignant.
  - dmonitor 1y ago
    > These numbers helped me deduce that many boards' most infamous personalities were all the same guy. Simultaneously one of the best and worst parts about the website was how much a single person could create influence. Some guy spamposting "30-year old boomer" memes eventually turned boomer and zoomer into mainstream terminology. I remember a long time ago, a general that I would frequent attracted the attention of a lunatic who would frequently try to ruin threads by spam posting corrupted unloadable images until the bumpcap was reached. It made a successful thread with no incidents feel like a moment of success.
    - kelipso 1y ago
      Milhouse is still not a meme.
      - Pikamander2 1y ago
        That's true. But on the other hand, "Millhouse is not a meme" is in fact a meme.
    - jjmarr 1y ago
      I like how this was the origin of the "virgin/Chad memes". Some guy kept spamming a meme about the "virgin walk" to make people feel self-conscious, and then someone made a joke response called the "Chad stride". Years later, those two are inseparable in popular culture. A literal thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.
    - ogurechny 1y ago
      Mods of any decently sized forum can point to very special users participating in intense sockpuppetry, flamewars, getting back after being banned 20 times, and so on. It's not specific to 4chan.
      - dmonitor 1y ago
        The nature of 4chan makes it more difficult to distinguish from just normal posting. There's not any kind of paper trail to look at and potentially ID the posters. It's also somewhat expected on the site from a cultural standpoint? Having a recognizable posting pattern gives flavor to a system that is otherwise composed of completely interchangeable posters. Like /v/ has one guy that constantly makes threads that are designed to devolve as quickly as possible into posting images of anthropomorphic lizards. It's not much of a nuisance so much as it makes the place feel comprised of genuine people.
  - newZWhoDis 1y ago
    For those OOTL about that last part, a common meme/troll of the moderators/jannies is “They do it for free” People would post rule breaking content and say “clean it up janny”
- lurk2 1y ago
  He was a janitor. On the internet. He did it for free.
blitzar 1y ago
Username checks out.
Blikkentrekker 1y ago
So you were able to find the leak? Because I see reports that it was hacked repeated as fact everywhere on Daily Mail-tier reliable news websites and Reddit posts, but they are all based on “rumors on social media go about that there was a leak” but I've not been able to find the actual leak searching for it. Obviously not many people want to link it but it's also weird that so many people claim to have so easily been able to find it when I cannot. Finally, I was there and using it when the website went down and this did not resemble an actual hack but technical issues. First there were a couple of hours where the website was up but no posts went through for anyone except occasionally when a new threat was bumped, mirroring the normal pattern of downtime issues that sometimes occur and then it just went down completely. This doesn't really resemble how a hack plays out but looks more like technical issues to me. Even now, going to the front page, it loads for me, except very slowly and incompletely. This does not resemble a hack but technical issues.
- DaSHacka 1y ago
  I would've taken you less time to find the 'sinister' content yourself than leave this sprawling reply To your point: It's more likely than not real, it contains configs for the entire site.
  - Blikkentrekker 1y ago
    Well, so you say, but every single news website that I can find willing to say something on the matter is either The Daily Mail and similar things that also say they based their information on leaks on “social media rumors” or more reputable websites that also say it's a rumor that there's a leak. One would assume if it be so easily found and I'm so incompetent that these news websites could've found it themselves and come with more certain claims.
    - DaSHacka 1y ago
      I left a clue in my original reply. I'm not spoonfeeding any harder than that. Lurk moar or GTFO
huehehue 1y ago
My association was a bit later, mid to late 2010s. I recognize some of the names as well, including one of the top folks that probably onboarded both of us. That said, my info is not on the list, I assume it was deleted when I left.
sertraline 1y ago
he does it for free

delusional 1y ago

What kind of official association could one have with 4chan? 4chan was formative for my early connection to the internet, and I'm really curious what the organization behind it looked like. Was it professionally driven, or just some random guy mailing checks? stuff like that.

no_time 1y ago
Well... A full dump of the board exclusive to moderators and janitors was leaked too so now you could take a look yourself.
geriatric-janny 1y ago
I lied about my age and was given janitor access in the mid 2000s. There was a special /j/ board to coordinate on, but it broke relatively early, and you mostly had to hang out in the #janiteam channel on Rizon. I think almost everybody else was underage as well. There was a minimal web overlay that let you delete/escalate posts. You couldn't see people's IPs, but you could see how many outstanding ban requests they had. These numbers helped me deduce that many boards' most infamous personalities were all the same guy. We were all offered the chance to become mods in 2010, but moot wanted to see our faces on a Skype call. I thought that was a step too far and just gradually stopped caring after that. Seems like I made the right choice. On the whole it was barely held together technically and organisationally, mostly run by moot's personal friends, and fun all around. Things were far less serious then. And the checks arrived on time every month: $0.00
- delusional 1y ago
  Sounds about like what I would have expected as a (also underage) user at the time. The suspicion was always that most of the memorable joke chains were probably just one guy self-replying (I always suspected that was the case for the hunter2 meme specifically). It didn't really matter, it was funny anyway. Thanks for taking the time to reply, and thanks for the fun back then :)
- petecooper 1y ago
  >And the checks arrived on time every month: $0.00 Unexpectedly poignant.
- dmonitor 1y ago
  > These numbers helped me deduce that many boards' most infamous personalities were all the same guy. Simultaneously one of the best and worst parts about the website was how much a single person could create influence. Some guy spamposting "30-year old boomer" memes eventually turned boomer and zoomer into mainstream terminology. I remember a long time ago, a general that I would frequent attracted the attention of a lunatic who would frequently try to ruin threads by spam posting corrupted unloadable images until the bumpcap was reached. It made a successful thread with no incidents feel like a moment of success.
  - kelipso 1y ago
    Milhouse is still not a meme.
    - Pikamander2 1y ago
      That's true. But on the other hand, "Millhouse is not a meme" is in fact a meme.
  - jjmarr 1y ago
    I like how this was the origin of the "virgin/Chad memes". Some guy kept spamming a meme about the "virgin walk" to make people feel self-conscious, and then someone made a joke response called the "Chad stride". Years later, those two are inseparable in popular culture. A literal thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.
  - ogurechny 1y ago
    Mods of any decently sized forum can point to very special users participating in intense sockpuppetry, flamewars, getting back after being banned 20 times, and so on. It's not specific to 4chan.
    - dmonitor 1y ago
      The nature of 4chan makes it more difficult to distinguish from just normal posting. There's not any kind of paper trail to look at and potentially ID the posters. It's also somewhat expected on the site from a cultural standpoint? Having a recognizable posting pattern gives flavor to a system that is otherwise composed of completely interchangeable posters. Like /v/ has one guy that constantly makes threads that are designed to devolve as quickly as possible into posting images of anthropomorphic lizards. It's not much of a nuisance so much as it makes the place feel comprised of genuine people.
- newZWhoDis 1y ago
  For those OOTL about that last part, a common meme/troll of the moderators/jannies is “They do it for free” People would post rule breaking content and say “clean it up janny”
lurk2 1y ago
He was a janitor. On the internet. He did it for free.

blitzar 1y ago

Username checks out.

Blikkentrekker 1y ago

So you were able to find the leak? Because I see reports that it was hacked repeated as fact everywhere on Daily Mail-tier reliable news websites and Reddit posts, but they are all based on “rumors on social media go about that there was a leak” but I've not been able to find the actual leak searching for it. Obviously not many people want to link it but it's also weird that so many people claim to have so easily been able to find it when I cannot. Finally, I was there and using it when the website went down and this did not resemble an actual hack but technical issues. First there were a couple of hours where the website was up but no posts went through for anyone except occasionally when a new threat was bumped, mirroring the normal pattern of downtime issues that sometimes occur and then it just went down completely. This doesn't really resemble how a hack plays out but looks more like technical issues to me. Even now, going to the front page, it loads for me, except very slowly and incompletely. This does not resemble a hack but technical issues.

DaSHacka 1y ago
I would've taken you less time to find the 'sinister' content yourself than leave this sprawling reply To your point: It's more likely than not real, it contains configs for the entire site.
- Blikkentrekker 1y ago
  Well, so you say, but every single news website that I can find willing to say something on the matter is either The Daily Mail and similar things that also say they based their information on leaks on “social media rumors” or more reputable websites that also say it's a rumor that there's a leak. One would assume if it be so easily found and I'm so incompetent that these news websites could've found it themselves and come with more certain claims.
  - DaSHacka 1y ago
    I left a clue in my original reply. I'm not spoonfeeding any harder than that. Lurk moar or GTFO

huehehue 1y ago

My association was a bit later, mid to late 2010s. I recognize some of the names as well, including one of the top folks that probably onboarded both of us. That said, my info is not on the list, I assume it was deleted when I left.

sertraline 1y ago

he does it for free