25 ms·

The Next Chapter – moot retires from 4chan

411 points by akerl_ 12y ago

Sealy 12y ago
4chan is blocked at my work, can someone copy and paste the content or post a TLDR. Thanks in advance!
- mlacitation 12y ago
  I founded 4chan eleven and a half years ago at the age of 15, and after more than a decade of service, I've decided it's time for me to move on. 4chan has faced numerous challenges over the years, including how to continuously satisfy a community of millions, and ensure the site has the human, technical, and financial resources to continue operating. But the biggest hurdle it's had to overcome is myself. As 4chan's sole administrator, decision maker, and keeper of most of its institutional knowledge, I've come to represent an uncomfortably large single point of failure. I've spent the past two years working behind the scenes to address these challenges, and to provide 4chan with the foundation it needs to survive me by bolstering its finances, strengthening its infrastructure, and expanding and empowering its team of volunteers. And for the most part, I've succeeded. The site isn't in danger of going under financially any time soon, and it's as fast and stable as ever thanks to continued development and recent server upgrades. Team 4chan is also at its largest, and while I've still been calling the shots, I've delegated many of my responsibilities to a handful of trusted volunteers, most of whom have served the site for years. That foundation will now be put to the ultimate test, as today I'm retiring as 4chan's administrator. From a user's perspective, nothing should change. A few senior volunteers—including 4chan's lead developer, managing moderator, and server administrator—have stepped up to ensure a smooth transition over the coming weeks. I'll need time away to decompress and reflect, but I look forward to one day returning to 4chan as its Admin Emeritus or just another Anonymous, and also writing more about my experience running 4chan on my personal blog. The journey has been marked by highs and lows, surprises and disappointments, but ultimately immense satisfaction. I'm humbled to have had the privilege of both founding and presiding over what is easily one of the greatest communities to ever grace the Web. It was truly an honor to serve as 4chan's founding administrator, and I look forward to seeing what the next decade holds for the site. On to the next chapter, –moot mootnote: I plan to dedicate this Friday afternoon (ET) to host a livestreamed Q&A session, where I'll hold court with the community one last time. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube page, and keep an eye out for a global message the day of. As always, I welcome and read all of my e-mails, and you may contact me personally at moot@4chan.org. Eleven and a half years, in numbers: 42,176,061,890 Total pageviews 1,771,091,423 Total posts 1,071,189,182 Total visitors 620,125,147 Monthly pageviews 21,128,887 Daily pageviews 20,360,487 Monthly visitors 1,223,807 Daily visitors 2,838 Terabytes per month 105 Volunteers 63 Boards 1 Administrator
  - cmdrfred 12y ago
    See also (just don't do any banking/disable javascript): bestproxyunblock.com proxify.com unblockingproxy.net freeopenproxy.com freeproxywebsite.net proxyserver.com proxysite.com newipnow.com browserproxy.net proxfree.com
__Joker 12y ago
While 4chan continues to flirt the border line between nsfw reddit and deepweb, what is its moderation policy ?
- Karunamon 12y ago
  Nobody actually knows. People have been banned for violations of the stated rules on each board despite not actually violating them, people have been left alone for flagrant violations of said rules. Board features like names, macros, and so on are toggled on and off more or less on a whim. To say that 4chan's enforcement is inconsistent would be an understatement. But, the chaos is a feature, not a bug. Something to keep in mind. But for everyone else, this is one of the reasons I think seriously that 8chan is the next big thing, it's basically Reddit, but for image boards. Mod abuse (real or perceived) will result in community fragmentation but on the same site, rather than exodus to other sites.
  - knd775 12y ago
    Eh, I can't really support 8chan. The admin/owner/dev/whatever is an absolutely horrible person.
    - Karunamon 12y ago
      Not that I've seen. As far as the site goes, the rule appears to be "unless it's literally illegal or breaking the site, I'm leaving it alone", and everything else is in the hands of the subredd- sorry, sub-board mods. I think this is the only legitimate stance to take when it comes to a UGC site that allows people to set up their own communities. The staff of each board should be responsible for their own moral compasses, with a minimum of interference by the folks upstairs unless it becomes absolutely necessary. The existence of a doxxing board is distressing, but it's not against any law in the USA. I don't want it there, but I want hotwheels making decisions like that even less. I feel the same way about things like /r/beatingwomen (exactly what it says in the title) or /r/picsofdeadkids on Reddit.
      - 12y ago
Shank 12y ago
I'm excited to see what moot does next; seems like he's preparing for a big-ish transition in his life, after Draw Quest & 4chan. Maybe I'm wrong, but it will certainly be interesting to see what's next.
- angersock 12y ago
  Going to mootsico, I imagine.
  - moot 12y ago
    mootxico
    - _almosnow 12y ago
      If you're really coming, I'll be glad if we could share a few drinks.
    - angersock 12y ago
      ...with all that money from neets, weaboos, and gold pass users? :P
    - NovaS1X 12y ago
      Thanks for 8 amazing years. 4chan represented a chapter in my life that has changed me fundamentally. Good luck in whatever you're off to do.
    - nether 12y ago
      4chan changed my life.
    - Magi604 12y ago
      I have fond memories of 4chan from its early days. Thanks for everything!
    - RoundCube 12y ago
      4chan ruined my life.
pervycreeper 12y ago
This is not a surprising development, there has been speculation that Poole has been readying the site for sale in the past few months. He has taken action to sanitize the site by suppressing discussion of Gamergate and 8chan (mention of either was a bannable offense), and more recently a purge of /pol/ (that board had been a haven for conspiracy theorists and neo-nazis). The theory had been that he was making the board more attractive to a mainstream audience to attract potential buyers, however, this announcement, along with the new requirements for "volunteers" suggests that something else is at play. I would speculate that recent decisions have been driven more by IRL peer pressure and a desire for social acceptance than any kind of business shark/ Homo Economicus reason.
- debacle 12y ago
  Any sale would mean the end of 4chan.
  - leoc 12y ago
    But that wouldn't be the seller's problem after the ink is dry.
- krelian 12y ago
  8chan can't be mentioned because it's a competitor I assume? But what about Gamergate, why is it taboo to discuss it?
  - Koahku 12y ago
    Because GamerGate was brewing to become the new chanology, which would have been a disaster for the whole website. As for 8chan I guess it's because its address was being spammed constantly on every board and it's also considered advertising.
    - lmm 12y ago
      If the original chanology wasn't a disaster, why would gamergate be one?
Koahku 12y ago
I guess I kind of expected it since the past 6 months were probably very though for him with all the negative attention the site received. I wish him a happy retirement and all the best for what he's going to do next.
Sealy 12y ago
"I founded 4chan eleven and a half years ago at the age of 15, and after more than a decade of service, I've decided it's time for me to move on." That makes him 25 now.... and just to think, he's in a position to move on from founding, creating and running one of the web's most successful messaging boards. Dang....
- earless1 12y ago
  11.5 + 15 != 25
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - anonbanker 12y ago
    Did this reply contribute anything to the conversation, other than display your strong grasp of both addition and "well actually..."?
    - thieving_magpie 12y ago
      Yes. It corrected something that was going to bother me aesthetically.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
espadrine 12y ago
> 2,838 Terabytes per month I didn't realize it was so big. Does anyone have comparison points with other services such as Facebook or Reddit?
- gamegoblin 12y ago
  In 2009 Facebook did 25TB/week in just photos, and I imagine it's significantly higher now (particularly with Instagram added). https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/needle-in-a-haystack-efficient-storage-of-billions-of-photos/76191543919 https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/needle-i...
- jedberg 12y ago
  reddit is significantly smaller bandwidth-wise than 4chan. reddit doesn't host images. I don't remember exactly but when I left 4 years ago it was only single digit terabytes of outbound bandwidth.
  - nols 12y ago
    Here is a slightly newer (although still quite old) answer from rram, peak of 924.21 Mbit/sec. https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/r6zfv/we_are_sysadmins_reddit_ask_us_anything/c43g1t2 https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/r6zfv/we_are_sysa...
billmalarky 12y ago
I realize Chris is tired of dealing with the headaches of managing 4chan. But if he has effectively outsourced management of the site, why not continue to hold the title of president or whatever? I wonder how much of his cachet he gives up by doing this (even though he still owns the property). Given his influence on the internet due to 4chan, moot can probably raise money for his next project with relative ease. Can Christopher Poole? Edit: Fixed moot capitalization.
- gmu3 12y ago
  moot is never capitalized. I guess we'll see but I mainly read it as he was stepping down as an administrator.
  - jedberg 12y ago
    > moot is never capitalized Neither is reddit, but the press doesn't seem to care and a lot of users don't realize it either. Protip: Never make your brand "always lowercase" because it just won't work.
    - fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
      iPhone
      - jedberg 12y ago
        Hah, good point. That might be the only one that actually works. However, it has an advantage in that it's rarely the start of a sentence (usually it will be The iPhone), and anyone using a Mac will have it autocorrect.
        tricolon 12y ago
        > usually it will be The iPhone So the brand still doesn't work, since Apple never uses an article.
mahranch 12y ago
The problem I see with his retiring is one I've experienced on reddit as a moderator. When someone higher than you "retires" or goes otherwise inactive, yet still retains the power they hold, they inevitably come back. It's guaranteed. Even if it's only for a day. That doesn't sound like a problem at first, but it's a HUGE problem. Why? Because new policies, rules or ways of handling things get enacted or evolve and those new things don't make sense to them. They haven't been involved with the day to day issues are not familiar with the new challenges the community has been facing. They forget that in community driven sites, the problems are dynamic and evolving. They think the community is exactly the same as when they retired. Only, it's not. So when they come back they do away with the rules or new policies because "they don't make sense" or they're not needed. It sets the community back, or even destroying the new community all together. Some of the volunteers below them may get frustrated and/or quit because they just witnessed all their hard work get wiped out. Getting undermined by an out-of-touch owner/mod doesn't help the morale for the remaining volunteers.
- Eclyps 12y ago
  Hmm... I don't doubt that this happened to you, or that it does happen often, but as someone who was in charge of a fairly successful online community with tens of thousands of community members and upwards of a million posts, I'm happy to say that I never went back. I did the same as moot in this situation - I prepped the people who I wanted to take over and made the transition slowly until I was doing almost nothing myself. Then one day I made a post and I was gone. I didn't revoke my own access, though I doubt that I still have it (this was about 8 years ago). Even if I did have access, I certainly wouldn't want to go back and start changing things. I cared deeply about my members and fully trusted my administrative team to do what they thought was best, and sometimes that meant putting aside my own beliefs and trying something different. It all depends on the person that's retiring, I suppose, but I wanted to offer something to counter your experiences.
  - saganus 12y ago
    Even if I did have access, I certainly wouldn't want to go back and start changing things. I cared deeply about my members and fully trusted my administrative team to do what they thought was best, and sometimes that meant putting aside my own beliefs and trying something different. Probably what the OP was referring to is precisely this. Apparently you were able to stand by your decision to not come back, but I have a feeling that the OP was referring to those people who actually think they can go away but actually do come back.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
tacojuan 12y ago
so long and thanks for all the fish, mootles :3
Mckey 12y ago
Just a little backstory for ya'll. Somewhere in late 2014 there was a thread on the /int/ board joking about how moot was apparently having a relationship with a known "SJW" as they call it. Coincidentally, /pol/, the most ass annihilating board for politically correct types was ruined after the relationship leak, chaptas were removed and keywords were replaced with the political opposites. After this, the /v/ board started calling moot a "cuckold", to elaborate, cuck has been a meme for the last few months on /v/ due to the huge rise of affairs and relationship problems in SGDQ 2014. Moot was ridiculed based on speculation from /int/, but most of all for ruining a controversial board dedicated to news and politics. GG was never banned on 4chan, GG threads were deleted on /v/ since it was considered spam, the GG threads continued to strive on /vg/, the "video game general" board. In the end Moot restored /pol/ after harassment from 4channers, which may be the reason moot is retiring.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
maresca 12y ago
I went to Startup School in New York last year and saw moot there. While outside between presentations, someone in the crowd called out "Chris, Chris Poole!" and some other memes at him. He seemed really put off by it and hightailed it out of there. I'd imagine he gets that often and could understand how that could be draining.
- MrDom 12y ago
  That's something that I haven't seen mentioned yet: The last few years, Moot has appeared to have nothing but contempt for the people who post on his site. I imagine a decade of being marinated in the worst the internet has to offer would do that to anybody.
  - IndianAstronaut 12y ago
    He did create that cesspit and allowed it to thrive and attract the dredges of society. Not until 6 or 7 years into the site did he decide to crack down on the cp posted there. He definitely deserves ridicule.
    - MrDom 12y ago
      I do think he deserves ridicule, but not for that. He stood up for the ideals of free, anonymous speech. He believed in it. But he eventually buckled under the weight of it. He was a hero for holding out as long as he did, but all heroes fall. What he's become now is worthy of ridicule.
      - astrange 12y ago
        Interested readers should note that 1. it's impossible to satisfy this poster and their parent at the same time. 2. but both of them will hate you either way. This leads to an important customer service technique I've learned, which is that if you slightly inconvenience the most difficult people they'll just leave and you'll be left with less demanding customers who will actually appreciate you.

411 points by akerl_ 12y ago

Sealy 12y ago

4chan is blocked at my work, can someone copy and paste the content or post a TLDR. Thanks in advance!

mlacitation 12y ago
I founded 4chan eleven and a half years ago at the age of 15, and after more than a decade of service, I've decided it's time for me to move on. 4chan has faced numerous challenges over the years, including how to continuously satisfy a community of millions, and ensure the site has the human, technical, and financial resources to continue operating. But the biggest hurdle it's had to overcome is myself. As 4chan's sole administrator, decision maker, and keeper of most of its institutional knowledge, I've come to represent an uncomfortably large single point of failure. I've spent the past two years working behind the scenes to address these challenges, and to provide 4chan with the foundation it needs to survive me by bolstering its finances, strengthening its infrastructure, and expanding and empowering its team of volunteers. And for the most part, I've succeeded. The site isn't in danger of going under financially any time soon, and it's as fast and stable as ever thanks to continued development and recent server upgrades. Team 4chan is also at its largest, and while I've still been calling the shots, I've delegated many of my responsibilities to a handful of trusted volunteers, most of whom have served the site for years. That foundation will now be put to the ultimate test, as today I'm retiring as 4chan's administrator. From a user's perspective, nothing should change. A few senior volunteers—including 4chan's lead developer, managing moderator, and server administrator—have stepped up to ensure a smooth transition over the coming weeks. I'll need time away to decompress and reflect, but I look forward to one day returning to 4chan as its Admin Emeritus or just another Anonymous, and also writing more about my experience running 4chan on my personal blog. The journey has been marked by highs and lows, surprises and disappointments, but ultimately immense satisfaction. I'm humbled to have had the privilege of both founding and presiding over what is easily one of the greatest communities to ever grace the Web. It was truly an honor to serve as 4chan's founding administrator, and I look forward to seeing what the next decade holds for the site. On to the next chapter, –moot mootnote: I plan to dedicate this Friday afternoon (ET) to host a livestreamed Q&A session, where I'll hold court with the community one last time. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube page, and keep an eye out for a global message the day of. As always, I welcome and read all of my e-mails, and you may contact me personally at moot@4chan.org. Eleven and a half years, in numbers: 42,176,061,890 Total pageviews 1,771,091,423 Total posts 1,071,189,182 Total visitors 620,125,147 Monthly pageviews 21,128,887 Daily pageviews 20,360,487 Monthly visitors 1,223,807 Daily visitors 2,838 Terabytes per month 105 Volunteers 63 Boards 1 Administrator
- cmdrfred 12y ago
  See also (just don't do any banking/disable javascript): bestproxyunblock.com proxify.com unblockingproxy.net freeopenproxy.com freeproxywebsite.net proxyserver.com proxysite.com newipnow.com browserproxy.net proxfree.com

__Joker 12y ago

While 4chan continues to flirt the border line between nsfw reddit and deepweb, what is its moderation policy ?

Karunamon 12y ago
Nobody actually knows. People have been banned for violations of the stated rules on each board despite not actually violating them, people have been left alone for flagrant violations of said rules. Board features like names, macros, and so on are toggled on and off more or less on a whim. To say that 4chan's enforcement is inconsistent would be an understatement. But, the chaos is a feature, not a bug. Something to keep in mind. But for everyone else, this is one of the reasons I think seriously that 8chan is the next big thing, it's basically Reddit, but for image boards. Mod abuse (real or perceived) will result in community fragmentation but on the same site, rather than exodus to other sites.
- knd775 12y ago
  Eh, I can't really support 8chan. The admin/owner/dev/whatever is an absolutely horrible person.
  - Karunamon 12y ago
    Not that I've seen. As far as the site goes, the rule appears to be "unless it's literally illegal or breaking the site, I'm leaving it alone", and everything else is in the hands of the subredd- sorry, sub-board mods. I think this is the only legitimate stance to take when it comes to a UGC site that allows people to set up their own communities. The staff of each board should be responsible for their own moral compasses, with a minimum of interference by the folks upstairs unless it becomes absolutely necessary. The existence of a doxxing board is distressing, but it's not against any law in the USA. I don't want it there, but I want hotwheels making decisions like that even less. I feel the same way about things like /r/beatingwomen (exactly what it says in the title) or /r/picsofdeadkids on Reddit.
    - 12y ago

Shank 12y ago

I'm excited to see what moot does next; seems like he's preparing for a big-ish transition in his life, after Draw Quest & 4chan. Maybe I'm wrong, but it will certainly be interesting to see what's next.

angersock 12y ago
Going to mootsico, I imagine.
- moot 12y ago
  mootxico
  - _almosnow 12y ago
    If you're really coming, I'll be glad if we could share a few drinks.
  - angersock 12y ago
    ...with all that money from neets, weaboos, and gold pass users? :P
  - NovaS1X 12y ago
    Thanks for 8 amazing years. 4chan represented a chapter in my life that has changed me fundamentally. Good luck in whatever you're off to do.
  - nether 12y ago
    4chan changed my life.
  - Magi604 12y ago
    I have fond memories of 4chan from its early days. Thanks for everything!
  - RoundCube 12y ago
    4chan ruined my life.

pervycreeper 12y ago

This is not a surprising development, there has been speculation that Poole has been readying the site for sale in the past few months. He has taken action to sanitize the site by suppressing discussion of Gamergate and 8chan (mention of either was a bannable offense), and more recently a purge of /pol/ (that board had been a haven for conspiracy theorists and neo-nazis). The theory had been that he was making the board more attractive to a mainstream audience to attract potential buyers, however, this announcement, along with the new requirements for "volunteers" suggests that something else is at play. I would speculate that recent decisions have been driven more by IRL peer pressure and a desire for social acceptance than any kind of business shark/ Homo Economicus reason.

debacle 12y ago
Any sale would mean the end of 4chan.
- leoc 12y ago
  But that wouldn't be the seller's problem after the ink is dry.
krelian 12y ago
8chan can't be mentioned because it's a competitor I assume? But what about Gamergate, why is it taboo to discuss it?
- Koahku 12y ago
  Because GamerGate was brewing to become the new chanology, which would have been a disaster for the whole website. As for 8chan I guess it's because its address was being spammed constantly on every board and it's also considered advertising.
  - lmm 12y ago
    If the original chanology wasn't a disaster, why would gamergate be one?

Koahku 12y ago

I guess I kind of expected it since the past 6 months were probably very though for him with all the negative attention the site received. I wish him a happy retirement and all the best for what he's going to do next.

Sealy 12y ago

"I founded 4chan eleven and a half years ago at the age of 15, and after more than a decade of service, I've decided it's time for me to move on." That makes him 25 now.... and just to think, he's in a position to move on from founding, creating and running one of the web's most successful messaging boards. Dang....

earless1 12y ago
11.5 + 15 != 25
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- anonbanker 12y ago
  Did this reply contribute anything to the conversation, other than display your strong grasp of both addition and "well actually..."?
  - thieving_magpie 12y ago
    Yes. It corrected something that was going to bother me aesthetically.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

espadrine 12y ago

> 2,838 Terabytes per month I didn't realize it was so big. Does anyone have comparison points with other services such as Facebook or Reddit?

gamegoblin 12y ago
In 2009 Facebook did 25TB/week in just photos, and I imagine it's significantly higher now (particularly with Instagram added). https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/needle-in-a-haystack-efficient-storage-of-billions-of-photos/76191543919 https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/needle-i...
jedberg 12y ago
reddit is significantly smaller bandwidth-wise than 4chan. reddit doesn't host images. I don't remember exactly but when I left 4 years ago it was only single digit terabytes of outbound bandwidth.
- nols 12y ago
  Here is a slightly newer (although still quite old) answer from rram, peak of 924.21 Mbit/sec. https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/r6zfv/we_are_sysadmins_reddit_ask_us_anything/c43g1t2 https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/r6zfv/we_are_sysa...

billmalarky 12y ago

I realize Chris is tired of dealing with the headaches of managing 4chan. But if he has effectively outsourced management of the site, why not continue to hold the title of president or whatever? I wonder how much of his cachet he gives up by doing this (even though he still owns the property). Given his influence on the internet due to 4chan, moot can probably raise money for his next project with relative ease. Can Christopher Poole? Edit: Fixed moot capitalization.

gmu3 12y ago
moot is never capitalized. I guess we'll see but I mainly read it as he was stepping down as an administrator.
- jedberg 12y ago
  > moot is never capitalized Neither is reddit, but the press doesn't seem to care and a lot of users don't realize it either. Protip: Never make your brand "always lowercase" because it just won't work.
  - fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
    iPhone
    - jedberg 12y ago
      Hah, good point. That might be the only one that actually works. However, it has an advantage in that it's rarely the start of a sentence (usually it will be The iPhone), and anyone using a Mac will have it autocorrect.
      - tricolon 12y ago
        > usually it will be The iPhone So the brand still doesn't work, since Apple never uses an article.

mahranch 12y ago

The problem I see with his retiring is one I've experienced on reddit as a moderator. When someone higher than you "retires" or goes otherwise inactive, yet still retains the power they hold, they inevitably come back. It's guaranteed. Even if it's only for a day. That doesn't sound like a problem at first, but it's a HUGE problem. Why? Because new policies, rules or ways of handling things get enacted or evolve and those new things don't make sense to them. They haven't been involved with the day to day issues are not familiar with the new challenges the community has been facing. They forget that in community driven sites, the problems are dynamic and evolving. They think the community is exactly the same as when they retired. Only, it's not. So when they come back they do away with the rules or new policies because "they don't make sense" or they're not needed. It sets the community back, or even destroying the new community all together. Some of the volunteers below them may get frustrated and/or quit because they just witnessed all their hard work get wiped out. Getting undermined by an out-of-touch owner/mod doesn't help the morale for the remaining volunteers.

Eclyps 12y ago
Hmm... I don't doubt that this happened to you, or that it does happen often, but as someone who was in charge of a fairly successful online community with tens of thousands of community members and upwards of a million posts, I'm happy to say that I never went back. I did the same as moot in this situation - I prepped the people who I wanted to take over and made the transition slowly until I was doing almost nothing myself. Then one day I made a post and I was gone. I didn't revoke my own access, though I doubt that I still have it (this was about 8 years ago). Even if I did have access, I certainly wouldn't want to go back and start changing things. I cared deeply about my members and fully trusted my administrative team to do what they thought was best, and sometimes that meant putting aside my own beliefs and trying something different. It all depends on the person that's retiring, I suppose, but I wanted to offer something to counter your experiences.
- saganus 12y ago
  Even if I did have access, I certainly wouldn't want to go back and start changing things. I cared deeply about my members and fully trusted my administrative team to do what they thought was best, and sometimes that meant putting aside my own beliefs and trying something different. Probably what the OP was referring to is precisely this. Apparently you were able to stand by your decision to not come back, but I have a feeling that the OP was referring to those people who actually think they can go away but actually do come back.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

tacojuan 12y ago

so long and thanks for all the fish, mootles :3

Mckey 12y ago

Just a little backstory for ya'll. Somewhere in late 2014 there was a thread on the /int/ board joking about how moot was apparently having a relationship with a known "SJW" as they call it. Coincidentally, /pol/, the most ass annihilating board for politically correct types was ruined after the relationship leak, chaptas were removed and keywords were replaced with the political opposites. After this, the /v/ board started calling moot a "cuckold", to elaborate, cuck has been a meme for the last few months on /v/ due to the huge rise of affairs and relationship problems in SGDQ 2014. Moot was ridiculed based on speculation from /int/, but most of all for ruining a controversial board dedicated to news and politics. GG was never banned on 4chan, GG threads were deleted on /v/ since it was considered spam, the GG threads continued to strive on /vg/, the "video game general" board. In the end Moot restored /pol/ after harassment from 4channers, which may be the reason moot is retiring.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

maresca 12y ago

I went to Startup School in New York last year and saw moot there. While outside between presentations, someone in the crowd called out "Chris, Chris Poole!" and some other memes at him. He seemed really put off by it and hightailed it out of there. I'd imagine he gets that often and could understand how that could be draining.

MrDom 12y ago
That's something that I haven't seen mentioned yet: The last few years, Moot has appeared to have nothing but contempt for the people who post on his site. I imagine a decade of being marinated in the worst the internet has to offer would do that to anybody.
- IndianAstronaut 12y ago
  He did create that cesspit and allowed it to thrive and attract the dredges of society. Not until 6 or 7 years into the site did he decide to crack down on the cp posted there. He definitely deserves ridicule.
  - MrDom 12y ago
    I do think he deserves ridicule, but not for that. He stood up for the ideals of free, anonymous speech. He believed in it. But he eventually buckled under the weight of it. He was a hero for holding out as long as he did, but all heroes fall. What he's become now is worthy of ridicule.
    - astrange 12y ago
      Interested readers should note that 1. it's impossible to satisfy this poster and their parent at the same time. 2. but both of them will hate you either way. This leads to an important customer service technique I've learned, which is that if you slightly inconvenience the most difficult people they'll just leave and you'll be left with less demanding customers who will actually appreciate you.