4Chan Is Turning 15–And Remains the Internet's Teenager • Hacker News Board

Re: 4Chan Is Turning 15–And Remains the Internet's Teenager

#71

Post by rarec » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 4:27 PM UTC

aspaceman wrote: post #58

microcolonel wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You seem to believe that folks can just ignore being called the n-word day-in and day-out as if it doesn't really affect them. They can't? Almost no matter who you are, somebody somewhere is musing about your death, if you can't handle that in words, I doubt you could live much, regardless of your identifiable characteristics.

> if you can't handle that in words, I doubt you could live much, regardless of your identifiable characteristics. I really cannot wrap my mind around the lack of empathy required to say "if you can't handle it" to people being called racist slurs. I presume you have never been called a racist slur. I presume you have never been demonized for your skin color - how can you even begin to know what that's like? Ignoring…

Not to defend racism, but you'll find that pretty much every race that's not 2D gets shit on when you're on 4chan. That's just part of being a moderator-lite website. The entire idea is you shouldn't bring your real life onto the site, you'll find people ready and able to tear down anything for incredibly inane reasons. Why is it that it's so prevalent is an excellent question; why do people resort to such strong racist/sexist/divisive opinions when they get to have a mask?

Re: 4Chan Is Turning 15–And Remains the Internet's Teenager

#72

Post by aspaceman » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 4:27 PM UTC

jabn76 wrote: post #62

aspaceman wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. But let's go /pol/ for a hot sec. Oh hey! Ctrl-F says there's 5 occurrences of the n-word (Hard -r too!). I'm not black, but I imagine that just ignoring stuff like that really gets to you after awhile. Here is a forum where people actively demean others based on the color of their skin, and not only is it normal, but if you're going to visit you need to make sure no one knows that they're actually black. So s…

[flagged]

Are you serious?

> It’s, you know, that kind of black person. :)

Oh yes, smiley because this is just so funny and amusing :) Hundreds of years or racism using EXACTLY that excuse - "It's only supposed to describe the bad ones" - and hey let's just smile about it :)

I'm done with this discussion. It's pretty clear that you've never actually thought about how this affects other people. There are many books on the subject of the n-word written by black men and women, I suggest you read a few.

Re: 4Chan Is Turning 15–And Remains the Internet's Teenager

#73

Post by uncletaco » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 4:30 PM UTC

aspaceman wrote: post #44

deft wrote: post #14

How many of these anti-4chan articles are written by people that regularly use it? I'm guessing zero. 4chan is an interesting site and has better discussion from a broad userbase than reddit or here. Plenty of interesting projects were born out of 4chan, particularly /g/ but the other boards have created valuable things for humans in general, not just internet culture. The positives IMO come from the whole "FREE SPEE…

> using 4chan and ignore the crap you don't care about. Can you even imagine using 4chan as a woman or a black man? Like not only in real life do you have to deal with people being racist as hell, but hey here's this forum that's entirely shameless about it too. You seem to believe that folks can just ignore being called the n-word day-in and day-out as if it doesn't really affect them. The only people who can go to…

Black occasional user here who recently turned 30.

I used 4chan heavily when I was in college and early 20s. Back then most of the hate in /pol/ was directed at religion in general and scientology in particular and /r9k/ hadn't quite became a cesspool of incels. But as I got older I started to see the change. It became too "safe" (for lack of a better word) for people with social stigma to express their frustrations as anger and eventually misogyny and racism. I mostly stick to /tg/ and a few of the porn boards now but I'm hyper aware of who my peers might be. I know the simple answer is to "ignore the stuff you don't like" but that shit leaks everywhere and I still run across the occasional racist comment when I visit, even when I try to stick to the places that aren't literal cancer.

Re: 4Chan Is Turning 15–And Remains the Internet's Teenager

#74

Post by aspaceman » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 4:30 PM UTC

hackermailman wrote: post #63

aspaceman wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. But let's go /pol/ for a hot sec. Oh hey! Ctrl-F says there's 5 occurrences of the n-word (Hard -r too!). I'm not black, but I imagine that just ignoring stuff like that really gets to you after awhile. Here is a forum where people actively demean others based on the color of their skin, and not only is it normal, but if you're going to visit you need to make sure no one knows that they're actually black. So s…

/pol/ is also filled with black nationalists, like NOI/Farrakhan supporters. That's the enigma of 4chan is literally everybody from every group is posting there instead of censorship that ensures only one ideology. By 'ignore what doesn't interest you', I assume that means don't visit the containment boards filled with rampant racism and trolling, you won't find holocaust denial or persistent racist threads on the ot…

And because there are black nationalists, the experience of white users of the site and black users of the site are exactly the same?

I am simply saying that if you're black, you're affected by the discourse on 4chan much differently than you would be if you are white. A few black nationalists is a lot different than the sea of n-word use, and it affects folks much, much differently.

Re: 4Chan Is Turning 15–And Remains the Internet's Teenager

#75

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 4:32 PM UTC

jimmies wrote: post #65

aspaceman wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> using 4chan and ignore the crap you don't care about. Can you even imagine using 4chan as a woman or a black man? Like not only in real life do you have to deal with people being racist as hell, but hey here's this forum that's entirely shameless about it too. You seem to believe that folks can just ignore being called the n-word day-in and day-out as if it doesn't really affect them. The only people who can go to…

Although I am not black, I am Asian, and can be described by a word started with C (/csg/ if you lurk /g/), and more accurately G. I would be offended if someone calls me that in real life. On 4chan though, I myself really don't get offended in any way. Someone explained it this way: you're only supposed to be offended if someone calls you a n* f* in a setting that not everyone is. On 4chan, everyone is already a n*…

[deleted]

Re: 4Chan Is Turning 15–And Remains the Internet's Teenager

#76

Post by SiempreViernes » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 4:32 PM UTC

Brakenshire wrote: post #59

taneq wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're ignoring the fact that much of current internet culture also originated there.

Seems to be something people repeat for the 'anarchic creativity' narrative rather than an actual truth.

I think knowyourmeme can attribute quite a few memes to 4chan, and the traditional account is that both Anonymous and the alt-right was spawned there, so they certainly did contribute to internet culture.

The question is really how many lolcatz do you need to balance out one radicalized incel?

Re: 4Chan Is Turning 15–And Remains the Internet's Teenager

#77

Post by ddevault » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 4:32 PM UTC

aspaceman wrote: post #69

jimmies wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although I am not black, I am Asian, and can be described by a word started with C (/csg/ if you lurk /g/), and more accurately G. I would be offended if someone calls me that in real life. On 4chan though, I myself really don't get offended in any way. Someone explained it this way: you're only supposed to be offended if someone calls you a n* f* in a setting that not everyone is. On 4chan, everyone is already a n*…

> you're only supposed to be offended Folks have the right to be offended whenever they want to be. If you aren't offended, then that's your decision and you're free to make it. But ultimately I still believe you should respect the opinions of those who are offended. If they hate 4chan, I'm not going to argue with them about it. There's a lot of folks in this thread claiming that if you're offended by speech on 4chan…

People have a right to be offended and the offender has a right not to care. I certainly don't endorse 4chan culture but it's different from what you think.

Re: 4Chan Is Turning 15–And Remains the Internet's Teenager

#78

Post by tomatotomato37 » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 4:33 PM UTC

hackermailman wrote: post #63

aspaceman wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. But let's go /pol/ for a hot sec. Oh hey! Ctrl-F says there's 5 occurrences of the n-word (Hard -r too!). I'm not black, but I imagine that just ignoring stuff like that really gets to you after awhile. Here is a forum where people actively demean others based on the color of their skin, and not only is it normal, but if you're going to visit you need to make sure no one knows that they're actually black. So s…

/pol/ is also filled with black nationalists, like NOI/Farrakhan supporters. That's the enigma of 4chan is literally everybody from every group is posting there instead of censorship that ensures only one ideology. By 'ignore what doesn't interest you', I assume that means don't visit the containment boards filled with rampant racism and trolling, you won't find holocaust denial or persistent racist threads on the ot…

I also feel this is the reason that 8ch spinoff went down in quality so quickly. The infinite boards concept caused users to split off when their views were challenged instead of being forced to defend them on the common board

Re: 4Chan Is Turning 15–And Remains the Internet's Teenager

#79

Post by zhte415 » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 4:33 PM UTC

stats-then-now wrote: post #64

zhte415 wrote: post #9

> There isn’t darkness without the light, it seems. So it’s probably fair to say 4channers are, at least a little bit, right: Their haven is the soul of the internet, the deep source of its sights and sounds, for worse and, occasionally, for better. I couldn't see much notable in the article, aside from a negative slew at the start, and some 'the other side of the coin' in the above quote. 15 years is noteworthy, how…

>Traffic has probably been at stable levels for years, while the price of traffic has fallen. Absolutely not! Please take this the wrong way, but I don't see how an old friend could have not noticed the MASSIVE increase in traffic (and the problems it brought). Here's some official 2005-2013 traffic statistics from the 10 years anniversary panel I compiled just to prove you wrong: https://i.4cdn.org/s4s/1527869817275…

The stats - Incredible how anaecdotal observation and recall differs. Bias too: Perhaps I'm not viewing the site as a whole and new boards, increased linking, whatever, thanks for stats.

Old friend - Certainly. The fact the idean of anon is default (though optional) means each post can be besed on it's on value / meritocrious as it carries no internet points of the 'owner'. Anarchy, but the negative that term often brings should not be carelessly and automatically applied.

Re: 4Chan Is Turning 15–And Remains the Internet's Teenager

#80

Post by hackermailman » Fri, Jun 01, 2018, 4:35 PM UTC

api wrote: post #56

rarec wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are things called containment boards on 4chan for a reason. Seems that they also contain any outside perspective on the site as well. /b/ and /pol/ are particularly egregious, but they're worth suffering to live if it means I can keep /g/ and /tg/. The open format of the site also, while it does contain a lot of posting, does have a curious cross contamination effect. You may learn about an entirely unrelated t…

From what I can see /pol/ in particular is extremely popular and massively influential in the promotion of shockingly vile politics of a sort that until recently I've never encountered anywhere even close to the mainstream. It is my understanding that it was created as a containment board, but it's popularity and relative power has soured me on the whole site. Here's the problem: /pol/ gets so much traffic that I can…

2ch is similar, they have a very large Japanese nationalist/far right board that is popular. Doesn't stop people from using the rest of the site which is nothing like the racist political board.