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4chan: Beyond one billion

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Re: 4chan: Beyond one billion

#31

Post by nsmartt »

nateberkopec wrote: post #28
Swizec wrote: post #23

While I no longer visit 4chan regularly, I love its extensive influence on human society. * lolcats * rage comics * anonymous * a lot of the 1% movement * getting random people in jail because they think animal cruelty is funny * making Moot TIME's person of the year and getting him a TED talk -> http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_m00t_poole_the_case_for... While most of what goes on there hinges somewhere between…

This whole "4chan is vile and horrible" thing is getting old. 4chan is not /b/, and vice versa. There are a lot of boards on 4chan that are perfectly normal, with no gore threads/porn/etc.

Aren't most of those boards invaded pretty regularly?

Also, some of the boards are full of people who can be described as insane- despite not having porn/gore/etc. For example, /g/. I don't agree that it's inaccurate to say 4chan is vile in general, and I certainly agree with the sentiment that 4chan is the best and worst of the internet- or at least the social part of the internet.

Re: 4chan: Beyond one billion

#32

Post by AndrewDucker »

rockyleal wrote: post #25
Swizec wrote: post #23

While I no longer visit 4chan regularly, I love its extensive influence on human society. * lolcats * rage comics * anonymous * a lot of the 1% movement * getting random people in jail because they think animal cruelty is funny * making Moot TIME's person of the year and getting him a TED talk -> http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_m00t_poole_the_case_for... While most of what goes on there hinges somewhere between…

I like your post so this is a real question, not a sarcastic remark: Can you elaborate about why you consider memes profound?

I don't think memes are profound, but I do think that having this crucible in which new memes are created, with the best spreading from there to the rest of the internet via Tumblr, Facebook, etc. is pretty awe inspiring.

Re: 4chan: Beyond one billion

#33

Post by Swizec »

simias wrote: post #29
Swizec wrote: post #23

While I no longer visit 4chan regularly, I love its extensive influence on human society. * lolcats * rage comics * anonymous * a lot of the 1% movement * getting random people in jail because they think animal cruelty is funny * making Moot TIME's person of the year and getting him a TED talk -> http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_m00t_poole_the_case_for... While most of what goes on there hinges somewhere between…

I think you (and probably many others) are conflating 4chan with its /b/ board. There are several communities with their own "ecosystem" within 4chan, even if there's some overlap of course. Also, it wouldn't be fair to attribute all the things you've cited to 4chan only. Something Aweful contributed to the birth of many "early" memes for instance. And I think the rage comics were infamously made popular by reddit (4…

Something Awful and Newgrounds were a good place to spawn memes back in the early-ish days of the web. When memes were still flash videos and such.

And even before that (or possibly not before that), I remember going to emule to download what were essentially memes. A lot of them spreading partially via email.

But I think in the least 8 years, 4chan has really become the main birthplace of memes.

Re: 4chan: Beyond one billion

#34

Post by nsmartt »

simias wrote: post #29
Swizec wrote: post #23

While I no longer visit 4chan regularly, I love its extensive influence on human society. * lolcats * rage comics * anonymous * a lot of the 1% movement * getting random people in jail because they think animal cruelty is funny * making Moot TIME's person of the year and getting him a TED talk -> http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_m00t_poole_the_case_for... While most of what goes on there hinges somewhere between…

I think you (and probably many others) are conflating 4chan with its /b/ board. There are several communities with their own "ecosystem" within 4chan, even if there's some overlap of course. Also, it wouldn't be fair to attribute all the things you've cited to 4chan only. Something Aweful contributed to the birth of many "early" memes for instance. And I think the rage comics were infamously made popular by reddit (4…

Rage comics are just "MS paint comics" with recurring characters and a set format- which makes sense given that reddit is a less chaotic alternative to 4chan. Of course, the chaotic nature of 4chan is not a bad thing.

Also, the memes that originate elsewhere are still made popular due to 4chan's influence. e.g. "trollface" apparently comes from deviantart but is commonly used in rage comics (I think).

Re: 4chan: Beyond one billion

#35

Post by RollAHardSix »

Swizec wrote: post #23

While I no longer visit 4chan regularly, I love its extensive influence on human society. * lolcats * rage comics * anonymous * a lot of the 1% movement * getting random people in jail because they think animal cruelty is funny * making Moot TIME's person of the year and getting him a TED talk -> http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_m00t_poole_the_case_for... While most of what goes on there hinges somewhere between…

Influence on Western Culture? Why don't you go read the news, the Patterson break-up has had more of an effect on Western culture then 4Chan could ever hope to succeed.

Some people spend way too much time on the internet; I can guarantee you that 99% of America, has no clue what 4Chan, Rage Comics, lolcats is. Anonymous and the 1% movement (but you may have to say Occupy Wall Street to the 3 million remaining people) may be the exceptions because of the media coverage.

And meme's are far from profound, humor, yes you could argue to be considered profound, but meme's? A silly time-waster at best but generally worse then a joke told among friends. You can't find a meme and share it with friends with the same impact (whether online or in person) as:

One day little girl comes home from school, "Mom, today some boy showed me his penis." Mother exclaims "What?!" Little girl says "Yea, and it sort of reminded me of a peanut." Trying not to laugh, mother asks "Is that because it was so small?" Little girl laughs says "No. Because it tasted so salty."

Re: 4chan: Beyond one billion

#36

Post by Swizec »

rockyleal wrote: post #25
Swizec wrote: post #23

While I no longer visit 4chan regularly, I love its extensive influence on human society. * lolcats * rage comics * anonymous * a lot of the 1% movement * getting random people in jail because they think animal cruelty is funny * making Moot TIME's person of the year and getting him a TED talk -> http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_m00t_poole_the_case_for... While most of what goes on there hinges somewhere between…

I like your post so this is a real question, not a sarcastic remark: Can you elaborate about why you consider memes profound?

Memes are profound because they are our culture. It is what the "young people of today" do. In the 50's they had rock-and-roll, in the 60's it was hippies and so on.

Right now, it's the internet. In just a few more years all of us will become "the old guys" and our younger brothers and sisters will come up with something new - my sister already thinks I'm lame for liking the internet so much and sharing silly pictures and stuff. And she doesn't understand why cats are so cool. She's only 7 years younger.

The thing is, you have to look at memes in a broader sense than just "picture of X with something written on top and on bottom in big bold text". Yes, that's what some people call a "meme" these days, but I mean them more in the sense of a cultural parcel that is distributed between people in a common-ish medium.

I remember in primary school one of the memes (called fads back then) was that everyone suddenly started using yo-yos. Anyone who was between 10 and 14 had a yoyo and you could instantly connect with them, there was instantly something to talk about. Etc.

But here's the real kicker, the memes of today are the first in history that are trully global. And without delay. It took almost 10 years for hippies to arrive in my neck of the woods and they were never pretty big. Punk was a big quicker, it had a delay of only a few years.

Modern culture, mostly the memes, has zero delay. And that's amazing.

Re: 4chan: Beyond one billion

#37

Post by greenranger »

clockstrikesten wrote: post #24
ionwake wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i would say government at a guess

The site owner recently revealed he pushes 3500000 GB per month. My lowball estimate puts that at roughly $77,000 per month, just under a million dollars per year to keep the site running. There are no ads on /b/, which is the main board, representing I'd guess 95% of the entire site's traffic. That, combined with the plausibility of the following, leads me to believe he receives massive government subsidies: http://…

That place is WACKO.

Re: 4chan: Beyond one billion

#38

Post by Swizec »

RollAHardSix wrote: post #35
Swizec wrote: post #23

While I no longer visit 4chan regularly, I love its extensive influence on human society. * lolcats * rage comics * anonymous * a lot of the 1% movement * getting random people in jail because they think animal cruelty is funny * making Moot TIME's person of the year and getting him a TED talk -> http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_m00t_poole_the_case_for... While most of what goes on there hinges somewhere between…

Influence on Western Culture? Why don't you go read the news, the Patterson break-up has had more of an effect on Western culture then 4Chan could ever hope to succeed. Some people spend way too much time on the internet; I can guarantee you that 99% of America, has no clue what 4Chan, Rage Comics, lolcats is. Anonymous and the 1% movement (but you may have to say Occupy Wall Street to the 3 million remaining people)…

Monty Python was a silly joke, something friends would communicate amongst each other. It was a meme inside the UK, eventually sort of going global.

40 years since The Holy Grail was filmed, it is still often selected as the funniest film of all times.

There is an impact. But it is a young people's thing, give it some time and it will become part of the cultural heritage of the early 2000's and 2010's.

Re: 4chan: Beyond one billion

#39

Post by brudgers »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #14
zumth wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4chan is not only /b/ and porn, there are surprisingly good SFW boards too. Well, maybe "SFW" is pushing it a bit, since the tone is still 4-chaney, but then look around the technology, cooking, or traditionnal games boards: you'll be surprised.

Oh, I'm well aware of that. /b/ is (arguably) the worst part of 4chan. 4chan has much more than porn, but it also has a lot of porn.

The world wide web has much more than porn, but it also has a lot of porn.

This was also true of Usenet.

Re: 4chan: Beyond one billion

#40

Post by aneisf »

nsmartt wrote: post #31
nateberkopec wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This whole "4chan is vile and horrible" thing is getting old. 4chan is not /b/, and vice versa. There are a lot of boards on 4chan that are perfectly normal, with no gore threads/porn/etc.

Aren't most of those boards invaded pretty regularly? Also, some of the boards are full of people who can be described as insane- despite not having porn/gore/etc. For example, /g/. I don't agree that it's inaccurate to say 4chan is vile in general, and I certainly agree with the sentiment that 4chan is the best and worst of the internet- or at least the social part of the internet.

Aren't most of those boards invaded pretty regularly?

Huh? No.

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