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A Study of 4chan’s Politically Incorrect Forum and Its Effects on the Web [pdf]

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Re: A Study of 4chan’s Politically Incorrect Forum and Its Effects on the Web [pdf]

#21

Post by TheAdamAndChe »

KirinDave wrote: post #16
Kec71 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nevertheless, /pol/ and r/the_donald were one of main factors why Donald Trump got elected. This crowdsurfing phenomenon holds tremendous amount of power.

This is a statement without a lot of actual backing. Folks claim it, but it's difficult to prove. Meanwhile we can prove that Republicans suppressed certain types of voters post VRA-repeal. We can prove that laws banning felons from voting impact some groups more than others (unfairly, I might add). We even have evidence (if not conclusive proof) that spearfishing attacks on US voting staff changed voter rolls. It is…

I agree that those are issues that should be addressed, but if you feel that Trump's rise wasn't legitimate, then I urge you to spend some time in an area of the country that voted for him. There are many, many areas of the country where people feel like their quality of life has been on the decline for decades and who have lost faith in normal politicians. The "altright rhetoric" may not be influential to you, but it is very influential to a large chunk of the population.

Re: A Study of 4chan’s Politically Incorrect Forum and Its Effects on the Web [pdf]

#22

Post by jelly »

fiblye wrote: post #9
peruvian wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's crazy is that in the Bush/early Obama years 4chan was fairly liberal in terms of politics.

I think one important question to ask here is: what caused the huge shift? Because it's something I noticed as well. Something happened that has pushed much of the general internet and large swathes of the "geekier" parts of the net to the right, and it doesn't seem to be letting up. The media ran with the "Russian shills" thing for a while, but it seems to be running out of steam and people I've known for years who…

It was quite possibly gamergate in 2014. I don't think dragging up the whole culture war here is valuable, but clearly a large portion of the gaming community were left feeling mistrustful of the gaming media. That war continues as background noise at this point, but is still a powerful influencer on many left-vs-right subjects.

Re: A Study of 4chan’s Politically Incorrect Forum and Its Effects on the Web [pdf]

#23

Post by vertex-four »

wand3r wrote: post #19
peruvian wrote: post #4

I'm definitely falling into the "X.com used to be so much better back then!!" trope but I really hate how much /pol/ culture spread throughout 4chan. I spent a lot of time between 2006-2014 on various boards like /a/, /mu/, /g/, and /int/ until suddenly everyone was an "SJW cuck" and everything was politicized/full of angry wannabe-right wingers. Made me quit the site (well, that and other things). Sometimes you just…

> x.com used to be better It did. Elon Musk owned it pre merger with confinity. X.com used to redirect to PayPal; still prob does. So x.com certainly used to be better...

Doesn't currently do anything.

Re: A Study of 4chan’s Politically Incorrect Forum and Its Effects on the Web [pdf]

#24

Post by wyager »

peruvian wrote: post #6
Kec71 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nevertheless, /pol/ and r/the_donald were one of main factors why Donald Trump got elected. This crowdsurfing phenomenon holds tremendous amount of power.

What's crazy is that in the Bush/early Obama years 4chan was fairly liberal in terms of politics.

The chans (or at least the political parts) are fundamentally anarchist (which reflects the structure of the board). Since there are only two successful parties in the US, neither of them anarchist (or even libertarian) in any substantial respect, the intersection of chan politics and US politics manifests in weird ways.

Re: A Study of 4chan’s Politically Incorrect Forum and Its Effects on the Web [pdf]

#25

Post by [deleted] »

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #21
KirinDave wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a statement without a lot of actual backing. Folks claim it, but it's difficult to prove. Meanwhile we can prove that Republicans suppressed certain types of voters post VRA-repeal. We can prove that laws banning felons from voting impact some groups more than others (unfairly, I might add). We even have evidence (if not conclusive proof) that spearfishing attacks on US voting staff changed voter rolls. It is…

I agree that those are issues that should be addressed, but if you feel that Trump's rise wasn't legitimate, then I urge you to spend some time in an area of the country that voted for him. There are many, many areas of the country where people feel like their quality of life has been on the decline for decades and who have lost faith in normal politicians. The "altright rhetoric" may not be influential to you, but i…

[deleted]

Re: A Study of 4chan’s Politically Incorrect Forum and Its Effects on the Web [pdf]

#26

Post by dghughes »

fiblye wrote: post #9
peruvian wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's crazy is that in the Bush/early Obama years 4chan was fairly liberal in terms of politics.

I think one important question to ask here is: what caused the huge shift? Because it's something I noticed as well. Something happened that has pushed much of the general internet and large swathes of the "geekier" parts of the net to the right, and it doesn't seem to be letting up. The media ran with the "Russian shills" thing for a while, but it seems to be running out of steam and people I've known for years who…

I'm on mobile so I didn't read the pdf.

But I'd say related to the itle is overly PC people highly vocal aka SJW as people say. It's the left equivalent of far right.

The other thing I think is US style politics as a Canadian it amazes me that is is so absolute you're Democrat or Republican. Most western countries have multiple political parties covering many shades politics.

People in the USA from my viewpoint seem to have become convinced they can only be one or the other. And it seems there is a huge gap between the two parties more than I can recall seeing.

The other thing is the US president is treated like a king he's just a politician. In western countries with prime ministers he can be thrown out easily and most people don't care who the person is.

Age also seems to be a big part maybe it's a Millenia/Boomer thing big groups with opposing views.

And of course there seems to be a huge lack of trust about what to believe. The tackiness most paranoid websites which years ago were called trashy tabloids are now seen as actual journalism. A person claiming to be a conspiracy theorist acts as if it is a badge of pride.

Overall I don't know lack of education, no mentors, lack of direction, lack of a moral guide.

Re: A Study of 4chan’s Politically Incorrect Forum and Its Effects on the Web [pdf]

#27

Post by throawayF3jv »

peruvian wrote: post #4

I'm definitely falling into the "X.com used to be so much better back then!!" trope but I really hate how much /pol/ culture spread throughout 4chan. I spent a lot of time between 2006-2014 on various boards like /a/, /mu/, /g/, and /int/ until suddenly everyone was an "SJW cuck" and everything was politicized/full of angry wannabe-right wingers. Made me quit the site (well, that and other things). Sometimes you just…

Frankly, I disagree that 4chan's decline had anything to do with politics. Rather, it was caused by the internet's uncanny ability to turn any discussion into meaningless shitposting. All the /pol/ vs /anyoneelse/ shit-flinging is just a fight between native and cross-board shitposters, and not different from those of yore (back when it was /b/ and /v/ flinging shit).

Your board choice and use of "meme" as a verb tells me you were part of the problem.

Re: A Study of 4chan’s Politically Incorrect Forum and Its Effects on the Web [pdf]

#28

Post by [deleted] »

Kec71 wrote: post #5
peruvian wrote: post #4

I'm definitely falling into the "X.com used to be so much better back then!!" trope but I really hate how much /pol/ culture spread throughout 4chan. I spent a lot of time between 2006-2014 on various boards like /a/, /mu/, /g/, and /int/ until suddenly everyone was an "SJW cuck" and everything was politicized/full of angry wannabe-right wingers. Made me quit the site (well, that and other things). Sometimes you just…

Nevertheless, /pol/ and r/the_donald were one of main factors why Donald Trump got elected. This crowdsurfing phenomenon holds tremendous amount of power.

[deleted]

Re: A Study of 4chan’s Politically Incorrect Forum and Its Effects on the Web [pdf]

#29

Post by devmunchies »

aphextron wrote: post #8
peruvian wrote: post #4

I'm definitely falling into the "X.com used to be so much better back then!!" trope but I really hate how much /pol/ culture spread throughout 4chan. I spent a lot of time between 2006-2014 on various boards like /a/, /mu/, /g/, and /int/ until suddenly everyone was an "SJW cuck" and everything was politicized/full of angry wannabe-right wingers. Made me quit the site (well, that and other things). Sometimes you just…

>I'm definitely falling into the "X.com used to be so much better back then!!" trope but I really hate how much /pol/ culture spread throughout 4chan. I think most of us who grew up on 4chan since '04 feel the same. The cancer of /pol/ and the rise of the 'alt-right' completely took over the culture of the site. It's sad, but I can't bring myself to visit even the SFW boards anymore.

I hope its easy to see that the rise of this "cancer" and the alt-right was a natural response to the rise of the extreme left throughout popular media and in society in general.

There is nothing wrong with moderate conservatism, but when one must keep their conservative views in the closet, and anything conservative (on Reddit, Twitter, or simply at work) is seen as an inferior view point rather than just a different view point, then you will see extreme conservatism concentrated somewhere (in this case, 4chan).

Re: A Study of 4chan’s Politically Incorrect Forum and Its Effects on the Web [pdf]

#30

Post by devmunchies »

vertex-four wrote: post #23
wand3r wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> x.com used to be better It did. Elon Musk owned it pre merger with confinity. X.com used to redirect to PayPal; still prob does. So x.com certainly used to be better...

Doesn't currently do anything.

Are they being literal about "x.com"? I thought they were just just saying .com
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