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I don't get it.

 

Please someone enlighten me on.

-WTF it is.

-How you use it.

-What it's purpose is.

 

All I hear about is /b/ all the time and I've been on it and just feel like a 3-year old in a shopping mall who lost his mummy.

 

Ta.

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It's just an anonymous message board, where I think the only limits are C.P

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It's essentially the most notoriously hated community on the internet.

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All I hear about is /b/ all the time and I've been on it and just feel like a 3-year old in a shopping mall who lost his mummy.

 

Ta.

 

The users are the type of people who frequent shopping malls hoping to encounter a 3 year-old astray of their mummy.

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The users are the type of people who frequent shopping malls hoping to encounter a 3 year-old astray of their mummy.

 

So the general message is stay away?

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Stay out of any of the 18+ boards. There can be some pretty good threads elsewhere though, but just know that someone will always come along to disagree and insult you.

 

But it's ok because they are anonymous, and so are you.

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4chan, and more specifically the board /b/, is humanity's ID. Only rule is to not post CP, everything else is open to the imagination and creativity of a mainly male adolescent population of users which are collectively known as Anonymous. 4chan also has several other boards with many different topics of interest, from videogames to cooking, and most of them are more work safe than /b/ (but not totally).

 

Topics are arranged vertically by order of most recent post, just like any other board, but in 4chan they also show you the last 5 posts in each thread, and each post can be accompanied by a single image (click them to see full size). If you wish to view a thread in its entirety click the Reply button.

 

It has absolutely no use. However, sometimes something beautiful can emerge from the chaos and many internet memes are attributed to the collective mentality of 4chan. But mostly it's entertaining for its discussions full of trolling.

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Its one of the largest online communities on the Internet, and anonymity is one of its biggest features. You don't need to sign up, you just post, and so while you do end up with a lot of crap, you also end up with people being able to speak freely. It started out mainly as a website for discussing japanese culture, but since then, its evolved into a site for discussing almost everything. You have one board called /b/, which is essentially anything goes, except anything illegal (child pornography, ect.). While you do get the occasional bit of illegal content, its usually removed quickly, like it is on any message board. Its not a haven for Pedophiles to freely distribute child pornography. Anyone who says it is is misinformed. I don't really recommend /b/ that much though, as it has the highest percentage of crap on the website. You're going too see lots of what the site's users call "cancer" there, which means content of generally poor quality, that doesn't really belong on the site. There are tons of other boards on the site though, such as /v/ (video games), /k/ (weapons, mostly guns), /new/ (news), /r9k/ (its supposed to be for original content, but its turned into a bunch of people complaining about women), /adv/ (advice), ect. There are also multiple pornography boards, most of them focused on hentai. I think you get the idea at this point.

 

Terms you should understand before going there:

 

Moot - The site's founder.

Meme - An ongoing joke.

OC - Original Content

neck beard - A stereotype for a socially awkward male.

Combo - When people attempt to line up images in multiple posts to make a large image.

OP - Original poster (Thread creator).

An Hero - To commit suicide.

Fap - Wank

Newfag - A new user.

Oldfag - someone who's bee around the site since its early days.

Cumdumpster/Femanon - A female. The first one is negative, the other is neutral.

Anon - Someone who posts anonymously.

404 - Threads disappear if they're not posted in for a while. 404 is used to describe this. It can also refer to a mod deleting a thread, usually when CP has been posted in it.

Troll - someone who attempts to elicit a negative reaction from someone for their own amusement.

 

Some advice:

 

If you start a thread, you will most likely be called a faggot by someone.

People use lots of racial slurs on certain boards. They're not necisarily racist, they just like using the terms. You should probably just get over it if you want to use the site.

Don't start making posts right away. Lurk for a while and study the behaviour of other posters to get an idea for what the boards are like.

Don't follow any advice /b/ gives you. Just don't. Best case scenario you'll render your computer unusable, worst case scenario, you'll kill yourself.

Don't take anyone seriously on /b/

If you are disgusted by something, ignore it, don't call it out.

If you want to remain in a thread after you make a post, type "noko" in the email field. Otherwise you will return to the board index.

If you want to post without bumping a thread, type "sage" in the email field.

"fag" is used as a suffix to indicate the first part of the word is describing the person. For instance, someone who is a virgin might be called a virginfag. the suffix does not indicate the word is being used as an insult.

Don't post the same stuff over and over again, or post things that people post all the time.

If you're under the age of 18, don't tell anyone.

4chan is NOT a social networking site.

If you have an iOS device, get the app called anonyma, as you can't upload images (and therefore can't start threads) with mobile safari.

Don't bookmark threads. They're not going to be there when you get back.

 

Remember this:

 

A generous man gives a man a fish.

A wise man teaches a man how to fish.

/b/ teaches a man how to fish wrong and then laughs at him when he can't do it.

/k/ tells the man his perfectly good fishing rod isn't the right kind.

/d/ jacks off to the fish.

/r9k/ complains that they can't catch anything.

 

Anonymous:

 

Anonymous is an "organization" that has formed over the years mostly on 4chan, but they aren't limited to it. They take many actions, some good and some bad.

 

Anonymous is not formally organized. There is no leader or structure to it. You can't be a member of anonymous. You are considered part of anonymous when you take action anonymously with other people who are anonymous.

 

Anonymous as a whole is not responsible for any action taken under its name. Only the individuals who take that action are responsible.

 

Anonymous is known for its attack on a cult called Scientology. Anons DDoSed their website, and public protests against Scientology were held all around the world. They're also known for their protests against the censorship of the internet in Australia. These were some of the biggest actions taken by anonymous, but there were many others.

 

Symbols of Anonymous include the Guy Fawkes Mask, which was worn during the Scientology protests to protect anon's identities from the scientologists who have been known to attack those who criticize them. Another symbol is a picture of suit. They are also known for their motto:

 

We Are Anonymous

We Are Legion

We Do Not Forgive

We Do Not Forget

Expect Us

 

 

All in all, 4chan isn't for everyone. If you're into it, it can be a good place to kill time, but if you're not into it, you're just not into it. Its a good place to go for a laugh or two, and sometimes to find an interesting conversation, but only if you understand (and aren't offended by) the humour there, and only if you find the right place to talk about what you want to talk about. Its somewhat of an acquired taste though, so if you don't quite understand it at first, you probably will within a week of using it.

 

TL;DR: Go there are lurk for a few weeks before posting. Avoid /b/ if you don't like trolls.

Edited by Emasher

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Emasher, that is certainly the best summary of 4chan I've ever seen.

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Indeed, I can see this thread getting a high rank on Google's index. Hopefully I don't have any relevant personal info posted.

 

Just a few addedums to Emasher's post:

  • /v/ is the videogames board.
     
  • Although the definition of meme given by Emasher suffices in this context, the complete definition is a lot more interesting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme.
     
  • ITT means "In This Thread".
     
  • TL;DR: means "Too Long; Didn't Read:" and is usually followed by a much shorter summary of the post.
     
  • Anonymous originally didn't have this association with a nebulous anarchic entity, and was merely a joke that assumed every post on 4chan was by a user that went by the name Anonymous (since almost every post in 4chan is anonymous). This character was visually represented by a green silhouette of a man, dressed with a suit and a "no picture available" text across the face. Not at all that serious version of "We are Anonymous. We are legion" people think of nowadays.

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About /v/

 

It's basically /b/ the second coming. No one on /v/ plays video games.

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4chan is most famous for /b/ which is essentially the asshole of the internet, but it's also where a vast majority of internet trends and events start. Don't even try to make sense of it

 

Also, someone mentioned /b/ is for paedophiles, but actually there are sites that splintered off from 4chan that are far far worse. Yeah, /b/ has a bunch of sick shit at any given time, but it's often for shock value

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Also, someone mentioned /b/ is for paedophiles, but actually there are sites that splintered off from 4chan that are far far worse. Yeah, /b/ has a bunch of sick shit at any given time, but it's often for shock value

 

I honestly don't know why everyone thinks 4chan is for Pedophiles. The ones who don't watch Fox News anyway.

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If someone under 18 views a pornographic image of someone aged under 18, are they a paedophile? I'm pretty sure 4chan is vastly populated by 13-18 males.

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If someone under 18 views a pornographic image... the illegality of it begins there :heh:

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Who is at fault, the person or the parents? I know no-one who didn't look at / watch porn before they were 18.

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The laws about watching porn when you're underage are more to keep people from selling kids porn and then the parents complaining. Nobody's going to arrest a 16 year old for watching porn, seeing as just about every male watches porn from the age of 12 or so.

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I'd assume that it's not illegal at any age to watch porn, more that it is illegal to supply porn to a minor.

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4chan, Mos Eisley of the Internet. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

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I'd assume that it's not illegal at any age to watch porn, more that it is illegal to supply porn to a minor.

 

It depends on the country actually.

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If someone under 18 views a pornographic image of someone aged under 18, are they a paedophile? I'm pretty sure 4chan is vastly populated by 13-18 males.

It's not who views it that makes the image illegal. Its the image in the first place.

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It's not who views it that makes the image illegal. Its the image in the first place.

 

Again, it depends on the country. In many countries, an example being the United States, its illegal for a minor to view pornography.

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I'll browse 4chan from time to time, usualy i'm in /gif/ but i'll take a look around /b/ if I feel I can stomach it.

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