An imageboard is a type of Internet forum that focuses on the posting of images, often alongside text and discussion. The first imageboards were created in Japan as an extension of the textboard concept. These sites later inspired the creation of a number of English-language imageboards.
Characteristics
Imageboards, similar to bulletin board systems, are used for discussions of a variety of topics. The primary focus of imageboards, however, is directed away from text posts, and is instead placed on picture posts. The two share many of the same structures, including separate forums for separate topics, as well as similar audiences. Imageboards are much more transitory with content—on some boards (especially highly trafficked ones), the thread deletion time can be as little as 10 minutes. In Japan, where imageboards are more common,[citation needed] topics will vary widely, ranging from trains to current news. The most popular English language imageboard, 4chan, similarly has a large variety of topics.
Imageboards are also different from online galleries in that most of the works posted are not made by the poster, but instead are taken from other online sources: galleries, other imageboards, and edited pictures.
Tripcodes
A diagram of a typical tripcode derivation process
Most imageboards and 2channel-style discussion boards allow (and encourage) anonymous posting and use a system of tripcodes instead of registration. A tripcode is the hashed result of a password that allows one's identity to be recognized without storing any data about users. Entering a particular password will let one "sign" one's posts with the tripcode generated from that password. Trying to take another user's tripcode and compute their password from it (for instance, to make posts that appear to come from a particular person) is somewhat computationally difficult. For those who want a custom tripcode, however, there are custom tripcode generators (which are technically tripcode crackers) available, such as Meriken's Tripcode Engine[1] and MTY_CL.[2] In general, anonymity is considered to be one of the advantages of an imageboard, and some boards have from time to time removed the ability to post with a name altogether (known as "forced anonymous/anonymity").
Secure tripcodes
Due to the fact tripcodes can be cracked given enough time, some imageboards, such as 4chan and 8chan, implement a "secure" tripcode.[3] Such tripcodes are not reproducible across different imageboards; they work by prepending a secure salt to the tripcode which, barring intrusion, is known only to the server owner.[3] They therefore function closer to a username than to a cryptographic signature; this is why QAnon could not verify themselves on another website when 8chan went down in late 2019.[4][5][6]
Dvach, Russian: двач, romanized: dvách[7] is a Russian imageboard that replaced the 2ch.ru imageboard (originally known as dvach), which was shut down earlier on January 17, 2009. It thoroughly copied the original layout, was heavily advertised over the internet, and managed to succeed the original one in popularity.[8] According to its owners, the number of posts left in the /b/ board exceeded 150 million.[9] In September 2016, a pro-Russian government organisation,[clarification needed]Mail.ru, helped to organize a "defense" against alleged DDOS attacks that took place during the same month. These events raised concerns and speculations among users, who grew suspicious of an alleged takeover committed by Mail.ru, and who criticized the owner's controversial decision to accept "help".[10][11] As of October 2018 It was widely believed that the imageboard was simply "sold" on undisclosed terms to a pro-government organization. The decision was met with a high criticism, due to the risks to disclosure of users' credentials from an inherently anonymous community, coming from a government body that could potentially violate these principles of anonymity, causing many to leave the board by the end of 2016. As of 2019, it remains one of the largest active Russian-speaking imageboards.[citation needed]
An English-language imageboard based on cannabis culture[12] which was created on 20 April 2005 by Aubrey Cottle. The name is a reference to the larger 4chan[13] and the code term 420 of the cannabis subculture. Its boards included various drug-specific boards,[12] as well as a board featuring a chatbot named Netjester.[14]
4chan was based on Futaba Channel (2chan.net), a Japanese image bulletin board which in turn had been established by users from 2channel (now 5channel).
4chan is an English-language imageboard based on the Japanese imageboard Futaba Channel. This imageboard is based primarily upon the posting of pictures (generally related to a wide variety of topics, from video games and popular culture to politics and sports) and their discussion. The Guardian describes it as "at once brilliant, ridiculous and alarming."[15]
8kun (formally 8chan, or Infinitechan) is a primarily English-language imageboard, although it has sub-boards dedicated to other languages. Just like 4chan, 8kun is based on posting pictures and discussion anonymously, but unlike 4chan, 8kun lets its users decide what they want to discuss by allowing any user to create their own board dedicated to any topic, a concept first made popular by news bulletin boards like Reddit. 8kun also claims to have a strong dedication to freedom of speech and allows all content—so long as the discussion and board creation abides by United States law.[24] However, local moderators enforce the rules of their own boards and may delete posts as they see fit. It is currently partnered with the Japanese textboard2channel.
Dogolachan
Psycl0n
Marcelo Valle Silveira Mello, also known by aliases such as Psycl0n, is a Brazilian individual who has been imprisoned for various offenses including hate crimes. He is known for his support of pedophilia and racism, and for sharing violent content. He founded Dogolachan as a space "for his particular brand of 'free speech.'"[25][26][27]
Endchan
Endchan is an English-language imageboard.[28] The perpetrator of the 2019 Baerum mosque shooting announced the attack on the website. The administrators claimed the thread was deleted immediately, and the site had its primary web domain taken offline following the attack.[29][30] The site has a message of "This is the End" displayed on it.[31][32] Endchan has a /pol/ board, which was described as "eclectic" in its topic of discussions compared to similar boards on other imageboards. This was described as partially due to its obscurity relative to similar imageboards.[33] It has been noted for its apocalyptic themes and far-right discussion of civilizational collapse.[31]
Futaba Channel (Japanese: ふたば☆ちゃんねる), known as 2chan for short, is an anonymous BBS and imageboard system based in Japan. Its boards usually do not distinguish between not safe for work and clean content, but there is a strict barrier between two-dimensional (drawn) and three-dimensional (computer graphics (CG) and photographic) pictures that is heavily enforced and debated.[34]
Hispachan
Hispachan was an anonymous imageboard launched in November 2012[35] and founded by Juanjo Escofet Carmona. Running on a slightly modified version of Kusaba X, it was a global imageboard for all Hispanophones. Vice Magazine described it as "a site for completely anonymous Spanish-language discussion that has proven popular among hackers since its launch in 2012."[36] In January 2017, a school shooting in Monterrey, Mexico was previously announced on Hispachan.[37] In a June 2019 article, Elena Rue of Vice Spain described various Hispachan threads as constituting "collaborative misogyny" for allowing the dissemination of intimate images of women without their permission and online harassment of those objecting to their photos being shared.[38] Despite online complaints by some women, the website is[as of?] legal and, according to the administrator, "collaborates with the authorities as required by law."[39] In May 2022, Hispachan officially announced its closure on Twitter; it was temporarily available for a few days until all of its content was permanently deleted.[40]
Indiachan
Indiachan was an anonymous Indian imageboard inspired by 4chan and 8chan. It was created in 2016 by a user named lungimoot or lungoot. The primary languages used were English and Hinglish.[41][42]
Karachan
Karachan is the largest Polish imageboard at 30 million posts,[when?] founded in 2010, after its predecessors founded in the period between 2005 and 2010 (Tentacle-chan, Eris-chan, Vichan and then Tapchan, respectively) had shut down. Karachan has received attention from the Polish media after many trolling actions targeting Polish politicians,[43] journalists[44][45][46] and the Pope John Paul II.[47][48][49][50] As of July 2019, the site consists of a (Polish-language) faux page claiming the site is "blocked" due to "invalid content". However, a manual is known to exist, informing how to enter the actual forum and browse its contents.[51][non-primary source needed] Its name comes from the Polish word karaczan, which means cockroach, an insect that is used as Karachan's logo.
Krautchan
Krautchan was a mainly German-language imageboard, founded in 2007.[52][53] The name is an allusion to the ethnophaulismKraut for Germans. Unlike most imageboards, postings on Krautchan were not published under the generic name "Anonymous"; the German name "Bernd" was used instead, and the Krautchan community identified themselves as "Bernds" instead of "Anons". In 2009, after the Winnenden school shooting, the interior minister of Baden-Württemberg cited a post on the imageboard in a press conference that appeared to forewarn of the shooting, but was later found to be fake.[54][55][56] Like most imageboards, it had /a/, /b/, /jp/, /x/ and /tv/ boards; it ran on the Desuchan board software.[57] The site also featured a popular English-language board, /int/, which was also the origin of the Polandballinternet phenomenon and a number of other popular memes such as Wojak in August the same year. On March 21, 2018, the imageboard was shut down. Two days later, the imageboard kohlchan was founded as a replacement.
Soyjak.party
Soyjak.party is an imageboard website primarily dedicated to the creation and posting of soyjak images. The website was created in 2020 as a joke by pseudonymous 4chan user Soot. They later stated in a blog post that they "intended the forum to be a joke" and "didn't expect it to become such a popular gathering place".[58]
Wizardchan
Wizardchan was an imageboard primarily dedicated to male culture and topics including anime, hobbies, and depression. Users on the depression board often discussed suicide or self-harm, and a controversy emerged in the board's community about whether to refer users to suicide prevention hotlines.[59]
^Roose, Kevin (2021-01-17). "What Is QAnon, the Viral Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theory?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2020-09-22. Retrieved 2021-01-21. Each of these sites uses a system of identity verification known as a 'tripcode'—essentially, a username that proves that a series of anonymous posts were written by the same person or people.
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