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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.
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.
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").
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 strong 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 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]
The site and its userbase have received attention from the media for a number of reasons, including attacks against Hal Turner on his Internet shows, [16] distributed denial-of-service attacks against eBaum's World, [17] [18] taking part in Project Chanology, [19] and multiple cases of anti-animal abuse reports. [20] Many Internet memes have originated there, including lolcats, [21] [22] [23] rickrolling, and Pedobear.
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 textboard 2channel.
Endchan is an English-language imageboard. [25] 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. [26] [27] The site has a message of "This is the End" displayed on it. [28] [29] 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. [30] It has been noted for its apocalyptic themes and far-right discussion of civilizational collapse. [28]
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. [31]
Hispachan was an anonymous imageboard launched in November 2012 [32] 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." [33] In January 2017, a school shooting in Monterrey, Mexico was previously announced on Hispachan. [34] 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. [35] 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." [36] 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. [37]
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. [38] [39]
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, [40] journalists [41] [42] [43] and the Pope John Paul II. [44] [45] [46] [47] 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. [48] [ 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 was a mainly German-language imageboard, founded in 2007. [49] [50] The name is an allusion to the ethnophaulism Kraut 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. [51] [52] [53] Like most imageboards, it had /a/, /b/, /jp/, /x/ and /tv/ boards; it ran on the Desuchan board software. [54] The site also featured a popular English-language board, /int/, which was also the origin of the Polandball internet 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 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, who 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". [55]
The site has been linked to the 2025 Antioch High School shooting, with the Anti-Defamation League describing it as a "far-right reactionary imageboard filled with crude racist and antisemitic humor". [56]
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. [57]
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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2channel, also known as 2ch, Channel 2, and sometimes retrospectively as 2ch.net, was an anonymous Japanese textboard founded in 1999 by Hiroyuki Nishimura. Described in 2007 as "Japan's most popular online community", the site had a level of influence comparable to that of traditional mass media such as television, radio, and magazines. At the time, the site drew an annual revenue of around ¥100 million, and was the largest of its kind in the world, with around ten million visitors and 2.5 million posts made per day.
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporarily archived. Also, depending on the access level of a user or the forum set-up, a posted message might need to be approved by a moderator before it becomes publicly visible.
Dvach, also known as 2ch, is the largest Russian anonymous imageboard. Dvach is a successor to an older Russian imageboard with the same name that was launched back in 2006 but shut down three years later in 2009. As of 2024 the imageboard can be accessed via 2ch.hk. It's owned and run by Russian-born azerbaijani Nariman Namazov, nicknamed Abu.
An anonymous post, is an entry on a textboard, anonymous bulletin board system, or other discussion forums like Internet forum, without a screen name or more commonly by using a non-identifiable pseudonym. Some online forums such as Slashdot do not allow such posts, requiring users to be registered either under their real name or utilizing a pseudonym. Others like JuicyCampus, AutoAdmit, 2channel, and other Futaba-based imageboards thrive on anonymity. Users of 4chan, in particular, interact in an anonymous and ephemeral environment that facilitates rapid generation of new trends.
4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from video games and television to literature, cooking, weapons, music, history, technology, anime, physical fitness, politics, and sports, among others. Registration is not available, except for staff, and users typically post anonymously. As of 2022, 4chan receives more than 22 million unique monthly visitors, of whom approximately half are from the United States.
Futaba Channel, or Futaba for short, also sometimes called 2chan, is a Japanese imageboard. Users of the website can upload pictures and discuss a wide variety of topics, from daily personal problems to sports, ramen, otaku and underground culture.
Pedobear is an Internet meme that became popular through the imageboard 4chan. As the name suggests, it is portrayed as a pedophilic cartoon bear. It is a concept used to mock child sex offenders or people who have any sexual interest in children or "jailbait". The bear image has been likened to bait used to lure children or as a mascot for pedophiles.
Canvas Networks was a website centered on sharing and remixing media, particularly images. The website was established by the founder of 4chan, Christopher Poole. It closed in 2014.
A textboard is a simple kind of Internet forum; most textboards require neither registration nor entry of a screen name. Textboards, like imageboards, were invented in Japan, but they remain relatively unknown outside it, in contrast to imageboards.
8kun, previously called 8chan, Infinitechan or Infinitychan, is an imageboard website composed of user-created message boards. An owner moderates each board, with minimal interaction from site administration. The site has been linked to white supremacism, neo-Nazism, the alt-right, racism and antisemitism, hate crimes, and multiple mass shootings. The site has been known to host child pornography; as a result, it was filtered out from Google Search in 2015. Several of the site's boards played an active role in the Gamergate harassment campaign, encouraging Gamergate affiliates to frequent 8chan after 4chan banned the topic. 8chan is the origin and main center of activity of the discredited QAnon conspiracy theory.
Fredrick Robert Brennan is an American software developer and type designer who founded the imageboard website 8chan in 2013, before going on to repudiate it in 2019. Following 8chan's surge in popularity in 2014, largely due to many Gamergate proponents migrating to the site from 4chan, Brennan moved to the Philippines to work for Jim Watkins, who provided hosting services to 8chan and later became the site's owner.
/pol/, short for Politically Incorrect, is an anonymous political discussion imageboard on 4chan. As of 2022, it is the most active board on the site. It has had a substantial impact on Internet culture. It has acted as a platform for far-right extremism; the board is notable for its widespread racist, white supremacist, antisemitic, Islamophobic, misogynist, and anti-LGBT content. /pol/ has been linked to various acts of real-world extremist violence. It has been described as one of the "[centers] of 4chan mobilization", a title also ascribed to /b/.
Ylilauta is a Finnish imageboard. It was founded on February 20, 2011, to unite the two former most popular Finnish imageboards, Kotilauta and Lauta.net. Ylilauta is one of the most popular websites in Finland, and on the Finnish-speaking Internet. In 2011 "Ylilauta" was the fourth most searched word on Google in Finland.
Epik is an American domain registrar and web hosting company known for providing services to alt-tech websites that host far-right, neo-Nazi, and other extremist materials. It has been described as a "safehaven for the extreme right" because of its willingness to provide services to far-right websites that have been denied service by other Internet service providers.
/b/, also called random, is an anonymous imageboard on 4chan. It was the first board created during the establishment of the platform in 2003, and it then stood for "anime/random". While /b/ permits discussion and posting of any sort of content, the community etiquette is to self-limit discussion on /b/ of those topics that are specialties or the focus of other boards on 4chan. /b/ is one of the most popular imageboards on 4chan, next to /pol/. Due to its popularity and notoriety, it overshadows the website with a bad reputation. The Washington Post described /b/ as "an unfathomable grab-bag of the random, the gross and the downright bizarre".
James Arthur Watkins is an American businessman, QAnon conspiracy theorist, and the operator of the imageboard website 8chan/8kun and textboard website 5channel. Watkins founded the company N.T. Technology in the 1990s to support a Japanese pornography website he created while he was enlisted in the United States Army. After leaving the Army to focus on the company, Watkins moved to the Philippines. In February 2014, Watkins became the operator of 2channel after he seized it from its creator and original owner, Hiroyuki Nishimura, later renaming it 5channel. He began providing domain and hosting services to 8chan later that year and became the site's official owner and operator by year's end.
Ronald Watkins, also known by his online pseudonym CodeMonkeyZ, is an American conspiracy theorist and site administrator of the imageboard website 8kun. He has played a major role in spreading the discredited far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, and has espoused conspiracy theories that widespread election fraud led to Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. He is the son of Jim Watkins, the owner and operator of 8kun.
Q: Into the Storm is an American documentary television miniseries directed and produced by Cullen Hoback. It explores the QAnon conspiracy theory and the people involved with it. It consisted of six episodes and premiered on HBO on March 21, 2021. The series received mixed reviews, with some critics praising its insight into the conspiracy theory, and others finding it to be overlong and lacking in analysis of the impacts of QAnon. Some reviewers have criticized the series for not following best practices outlined by extremism researchers for reporting on extremism and conspiracy theories.
Aubrey Cottle, also known as Kirtaner or Kirt, is a Canadian website forum administrator who claims to be an early member of the hacktivist group Anonymous. Cottle was involved with Anonymous during the late 2000s and in its resurgence beginning in 2020, in which the group attempted to combat the far-right conspiracy movement QAnon.
/mu/ is the music board on 4chan, an English-language imageboard. Created in 2006, the board is dedicated to the discussion of music artists, albums, genres, and instruments.
