Imageboard

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An image board , also known colloquially as a chan , is a type of Internet forum where images and texts can be exchanged anonymously. The concept of imageboards originated in Japan, but has been around the world since the early 2000s. The world's most famous imageboard is 4chan .

History and dissemination

Example text board with two threads, anonymous posts and a post with a tripcode .

Imageboards are a direct further development of the text boards , simply programmed bulletin boards - Internet forums . They originated in Japan in the late 1990s and allowed anonymous postings for the first time . Since 2001, pictures could also be posted on the former text board Futaba Channel (2chan), making it one of the first image boards.

Since the Futaba software was and is freely available , further imageboards were subsequently created. This also includes 4chan , which the then fifteen-year-old Christopher Poole set up in 2003. 4chan was initially based on an English-language implementation of the Futaba software that Poole and a friend had made, which they called Futallaby .

Imageboads can be set up and operated relatively easily and cheaply. Many imageboards are therefore run by private individuals, only large chans are professionally organized.

Elements and features

Imageboards differ in some respects from conventional forums that are common in western culture. The range of functions of the imageboards varies, but the basic principles are the same on almost all chans.

Posts

Post authenticated with a tripcode on an imageboard

Posts typically consist of an image file and text , but they can also consist of just one of the two. On some imageboads, videos, embedded elements or multiple images can be posted at the same time instead of images. In addition, a post can sometimes be provided with links, options or a topic. Posts are numbered in ascending order by the software of the Imageboards, so individual posts can be referred to.

In principle, posts can be created without logging in or registering. Since there are no classic accounts on Imageboards , identity information must be repeated in every post. Most posts are written anonymously, but a name can usually also be given. Since the same name can be used by several people, posts can be authenticated with a so-called trip code . However, in some circles it is considered bad habit to use trip codes.

Threads

As usual with bulletin boards , there are threads or threads on imageboards in which the contributions or posts are displayed. A new post in a thread brings it to the top of the board, which is also known as bumping . Long threads eventually reach the set bump limit , so they can no longer be raised by new posts. The number of threads is typically limited on imageboards. If a thread sinks too low because no new posts are written or the bump limit has been reached, it will be irrevocably deleted with all posts.

Boards

Overview of the boards on the Spanish-language image board Hispachan , 2016.

An Imageboad website usually includes several sub-forums, the so-called boards. A board often has a fixed, general theme, such as music or origami . The names of the boards are often abbreviated to a few letters and, analogous to their URL, are given with slashes , e.g. B. / int / for an international, multilingual board. Boards can have their own rules and sometimes develop into communities of their own . Many chans have a board without a topic or rules, which is often called / b / based on 4chan .

software

Today there are many free implementations for imageboards, all of which go back to the Futaba software. These include Futallaby (development since 2003, now discontinued), Kusaba , Wakaba , and tinyboard (development since 2014), as well as further developments based on them. 4chan uses a proprietary software that Yotsuba is called.

Cultural aspects

Since the roots of Chan in the Otaku - subculture are, are manga and anime are still popular discussion topics. Imageboards are considered particularly unfriendly compared to other Internet forums. Provocations, trolls , cyberbullying , shock pictures, pornography , racism , sexism and political extremism are part of many chans and are usually not punished unless they violate the law. Due to the fact that the servers of many Imageboards are operated in the United States and there the 1st Amendment protects free speech, often only child pornography and, upon request, copyright infringements are deleted. At the same time, many memes have been created on imageboards or have become popular because of them.

Well-known boards

Futaba Channel

Futaba Channel ( Japanese ふ た ば ☆ ち ゃ ん ね る , Futaba Channeru , from futaba for "two sheets") is a well-known Japanese imageboard. It was set up as a fallback point by 2channel users when it was threatened with closure. It served as a template for many other image boards.

4chan

4chan (Japanese: Yotsuba , literally: "four leaves") is the best-known and largest English-language image board based on the Futaba Channel.

8chan or 8kun

8kun was founded as 8chan or Infinitychan. On the site, users could create their own boards, which is impossible on most other imageboads. After it became known in 2019 that the terrorists of the Christchurch , Poway and El Paso attacks had published their manifestos on 8chan, the site came into public focus and went offline . Since a relaunch in November 2019, the site has been called 8kun.

Krautchan

Krautchan was a German imageboard that was online from 2007 to 2018. The name is a reference to the English term herb . The board was best known for the rampage in Winnenden , when a fake announcement allegedly originating there, was spread unchecked in the media. It was also the origin of the Polandball comics. The anonymous users of the Internet platform addressed each other by the name "Bernd", and they consistently used incorrectly Germanized Anglicisms .

Boorus

A so-called booru (from Japanese ボ ー ル , bōru , again loan word from English board ) is a special type of image board that differs greatly from the typical chans based on the bulletin board system. Boorus has a non-linear structure, the contributions (mostly images or videos) can be tagged and rated jointly . As the oldest Imageboard after Booru system applies Danbooru .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ NDAU "jkid" Okeh: The Proto Channel and the First Channel - Ayashii World and amezou World - The Grandparents of the Western Imageboard Culture. March 11, 2011, accessed May 29, 2020 .
  2. ^ Nils Löber: In the Underworlds of Web 2.0: Ethnography of an Imageboard . Tübinger Vereinigung für Volkskunde eV, 2011, p. 28 ( handle.net [accessed May 29, 2020]).
  3. ↑ 2chan.net: ス ク リ プ ト ダ ウ ン ロ ー ド. Retrieved May 30, 2020 (Japanese).
  4. ^ Konrad Lischka, Christian Stöcker, Ole Reissmann: Anonymous-Ursuppe 4chan: The dark heart of the internet. In: Spiegel. March 26, 2012, accessed May 29, 2020 .
  5. ↑ a b 1chan.net: Futallaby image board script. Retrieved May 30, 2020 (English).
  6. ↑ a b Nils Löber: In the Underworlds of Web 2.0: Ethnography of an Imageboard . Tübinger Vereinigung für Volkskunde eV, 2011, p. 25th f . ( handle.net [accessed May 29, 2020]).
  7. ↑ For example, the TinyIB image board software , cf. Trevor Slocum: TinyIB: README. Retrieved May 30, 2020 (English).
  8. ↑ a b c Nils Löber: In the Underworlds of Web 2.0: Ethnography of an Imageboard . Tübinger Vereinigung für Volkskunde eV, 2011, p. 36 f . ( handle.net [accessed May 29, 2020]).
  9. ^ A b Andrés Monroy-Hernández, Drew Harry, Paul André, Katrina Panovich, Greg Vargas: 4chan and / b /: An Analysis of Anonymity and Ephemerality in a Large Online Community . July 11, 2011 (English, mit.edu [accessed May 30, 2020]).
  10. ↑ a b Nils Löber: In the Underworlds of Web 2.0: Ethnography of an Imageboard . Tübinger Vereinigung für Volkskunde eV, 2011, p. 32 f . ( handle.net [accessed May 29, 2020]).
  11. ^ Dag Ågren: Wakaba and Kareha. Retrieved May 30, 2020 (English).
  12. ↑ savetheinternet / Tinyboard. In: Github . May 17, 2020, accessed on May 30, 2020 .
  13. ↑ FAQ - 4chan. Retrieved June 2, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Josa Mania-Schlegel: "I regret having founded 8chan". In: Zeit Online. October 16, 2019, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Ignacio Martinez: 8chan is attempting to relaunch and rebrand — but it may already be doomed. In: Daily Dot. October 8, 2019, accessed May 30, 2020 (American English).
  16. ↑ Alyse Stanley: 8Chan Is Back and Calling Itself 8kun Now. In: Gizmodo. November 3, 2019, Retrieved May 30, 2020 (American English).
  17. ↑ Wulf Rohwedder: Counterfeiting couldn't be easier. March 13, 2009, accessed June 26, 2010 .
  18. ↑ Jan Stark: KrautChan.net is the hardly entertaining, provincial, German copy of 4Chan. In: Vice . March 31, 2014, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  19. ^ Brian C. Britt: Content Curation, Evaluation, and Refinement on a Nonlinearly Directed Imageboard: Lessons From Danbooru . In: Social Media + Society . tape 5 , no. October 4 , 2019, ISSN  2056-3051 , doi : 10.1177 / 2056305119880020 (English, sagepub.com [accessed May 30, 2020]).