Google Hires 4chan Founder Chris Poole

[Fanghawk]

Google Hires 4chan Founder Chris Poole

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1293/1293466.jpgChris Poole, founder and former owner of 4chan, has announced he will be starting a new position with tech giant Google.

Depending on who you ask, 4chan is either <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120597-Gabe-Newell-Chats-About-Source-2-With-4chan>the most fascinating thing on the internet, or <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107078-4chan-Member-Gets-Jail-Time-For-Sending-Dirty-Pics-To-School>an online equivalent of Star Wars' Mos Eisley. Whatever the case, it's ridiculously popular, gathering millions of unique views every single month. That's something which made the tech giant Google sit up, take notice, and offer a job to 4chan founder Chris Poole.

"Today I'm excited to announce that I've joined Google," Poole wrote in a blog post. "When meeting with current and former Googlers, I continually find myself drawn to their intelligence, passion, and enthusiasm - as well as a universal desire to share it with others. I'm also impressed by Google's commitment to enabling these same talented people to tackle some of the world's most interesting and important problems.

"I can't wait to contribute my own experience from a dozen years of building online communities, and to begin the next chapter of my career at such an incredible company."

Poole first launched 4chan as an anime fan community message board way back in 2003. Since 4chan allows every user to post anonymously without registering an account, it quickly became a haven for anyone sharing unfiltered opinions and content online. 4chan has become notoriously controversial in the years since - while the site encourages free speech, it's also allowed for racist posts, death threats, and distribution of child pornography. And that's not even getting into <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/anonymous>4chan's history with internet activist group Anonymous, which has been equal parts hilarious and disturbing.

What's clear is Poole's time with the site has made him an undeniable expert on the nuances of social media - something Google would be foolish not to capitalize on. Poole hasn't revealed his role with the company, but considering <a href=https://twitter.com/elatable/status/706921780422660096>Google's Bradley Horowitz confirmed the news, it will likely involve Google+ and the company's social strategy.

Source: Variety

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[SlumlordThanatos]

What's clear is Poole's time with the site has made him an undeniable expert on the nuances of social media - something Google would be foolish not to capitalize on. Poole hasn't revealed his role with the company, but considering <a href=https://twitter.com/elatable/status/706921780422660096>Google's Bradley Horowitz confirmed the news, it will likely involve Google+ and the company's social strategy.

I'm really not sure about this hire, especially when you look at how badly he handled the Great Gaming Idiocy on 4chan last year.

He made the fatal mistake in taking sides in the whole Gamergate affair, and it ultimately drove him away from the website that he founded. If he truly knew anything about how social media worked, he would've kept his head down and let the whole affair blow over without taking any kind of action.

But he was goaded and/or blackmailed into taking action against Gamergaters, and the rest is history.

Even if you don't take his abysmal handling of the Great Gaming Idiocy into account, I'm not certain what this adds to the company. Google+ is still a joke, and people aren't going to forget it anytime soon. Maybe he's being brought on to help fix some of Youtube's many, many problems, but I'm not certain how Poole can help with those.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

Aw. Look at lil' Moot.

He couldn't make it as a legit entrepreneur, so now he's finally found a place in the warm, fleshy folds of Google's malignant embrace.

Congrats, man. You deserve it.

 

[Karadalis]

So google hires the guy who singlehandedly is responsible for the internets most famous shitstain website... wich he didnt so much create then simply host the website for...

Only to then backstab his creation and abandon the monster he had helped creating for quick money...

The reason 4chan took off like it did was because he did jack shit with it and mostly didnt got involved at all... and if he got involved it was to stir up shit and troll people.

How is he going to benefit google again? Especialy now that he has subscribed to social justice?

Whatever googles smoking.. it must be some good shit. This guy couldnt lead an army of ants to a picknic basket... let alone actually help creating new communities or even moderate one.

 

[marioandsonic]

Depending on who you ask, 4chan is either <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120597-Gabe-Newell-Chats-About-Source-2-With-4chan>the most fascinating thing on the internet, or <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107078-4chan-Member-Gets-Jail-Time-For-Sending-Dirty-Pics-To-School>an online equivalent of Star Wars' Mos Eisley.

Can't it be both?

In all seriousness, good luck to him. Not entirely sure what his new job will be, though.

 

[jklinders]

I was hoping for some kind of news that the Android OS logo would be switching to Trollface. I am disappoint. Maybe that will be a down the line change?

Like others here, I'm pretty uncertain what Google hopes to gain from this hire.

*shrugs*

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Well google has a revolving door policy with our more corrupt, career advancing politicians who make tax deals with them, so this is hardly a breath on the surface of their goings on. It pays a hell of a lot to secure a job in the upper echelons of google.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

I have to admit I thought this was a 4chan style joke post - you post a picture of Moot on 4chan and ask "who is this?" you'll get a dozen different answers like 'the founder of 9gag' - for at least a solid minute. Then I remembered 'Moot' is not his real goddamn name.

What's clear is Poole's time with the site has made him an undeniable expert on the nuances of social media - something Google would be foolish not to capitalize on. Poole hasn't revealed his role with the company, but considering <a href=https://twitter.com/elatable/status/706921780422660096>Google's Bradley Horowitz confirmed the news, it will likely involve Google+ and the company's social strategy.

I'm really not sure about this hire, especially when you look at how badly he handled the Great Gaming Idiocy on 4chan last year.

He made the fatal mistake in taking sides in the whole Gamergate affair, and it ultimately drove him away from the website that he founded. If he truly knew anything about how social media worked, he would've kept his head down and let the whole affair blow over without taking any kind of action.

But he was goaded and/or blackmailed into taking action against Gamergaters, and the rest is history.

Even if you don't take his abysmal handling of the Great Gaming Idiocy into account, I'm not certain what this adds to the company. Google+ is still a joke, and people aren't going to forget it anytime soon. Maybe he's being brought on to help fix some of Youtube's many, many problems, but I'm not certain how Poole can help with those.

I feel like it was less Gamergate that drove him away from 4chan than it was 'The Fappening', when all those stars started having their nudes posted. This opened him up to a LOT of litigation or threats of litigation, and is probably what spurred him into looking for a way out. Gamergate and the litigation threats that came with THAT was just the shit icing on the poop cake.

I'm happy for Moot, he's not a bad person. He troll's /a/ (naruto is best korean picture cartoon) and doesn't scared of anything. Except lawsuits.

4chan was just a huge cost and no return on him so he got out when he could. I'm just curious what Hiroshima has in store for the site.

 

[09philj]

Google will be inducted into the ancient art of not giving a damn...

 

[FalloutJack]

I have a bad feeling about this. One of them is most assuredly doomed. Now, the big question is...will it be him or google?

 

[EHKOS]

...he's gonna fuck with Autocomplete on the first isn't he?

Well, looks like I was wrong again, I figured after selling 4chin he'd fade into obscurity. Now I want to see a picture of him and the Google CEO with shoes on their heads.

 

[Mikeybb]

Funnily enough, Mos Eisely was one of my favorite places in Star Wars.
Iconic, unique, wonderful, fantastical but scummy and even occasionally a little bit scary and creepy.
As such, I agree with the description.

I always pictured moot's relationship with 4chan as that of a man who volunteered for a unique job, one of a kind job.
Unfortunately that job turned out to be getting glued onto the back of a rampaging hippo, facing backwards.

Because of this horrible mistake he only has a number of actions available to him:

He can scream and panic, adding to the chaos and provoking more rage from the angry, angry hippo.

He can stay still and quiet while it shakes and throws him around, disrupting whatever else it is he tries to do.

He could, if he wanted, join in the chaos a bit but he can't see what's ahead and that's not helping anyone, especially him.

Because he's facing backwards, he can never see what the hippo is going to do, but he can sure see the shit its left in its wake.

He can try to keep his head down when the hippo starts to muckspread, but no matter what happens he's getting some of that shit on him.

Finally, he can wait for it to all be over and when the hippo is asleep try to sneak away.

If the last one ever works, no matter what, people will always remember him as the guy who came through town on his hippo.
The cloying stench of glue and hippo dung will never come out of his clothes.

In some ways, I feel sorry for Moot.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

Aw. Look at lil' Moot.

He couldn't make it as a legit entrepreneur, so now he's finally found a place in the warm, fleshy folds of Google's malignant embrace.

Congrats, man. You deserve it.

At 15, he founded and ran a website that went from a knockoff Japanese cartoon discussion forum to one of the most (in)famous places on the internet, and steered it through numerous crises for more than a decade, including legal challenges from national governments. He received $4 million in seed money to run a side project, and he's noted for speaking at conferences about the Internet, social media, and technology in general around the world. You can say a lot of things about him, but he's definitely not a failure.

 

[TwoSidesOneCoin]

Whoa, whoa, literally who?

 

[Kyogissun]

Eat shit moot. You threw everyone on 4chan under the bus and now you're gonna run and hide in google. You're the fucking cancer that killed the site by submitting to outsiders who TO THIS DAY still don't understand and know the culture of the boards, that is how to behave, lurk, go with the flow and learn the lingo. Now the only ones who remain are those who proceed to charge in and shit all over it because it doesn't suit them or their personal views.

You deserve nothing for being another fucking shitheel who cut and run the moment things got too hairy. Enjoy google, I hope whatever department you've been brought into crashes and burns harder than 4chan.

 

[Josh123914]

Here's hoping this employment venture won't end like last time, i.e. the entire userbase laughing him out of any respectability by trying to cover up how his girlfriend cucked him.

It probably won't go down like that this time, but I was the sort of person to bet in 2014 that Luis Suarez would bite somebody again, so eh.

 

[chadachada123]

4chan has become notoriously controversial in the years since - while the site encourages free speech, it's also allowed for racist posts, death threats, and distribution of child pornography.

I take a bit of an issue with the wording of this. 4chan has always had a very strict "no illegal content" policy, and while CP was semi-frequently posted on /b/, it would always be removed within minutes by the mods and the posters permabanned. Really, for the amount of posts that site had, the moderation team has always been extremely efficient at removing illegal shit. (I could get snarky and say "well, until they started banning unpopular opinions too," but I'll refrain. Wait. Whoops).

"Hosted" would be a far more accurate word than "allowed," as illegal content has never been allowed (even if it existed for short periods of time).

Anyway, even though moot is a traitor and yada yada, now that he's no longer tied to 4chan, I can only wish him well in his future endeavors. I'm really interested in what the hell Google is thinking, though.

 

[andrewHayes]

4chan has become notoriously controversial in the years since - while the site encourages free speech, it's also allowed for racist posts, death threats, and distribution of child pornography.

I take a bit of an issue with the wording of this. 4chan has always had a very strict "no illegal content" policy, and while CP was semi-frequently posted on /b/, it would always be removed within minutes by the mods. Really, for the amount of posts that site had, the moderation team has always been extremely efficient at removing illegal shit. (I could get snarky and say "well, until they started banning unpopular opinions too," but I'll refrain. Wait. Whoops).

"Hosted" would be a far more accurate word than "allowed," as illegal content has never been allowed (even if it existed for short periods of time).

Anyway, even though moot is a traitor and yada yada, now that he's no longer tied to 4chan, I can only wish him well in his future endeavors. I'm really interested in what the hell Google is thinking, though.

Thank you for clarifying this, I hate seeing that misconception.

Liberals should just man up and accept that there are *gasp* conservative forums instead of retreating into their hugboxes because they can't handle opposing viewpoints.

But anyways, on this matter, moot just has to catch up with properly representing 4chan's userbase. *shots fired*

 

[weirdee]

Presumably, they need help taking their working online service and then running it thoroughly into the ground, and since that's not happening fast enough, they decided to hire the foremost expert in the subject.

 

[Qizx]

4chan has become notoriously controversial in the years since - while the site encourages free speech, it's also allowed for racist posts, death threats, and distribution of child pornography.

I take a bit of an issue with the wording of this. 4chan has always had a very strict "no illegal content" policy, and while CP was semi-frequently posted on /b/, it would always be removed within minutes by the mods. Really, for the amount of posts that site had, the moderation team has always been extremely efficient at removing illegal shit. (I could get snarky and say "well, until they started banning unpopular opinions too," but I'll refrain. Wait. Whoops).

"Hosted" would be a far more accurate word than "allowed," as illegal content has never been allowed (even if it existed for short periods of time).

Anyway, even though moot is a traitor and yada yada, now that he's no longer tied to 4chan, I can only wish him well in his future endeavors. I'm really interested in what the hell Google is thinking, though.

Thank you for clarifying this, I hate seeing that misconception.

Liberals should just man up and accept that there are *gasp* conservative forums instead of retreating into their hugboxes because they can't handle opposing viewpoints.

But anyways, on this matter, moot just has to catch up with properly representing 4chan's userbase. *shots fired*

This has literally nothing to do with liberals and conservatives.... You do realize that right? 4chint isn't conservative it's troll, unless you honestly think all the people spamming "hitler did nothing wrong" and "Stupid N@@@rs" are being serious. Which to be honest, I'm sure a number of them are but mostly I hope it's people just being stupid.

OT: Yeah m00t was an interesting creature, I am disappointed how he fell so far from being a paragon of free speech even with people saying the stupid stuff like I mentioned above. I don't agree with a lot of stupid shit people say but damn it they have the right to say it.