Hey 4chan? Can we talk briefly?

[DrWut]

For all we know the people who sent death threats did it on their own. Or maybe they organized via Facebook? Perhaps we should get Zuckerberg in the party van. There is 0 proof there was anything organized from 4chan. People go to 4chan, don't like that people is saying stuff they don't like and they decide it's guilty of whatever is happening on the internet these days.

Again. This is a case of people in one board wanting to apply their standards to every other board in the net. It's ridiculous.

 

[ForumSafari]

(BIG FREAKING NOTE: please try not to be offended. At this point I'm using humour to cling to sanity. And really, I think 4chan can afford to laugh at itself)

Me: Hey 4chan, how you doing? How's Gamergate these days?

(at this point, please imagine this: http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/034/4/1/hydra__dipsy_demo__by_sandara-d74271p.jpg
standing in for 4chan)

4chan: WE ARE LEGION/NAKED PICTURES OF EMMA WATSON/OH NO NOT THIS AGAIN/GAMES JOURNALISM/FAGFAGFAG

Me: Yeah. . .about that. So, I saw an article on the business insider this morning, and well, I don't think it paints you in a very good light. Dare I say it, it makes you look like deplorable douches. Now I understand that not all the heads speak for each other, in-fact that as a community there is a wide range of both good and bad people (like most communities) but do you think you could deal with that head that keeps being such a sexist asshole all the time? I'll just post the link down here:

http://www.businessinsider.com/4chan-hackers-threatening-to-post-naked-photographs-of-emma-watson-2014-9

Hey dakkagor

Wasn't us, lrn2whois

4chan

EDIT: looks like you updated the OP and mentioned it in other replies. That'll teach me to heave a reply half posted.

 

[Battenberg]

STFU SJW SHE WON'T SCREW YOU FOR IT

Brilliant. Simply brilliant.

Seriously though I think the damage is done as far as 4Chan's reputation goes. Reddit too for that matter. They are the embodiment of the phrase "this is why we can't have nice things".

 

[Thorn14]

STFU SJW SHE WON'T SCREW YOU FOR IT

Brilliant. Simply brilliant.

Seriously though I think the damage is done as far as 4Chan's reputation goes. Reddit too for that matter. They are the embodiment of the phrase "this is why we can't have nice things".

Not once has 4chan ever gave a shit about its "reputation" from outsiders. In fact, they like it being a bad rep because it makes less "normalfags" wander in.

 

[Battenberg]

STFU SJW SHE WON'T SCREW YOU FOR IT

Brilliant. Simply brilliant.

Seriously though I think the damage is done as far as 4Chan's reputation goes. Reddit too for that matter. They are the embodiment of the phrase "this is why we can't have nice things".

Not once has 4chan ever gave a shit about its "reputation" from outsiders. In fact, they like it being a bad rep because it makes less "normalfags" wander in.

Which is kind of my point. They may not care about their reputation but if the world in general views them as a bunch of angry, prejudiced nerds who lock themselves away to spread hateful messages on the internet then that is the sort of person they'll attract. In my experience angry people don't get on well with anyone but other angry people REALLY rile them up. Eventually the people on 4chan who enjoyed the anarchic state the site is constantly in but aren't comfortable with personally attacking people will be forced out or become targets themselves.

 

[Thorn14]

STFU SJW SHE WON'T SCREW YOU FOR IT

Brilliant. Simply brilliant.

Seriously though I think the damage is done as far as 4Chan's reputation goes. Reddit too for that matter. They are the embodiment of the phrase "this is why we can't have nice things".

Not once has 4chan ever gave a shit about its "reputation" from outsiders. In fact, they like it being a bad rep because it makes less "normalfags" wander in.

Which is kind of my point. They may not care about their reputation but if the world in general views them as a bunch of angry, prejudiced nerds who lock themselves away to spread hateful messages on the internet then that is the sort of person they'll attract. In my experience angry people don't get on well with anyone but other angry people REALLY rile them up. Eventually the people on 4chan who enjoyed the anarchic state the site is constantly in but aren't comfortable with personally attacking people will be forced out or become targets themselves.

You'd be surprised. I've met plenty of cool people on 4chan, mostly on the smaller or lesser known boards, but /vg/ as well.

I've gotten a great guild in Star Trek Online thanks to /vg/ I would not have gotten anywhere else.

 

[Don Incognito]

Not once has 4chan ever gave a shit about its "reputation" from outsiders. In fact, they like it being a bad rep because it makes less "normalfags" wander in.

Isn't that kind of indicative of the problem?

 

[Battenberg]

You'd be surprised. I've met plenty of cool people on 4chan, mostly on the smaller or lesser known boards, but /vg/ as well.

I've gotten a great guild in Star Trek Online thanks to /vg/ I would not have gotten anywhere else.

My point wasn't that ALL of 4chan is bad, it was that it's reputation will attract bad people which will likely lead to those cool people being forced out or just having to go elsewhere. Maybe they'll find somewhere else as "anything goes" as 4chan and start again (although that runs the risk of the cycle starting over) or maybe people like that will just end up becoming massively disillusioned with internet forums in which case everyone's losing out.

 

[Thorn14]

Not once has 4chan ever gave a shit about its "reputation" from outsiders. In fact, they like it being a bad rep because it makes less "normalfags" wander in.

Isn't that kind of indicative of the problem?

4chan uses that word for every person. Good or bad. A person might go and say "Yeah I'm a drawfag on 4chan" and mean absolutely zero offense. Its just part of the culture. Don't like it, don't go.

You'd be surprised. I've met plenty of cool people on 4chan, mostly on the smaller or lesser known boards, but /vg/ as well.

I've gotten a great guild in Star Trek Online thanks to /vg/ I would not have gotten anywhere else.

My point wasn't that ALL of 4chan is bad, it was that it's reputation will attract bad people which will likely lead to those cool people being forced out or just having to go elsewhere. Maybe they'll find somewhere else as "anything goes" as 4chan and start again (although that runs the risk of the cycle starting over) or maybe people like that will just end up becoming massively disillusioned with internet forums in which case everyone's losing out.

Which is why 4chan would rather be left alone above everything else. Anon at 4chan hate it when it gets attention because it gets a bunch of people who need to lurk moar.

 

[Don Incognito]

Not once has 4chan ever gave a shit about its "reputation" from outsiders. In fact, they like it being a bad rep because it makes less "normalfags" wander in.

Isn't that kind of indicative of the problem?

4chan uses that word for every person. Good or bad. A person might go and say "Yeah I'm a drawfag on 4chan" and mean absolutely zero offense. Its just part of the culture. Don't like it, don't go.

Okay, I won't. But, as I said, that is indicative of the problem 4chan has with the culture at-large.

 

[Frission]

Not once has 4chan ever gave a shit about its "reputation" from outsiders. In fact, they like it being a bad rep because it makes less "normalfags" wander in.

Isn't that kind of indicative of the problem?

4chan uses that word for every person. Good or bad. A person might go and say "Yeah I'm a drawfag on 4chan" and mean absolutely zero offense. Its just part of the culture. Don't like it, don't go.

Okay, I won't. But, as I said, that is indicative of the problem 4chan has with the culture at-large.

4chan actually has a pretty good diverse amount of boards and depending on the board you visit there's completely different cultures, almost like changing a site (They also have a pretty wide variety of attendees).

Frankly out of most of the sites I visited, they have the most diversity of thought and hobbies(which is a type of diversity which should be more cherished). The content can vary on quality and sometimes you get stuff from the level of storm front (which is pretty bad, don't get me wrong anonymity can let human beings act in a terrible manner), but sometimes you get something well made, original and interesting far beyond the pseudo art sites I've visited. The fact that people don't have to constantly defend their past posts means that there's sometimes less line drawing and less obsession on appearance. That has it's downsides, but on the other hand there are less people who are obsessed with social stature, like in facebook, tumblr, twitter and other sites with similar features for "following" or "liking".

I didn't stay for long, but it is or at least it was an interesting concept for a site. It can be very crass such as the way everyone is referred to as a fag, but at this point on you're called a fagfag if you're a homosexual. It's almost just a qualifier for everyone, so it's more of a question of taste. The way sites any site is generalized is pretty sad. It's going back to the roots of tribalism.

And that's the end for my first rambling nonsensical lesson on Internet Anthropology 101. Maybe I should visit Twitter, Tumblr, Something Awful or any of these forums and see the kind of users each site breeds.

 

[QuicklyAcross]

I like how you adress it as a hivemind and a monothil despite it not being either of the two.
It just adds to the ironic humour i guess when the uhm..."arguments" being "adressed" are the smallest and of course most offensive strawman shouting which represent the vocal minority of the entire debate.

I suppose adressing the legitimate critique and debate that reasonable people want to have about these topics are not worthy to try and discredit because i guess theyre just too damn valid.

 

[EpicMike7]

4chan: WE ARE LEGION/NAKED PICTURES OF EMMA WATSON/OH NO NOT THIS AGAIN/GAMES JOURNALISM/FAGFAGFAG

Me: Yeah. . .about that. So, I saw an article on the business insider this morning, and well, I don't think it paints you in a very good light. Dare I say it, it makes you look like deplorable douches. Now I understand that not all the heads speak for each other, in-fact that as a community there is a wide range of both good and bad people (like most communities) but do you think you could deal with that head that keeps being such a sexist asshole all the time? I'll just post the link down here:

Two can play at this game:

Dakkagor: GRRRR 4CHAN! WHY YOU HATING THE WOMENZ!? LEAVE EMMA WATSON ALONE!!

4chan: Actually, the Emma Watson nude leaks were revealed to be hoax. 4chan had nothing to do with them. In fact, the whole purpose of the hoax was an attempt to frame 4chan by militant feminists and to start a movement calling for the site to be banned in yet another example of SJW moral arbiters deciding what is best for the public. In doing so, showing a complete disregard for Emma Watson, 4chan users or anyone who thinks using deception and lies to push an agenda is inherently wrong.
Something similar happened with GamerGate when codes for Super Smash Brothers were being awarded to people who made fabricated tweets attacking anti-GG personalities on twitter in order to apparently expose the "true nature" of Gamergate supporters, once again the truth was discarded in order to forward a biased narrative.

Note: I don't visit or have any particular love for 4chan but I'm sympathetic when ignorant people like Dakkagor feel the need to attack them without the slightest clue what they're talking about.

 

[Something Amyss]

In fact, the whole purpose of the hoax was an attempt to frame 4chan by militant feminists and to start a movement calling for the site to be banned in yet another example of SJW moral arbiters deciding what is best for the public.

Except, you know, that was fake, too. The group supposedly responsible wasn't, you know...real.

So, when you complain about ignorant people, is it really the ignorance you have issue with?

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

Dear Escapist -
Maybe you should stop going to the "containment boards" like /b/ and /v/ or the hotbed that is /pol/. I'm sure if I decided to go trudging through the Religion and Politics forums here I'd find some pretty eye-raising stuff too, even with the whole profile system in place here. Or hell, I can just go over to to that 300+ page thread right here in the Off-topic section. And how long did those "Quinnspiracy" and Sarkessian threads last both in Gaming and Off-topic? Of course, I have the sensibility not to trot out those as legitimate examples of the mindset of the entirety of the Escapist Userbase (not to mention that even then this thread and me making a similar one directed to the Escapist wouldn't be the same due to how anonymity affects how people act on 4chan's various boards). Most of us on any of the other boards don't tend to give 2 shits about Gamergate so how about you take the straw back to the barn. People are more likely to take you seriously when you aren't trying to act like beating up a scarecrow is a sign of how smart you are.

Sincerely
A fa/tg/uy who stopped caring about this whole mess several weeks ago