4chan

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4chan
Homepage on May 3, 2023
Type of site
Imageboard
Available inEnglish
OwnerHiroyuki Nishimura
Created byChristopher Poole
URL
CommercialYes
RegistrationNone available (except for staff)
LaunchedOctober 1, 2003; 20 years ago (2003-10-01)[1]

4chan is an English language website based on the Japanese Futaba Channel where people can post and discuss pictures and other images. Sites such as these are called imageboards. It was started in 2003 by "moot" also known as Christopher Poole, who was 15 years old at the time. On the website, users post pictures and discuss them. When the site started, it was for discussing anime and manga, but now many other topics are discussed.[2] One of the boards on the site, called "/b/", is dedicated to random topics and is often mentioned in media.[3] Several Internet memes have started at 4chan, including lolcats and rickrolling.[4][5] People have associated it with the alt-right, Neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers, as well as those part of the Red-Brown coalition, due to there being sections devoted to them.

References[change | change source]

  1. moot (October 1, 2003). "Welcome". 4chan. Retrieved August 2, 2008.
  2. Lev Grossman (September 9, 2008). "The Master of Memes". TIME. Archived from the original on 2008-07-24. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
  3. Nick Douglas (January 18, 2008). "What The Hell Are 4chan, ED, Something Awful, And "b"?". Gawker.com. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
  4. Jamin Brophy-Warren (September 9, 2008). "Modest Web Site Is Behind a Bevy of Memes". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
  5. David Sarno (2008-05-25). "Web Scout exclusive! Rick Astley, king of the 'Rickroll,' talks about his song's second coming". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 8, 2008.

Other websites[change | change source]