Comment by bentlegen
1 day ago
It stopped being relevant because its content became acceptable on major social networks, beginning in late 2022.
1 day ago
It stopped being relevant because its content became acceptable on major social networks, beginning in late 2022.
Major social networks aren't even remotely close to being in the same niche. There are no algorithms, no friction with accounts, no obtrusive interfaces or feature bloat, no likes, no post ratings, content is completely ephemeral. This is a common and fundamental misunderstanding I see people make when trying to understand why 4chan exists. The people who post on 4chan aren't doing it because they can't help but post edgy content, they're doing it because its web 1.0 approach to social media completely erases a whole load of annoyances and anti-patterns that are endemic in the modern web.
Just like Usenet, it will probably never die despite the antisocial controversies. Or at least in the case of 4chan, it will be replaced with another board-type system. As Twitch streamers are the contemporary version of AM radio, 4chan is the contemporary version of BBSes. You should be extremely skeptical of the idea that you could ever compete in the same space with a heavily commercialized product like a modern social network. Twitter is not a replacement, it never will be.
Most people in websites like HN have absolutely no idea what 4chan is, how it works, and what kind of things people post in there. It shows because every time you read a comment here about 4chan you are confused as to what website they may be talking about.
Twitter is really not far from 4chan in 2025.
6 replies →
Actually 4chan does have accounts, otherwise you get extremely nasty captchas.
Anyways, image boards are ephemeral because the devs were incompetent and cheap, it wasn't some genius design, or design at all.
the emergent behavior from ephemeral posting has become a feature by this point. and while it does technically have accounts, they don't at all work like a normal social media account. they aren't published, and using the "this is for sure me" tripcode feature is socially frowned upon.
there's more boards than just /b/
What content in particular?
The stuff that Free Speech Absolutists like to say on twitter, judging by the date they included.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquisition_of_Twitter_by_Elon...
Amd by free speech absolitists we usually mean nazi supporters. Who care great deal about spreading their ideas
They just happen to care equally lot about punishing and shutting up whoever is not on their side.
1 reply →
racism
4chan is to Twitter what Reddit is to Hacker News.