hello,

I have been diving into these anonymous boards and stuff. I wanted to know if anyone use it for any actual purposes like for getting some tech knowledge or something?

  • _NoName_@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    7 months ago

    I know that the chans were used for orchestrating some of the various harrassment campaigns that have happened throughout the years, including most of the gamergate BS. They’re such chaotic spaces I can’t imagine trying to pull off any prolonged actions on them, and the automatic pseudonymity really brings out the seediest people possible.

  • datavoid@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    7 months ago

    Back in like 2009-2011.

    Pretty sure it did lasting psychological damage, would not recommend 🙂

  • twinnie@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    7 months ago

    I used it around the time of Epic Fail Guy and barrel rolls. It was fun for a while but I eventually realised that it was the same jokes and content going around again and again. Then someone posted a spoiler for Bioshock and I was done with it.

    As for tech answers it’s probably about as reliable as an AI. I wouldn’t expect people to generally lie to you but there would be the occasional bit of bullshit from some troll from /b/. I’m sure you’ll get abuse if people think you’re being stupid, probably worse than a Linux forum.

  • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    No, I never went down that rabbit hole, which is interesting in hindsight. I went straight from old-school forums and chatrooms (where I’m sure I was very obviously a child) to Reddit.

    By the time I was hearing about it it was just “that Nazi pedo incel site”.

  • BigPotato@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    7 months ago

    Back in the day, when it was light-hearted things like Habbo Hotel raids, Triforcing, and secretly hiding CP in the images you upload so that other people help proliferate CSAM.

    If you can’t tell by that last part, I don’t go there anymore. /b/ was never good and all that.

    Every now and then, I check it out though. I’m obviously old and certainly not anyone’s personal army so I look at a page or two of porn and gore and shrug, click out, and let time march onward.

  • snownyte@kbin.melroy.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    7 months ago

    No I don’t. I just know that it is the source where if you ruffle the wrong feathers, which is hard to gauge because anyone can decide to be an asshole at a given. Then you’re just going to be in for a miserable time. 4Chan has built up it’s reputation throughout the 2000s and into the 2010s, as a place where people are rabidly mischievous and utilize what anonymity they have to drive anyone insane if they think someone ran afoul with them.

    4Chan was really what gave birth to places like Encyclopedia Dramatica, their ranks have long infected Reddit and they once used to have been behind the whole Anonymous movement.

    Not a crowd to fuck with. Just imagine messing with the cool kid in school and suddenly during recess you’re encircled by their 20 friends and they just have a field day with you in however they see fit.

  • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    7 months ago

    Any time I’ve ventured into 4chan, it’s mainly been for the lulz. I never gained any knowledge that could be called “useful” from the experience.

    IDK, it doesn’t seem like a worthwhile way to spend your time, especially if you’re looking to gain something from it.

    I mean, if you’re bored and just want to get some cheap laughs or something, I guess it’s useful, but actual factual information? Not so much.

    • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      7 months ago

      Yeah, I enjoy the 4chan highlights. Some of them really know how to entertain. But those communities have like a couple posts per day out of probably a higher volume of posts than Lemmy sees on its entire network.

      Just like Reddit or here. The memorable threads are rare, you’ll go through hundreds of average ones for each one that gets adopted into the lore.

  • feoh@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    7 months ago

    I won’t moralize because that never stopped anyone from doing anything, ever :)

    What I will say is, with the vastness of the internet available to me, I would not personally choose to sift through the reams of malice and hate to find the useful grains that no doubt exist, buried.

    Plenty of other permissive fora where even somewhat radical ideas can be expressed but without the embrace of genocide, Neo-Nazism and rape.

  • Sheldan@mander.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    7 months ago

    I went on a few boards. /wg/ and /po/ is interesting. (Do not put an l there’s that’s a mistake) /g/ was interesting at times. I visit it a lot less these days, but I still check /wg/ for wallpapers.