History Main / Imageboards

The best-known imageboard in the U.S. is probably Website/FourChan, created in 2003 to serve as an English-language version of Futaba Channel. Especially among [[OccidentalOtaku American]] {{otaku}},[[note]]Or [[ComicStrip/ThePerryBibleFellowship "weeaboos"]], as they're sometimes known, although it's a much more negative term[[/note]] it's quite popular for the [[MemeticMutation huge numbers of memes it generates]] and, due to [[InternetJerk anonymous users and loose moderation]], its extremely variable quality as well as its [[ANaziByAnyOtherName questionable political stances]]. For these reasons, one could see imageboards to be the antithesis of social networking sites such as Website/{{Twitter}} and Website/{{Facebook}}.

* The also-aforementioned '''Website/FourChan''' is the biggest English-language imageboard, surpassing even Futaba Channel (2chan)in traffic. It hosts boards dedicated to just about every generalized subject you can think of, and a few specialized subjects as well. In particular, it's home to the self-proclaimed "final boss of the Internet", the Random Bullshit board, ''a.k.a.'' [[https://boards.4chan.org/b/ /b/]], which is the starting point for about half the memes listed on MemeticMutation and its subpages. /b/ is also the progenitor of the "Anonymous" movement, where the group's anonymous users dabble in hacktivism (quite a feat given the board's decentralized nature). Humorously enough, 4chan was created by a bunch of regulars from Website/SomethingAwful's anime subforum, a fact best left unmentioned on both sides. Naturally, it's produced a lot of spinoffs, such as:

* '''[[https://soyjak.party/ soyjak.party]]''' is intended for 4chan users who want to spam soyjaks (caricatures of people which are usually DeliberatelyMonochrome, have beards, glasses, and lack hair) without getting blocked by janitors. Many threads start with soyquoting (putting a soyjak next to a greentext quote supposedly said by them). Due to the nature of 'jakking (it's almost as universal as Rule34), most of the users are EqualOpportunityOffender types. Many of the users came from the now defunct /qa/ board on Website/FourChan after it got shut down.

* "'''[[http://bbw-chan.nl/ bbw-chan]]''', home to the [[BigBeautifulMan big]] and [[BigBeautifulWoman beautiful]]." Also, they've [[{{Hermaphrodite}} got]] [[AmazonianBeauty other]] [[BuxomBeautyStandard kinks]] as [[BalloonBelly well]], thankfully, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick on separate subforums]].

* '''[[http://www.420chan.org 420chan,]]''' created as a result of one of 4chan's longer downtimes, is specifically geared toward drug users. Several boards are dedicated to different types of controlled substances, and its most visited board is /weed/. However, the site does not allow anybody to directly buy or sell drugs on the site itself. It also has several boards not related to drugs, included the site's ''second'' most visited board, /wooo/, which is one of the best-known ProfessionalWrestling imageboards on the Intenet; Website/WrestleCrap considers them its ArchEnemy and forbids its own users from mentioning them.

* '''[[https://sidson.city/sidson/ Sidson City]]''' is a board created by Creator/VinluvHandesbukia, which is dedicated to the Sidson soyjak (inspired by a frame of SID 6.7's face from ''Film/{{Virtuosity}}''), ''Film/SonOfTheMask'', trains and other topics related to Vinluv.

* '''[[http://www.shrekchan.org Shrekchan]]''' is a strange and somewhat active board with a focus on all things [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Shrek]]. Mostly full of Shrek-themed images and NSFW greentext stories with a... unique version of chanspeak. Yes, it's ironic. Probably.

* '''[[https://soyjak.party/ soyjak.party]]''' is intended for 4chan users who wants to spam soyjaks (caricatures of people which are usually DeliberatelyMonochrome, have beards, glasses, and lack hair) without getting blocked by janitors. Many threads start with soyquoting (putting a soyjak next to a greentext quote supposedly said by them). Due to the nature of 'jakking (it's almost as universal as Rule34), most of the users are EqualOpportunityOffender types. Many of the users came from the now defunct /qa/ board on Website/FourChan after it got shut down.

* "'''[[http://bbw-chan.nl/ bbw-chan]]''', home to the [[BigBeautifulMan big]] and [[BigBeautifulWoman beautiful]]." Also, they've [[{{Hermaphrodite}} got]] [[AmazonianBeauty other]] [[BuxomIsBetter kinks]] as [[BalloonBelly well]], thankfully, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick on separate subforums]].

The imageboard as it's usually thought of today began in Japan. '''Futaba Channel''', a spin-off of the popular text-based discussion board ''2channel''[[note]]Officially pronounced "ni channel", and shortened to "ni chan" (2ch) by the Japanese, but most English netizens are comfortable with just calling it "two channel"[[/note]] (2ch) made when the latter was in danger of being shut down, is probably the best-known. Imageboards that take after Futaba Channel are sometimes described by the blanket term "wakaba style", ''wakaba'' referring to the software the board uses. These imageboards traditionally allow anonymous posting and have a self-enforcing theme and standard that hopefully keeps it from collapsing.

The imageboard as it's usually thought of today began in Japan. '''Futaba Channel''', a spin-off of the popular text-based discussion board ''2channel''[[note]][[NoPronunciationGuide Officially pronounced "ni channel"]], and shortened to "ni chan" (2ch) by the Japanese, but most English netizens are comfortable with just calling it "two channel"[[/note]] (2ch) made when the latter was in danger of being shut down, is probably the best-known. Imageboards that take after Futaba Channel are sometimes described by the blanket term "wakaba style", ''wakaba'' referring to the software the board uses. These imageboards traditionally allow anonymous posting and have a self-enforcing theme and standard that hopefully keeps it from collapsing.

* '''[[https://anon.cafe/ anon.cafe]]''' is a fairly small website and more laid-back than the others. The website generally speaking more SFW than others (one of it's most popular boards is the UsefulNotes/{{Christian|ity}} one), but there are some NSFW parts of the site.

* '''[[https://8kun.top 8kun]]''', previously known as 8chan or Infinitechan/Infinitychan, made by Fredrick "Hotwheels" Brennan (so nicknamed because he uses a wheelchair due to brittle-bone disease), was the Internet's second most popular English-language imageboard after 4chan. Gaining traction in 2014 from users who [[https://www.256kilobytes.com/content/show/4319/biography-of-christopher-moot-poole-the-hacker-known-as-4chan disagreed with 4chan's decision to ban discussion of Gamergate]]. It allowed anyone to make their own board and host it on the site, similar to Website/{{Reddit}}'s subreddits. The site had no global rules other than prohibiting content that would get the site shut down (and even that isn't very strongly enforced), and users were not allowed to moderate more than one board at a time (except for a small group that enforced the global rule). The rules for porn on the main boards (/v/, /a/, /pol/, ''etc.'') were nearly nonexistent; it's ''technically'' supposed to be spoilered, and some of it is, but much of it is not. In 2019, the original domain was shut down after multiple terrorist attacks were linked to the site. Obviously, {{NSFW}}. Not to be confused with 888chan.

* The aforementioned '''[[http://www.2chan.net/ Futaba Channel]]''' is the UrExample. It's based in Japan, but it's so famous worldwide that you're not allowed to post there (or its text-only progenitor 2ch) if you're outside Japan, as a means to prevent crapflooding and [=DDoSing=]. And even if you could, it's not likely you'll want to; it's [[UpToEleven much more chaotic, vitriolic]], somehow better organized, and ''far'' less tolerant of newbies than even 4chan. Most boards have frequent discussion, images, and ASCII art that are totally unrelated to their purpose, and spam is basically omnipresent. It has a lot more boards than 4chan, allowing it to churn out memes, trolling, and gifs at an even faster rate. And it's also got boards that its Western counterparts might shut down; it still maintains guro boards, and it's got an entire board dedicated to racism against Koreans.

* '''[[https://soyjak.party/ soyjak.party]]''' is intended for 4chan users who wants to spam soyjaks (caricatures of people which are usually DeliberatelyMonochrome, have beards, glasses, and lack hair) without getting blocked by janitors. Many threads start with soyquoting (putting a soyjak next to a greentext quote supposedly said by them). Due to the nature of 'jakking (it's almost as universal as Rule34), most of the users are EqualOpportunityOffender types.

* '''Bienvenido à Internet''' ("Welcome to the Internet") is both an imageboard and a textboard for all Spanish-speaking people that, in its own words, tries to stay away from the disaster that is *chan culture and social media, trying to be more like 2ch/Futaba Channel. It was born in early 2010, spun off from Chilean imageboard 6-chan. It has an explicit rule that you can be banned for any post with spelling errors.

* '''789chan''' was an imageboard with a focus on technology, whose most famous board is /cwc/, which is entirely about ''Webcomic/{{Sonichu}}'' and its creator Christian Chandler. Despite the title, though, very few threads were about Chris, and it generally discusses other people on the Internet the users don't like. It was shut down in November 2012.

* '''[[http://nuclear-ib.com/ Nuclear-IB,]]''' more commonly known as NIB, is a slow-moving but steady imageboard made by Asylum. Its rules are fairly straightforward and basically amount to not doing anything that could get the site shut down. Most of the boards are NSFW, and even nominally work-safe boards can be NSFW because the banners might feature NSFW boards. One unique feature is that instead of identifying users' countries by flags (or countryballs), they use "country nukes" -- your country's flag laid over an image of a nuclear bomb.

* '''[[http://www.desuchan.net Desuchan]]''' is designed to accommodate a [[Manga/RozenMaiden single]] [[MemeticMutation meme]] that had become too big and obnoxious for other imageboards, [[VerbalTic ~desu]]. It's worksafe! It even has its fair share of spinoffs, mostly as backups during downtimes.

The best-known imageboard in the U.S. is probably Website/FourChan, created in 2003 to serve as an English-language version of Futaba Channel. Especially among [[OccidentalOtaku American]] {{otaku}},[[note]]Or [[ComicStrip/ThePerryBibleFellowship "weeaboos"]], as they're sometimes known, although it's a much more negative term[[/note]] it's quite popular for the [[MemeticMutation huge numbers of memes it generates]] and, due to [[{{GIFT}} anonymous users and loose moderation]], its extremely variable quality as well as its [[ANaziByAnyOtherName questionable political stances]]. For these reasons, one could see imageboards to be the antithesis of social networking sites such as Website/{{Twitter}} and Website/{{Facebook}}.

* '''[[http://krautchan.net Krautchan]]''' is the main German imageboard. Its humour consists mainly of intentionally bad and literal translations of English memes and imageboard slang (beweis mich falsch, fappieren). It became famous in the wake of the Winneden school shooting, after the media fell for an extremely obvious fake post announcing it (a photoshop of a real but completely unrelated post).

* "'''[[http://bbw-chan.net/ bbw-chan]]''', home to the [[BigBeautifulMan big]] and [[BigBeautifulWoman beautiful]]." Also, they've [[{{Hermaphrodite}} got]] [[AmazonianBeauty other]] [[BuxomIsBetter kinks]] as [[BalloonBelly well]], thankfully, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick on separate subforums]].

* '''[[http://www.touhou-project.com Touhou Project]]''' is the main ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' imageboard, done in the style of a [[{{Gamebooks}} Choose Your Own Adventure]] fanfic. It tries to maintain a fairly high standard of quality. It was spun off from 4chan's /jp/ board, which started to get festooned with ''Touhou'' [=CYOAs=]. It ranges from cute, fluffy adventures to grimdark [[RonTheDeathEater stories about Touhous abusing each other]]. It took over from Pooshlmer, which was for many years the definitive (mostly) worksafe ''Touhou'' imageboard before it died in 2016; it was particularly hostile to Western fanart.

* The aforementioned '''[[http://www.2chan.net/ Futaba Channel]]''' is the UrExample. It's based in Japan, but it's so famous worldwide that you're not allowed to post there (or its text-only progenitor 2ch) if you're outside Japan, as a means to prevent crapflooding and [=DDoSing=]. And even if you could, it's not likely you'll want to; it's [[UpToEleven much more chaotic, vitriolic]], somehow better organized, and ''far'' less [[SuffersNewbiesPoorly tolerant of newbies]] than even 4chan. Most boards have frequent discussion, images, and ASCII art that are totally unrelated to their purpose, and spam is basically omnipresent. It has a lot more boards than 4chan, allowing it to churn out memes, trolling, and gifs at an even faster rate. And it's also got boards that its Western counterparts might shut down; it still maintains guro boards, and it's got an entire board dedicated to racism against Koreans.