I've wondered for a long time what 4chan vs the government would look like. They're unbelievably creative and resourceful (see http://www.urlesque.com/2010/11/18/hot-topic-rage-guy-shirt-... for a good recent example). I figured they wouldn't go straight up against it, protesting in the street and writing emotional op-eds. They tried this once, with Scientology, and it didn't seem to get them anywhere. They're best at playing mind games and finding the most ironic ways possible to win, exploiting what they're given -- in this case, controversial domain seizure.
Good news doesn't travel nearly as far or as fast as bad news on the internet; some of us will read this post, assuming it turns out to be true, but not nearly as many and we won't react nearly as strongly as we did to the "WTF THE DHS IS SEIZING DOMAINS NOW" posts.
GWB was a pretty disastrous presidency, but it didn't usually threaten to impact the internets' daily lives as much as some things now are. The internet is beginning to get mad at the government, and the trolls are heading to Washington. 4chan is the internet's immune system.
I disagree, though, because it's more subtle than that. I mean yeah if they started threatening people or stuff they'd get shut down pretty fast, but they're master trolls and aren't that stupid. I actually think remarkably few of them would get partyvanned -- and that as the vanning ratio increased, it would be totally counterproductive for the authorities and only serve to inflame things further.
They aren't master trolls by any stretch of the imagination. The race guy/rage guy tactic was creative, probably the most creative thing I've seen them pull off in a while. It worked for 2 days, before hot topic figured it out.
If this was a hoax, the government would simply say, "no, that wasn't us. We're looking into it." That would be the end of it.
"“ICE office of Homeland Security Investigations executed court-ordered seizure warrants against a number of domain names,” said Cori W. Bassett, a spokeswoman for ICE"
I think they seized some domains, but not necessarily the ones this article is talking about. If this is a hoax, it works particularly well, as ICE does't seem to have confirmed which domains it has seized.
I am very curious of 4Chan's "Anonymous" userbase.
Most community structures have identifiable leaderships of some kind yet 4Chan has no usernames and no way of communicating provenance of a given user -- either in terms of reflecting reputation or simply being able to accurately know that two posts in a thread were by the same person/the OP/etc.
Hoaxes and stunts like this (if this is true) are either truly, truly remarkable or the work of a closer sub-set of folks who are in more private inter-communication away from 4Chan for the purposes of coordination but represent themselves to be part of the massive 4Chan community, perhaps for plausible deniability more than anything. It also makes wonderful fodder for the media to make even more of a FUD story out of.
Given that most of 4Chan does seem to be bored teenagers posting pornography, penis jokes and occasionally child pornography I'm inclined to believe it is the latter.
I've always viewed 4Chan as a remarkable study in how quickly (and easily) mobs can form. They do, for the most part, coordinate in relative anonimity. The typical 'operation' involves someone thinking up a nefarious scheme and posting it. The mob then kicks into gear and executes it. All it really takes is a single post and something to rally the groupthink of the mob around.
The recent bit with the rage-face T-Shirt where they convinced whoever was making it that it wasn't rage-face, but rather a racist meme. It was triggered by a single post and was incredibly effective (and creative actually).
Nothing is ever organized on /b/. It's organized on RSC, 711chan, 888chan before r3x archived it, or, most commonly, on IRC/tinychat/whatever. /i/nsurgents view /b/ with derision, and /b/ is only ever brought into the mix if numbers are needed, usually for a DDoS or forum raid. Partyvan.info and insurgen.cc used to be fairly active raid wikis, but insurgen.cc went down shortly before 888 was archived, and partyvan doesn't look to be too current anymore.
You just can't get anything done on /b/. At all.
edit: Actually, it looks like insurgen.cc is back up.
Actually, there is such a concept as usernames on 4chan. I forget what they call them, but using a special syntax in the username field that includes a password of your choosing, the resulting post will look slightly different and have a hash next to your username that will always be the same for all of your posts. Of course, it's completely optional and most users opt for anonymity.
> It works like this: In the name field, type a name, followed by #, followed by a password (or phrase, whatever). Then send a message as usual. You'll then see your name, followed by said 'gook. You should then promptly close your browser and GTFO the internets for wanting recognition on an anonymous message board.
They've been allowed and disallowed on /b/ at various points in time.
Even is this is a hoax, it serves well to keep vigilant when dealing with something important as freedom of speech and censorship. Luckily the online community hadn't fallen asleep yet.
Good news doesn't travel nearly as far or as fast as bad news on the internet; some of us will read this post, assuming it turns out to be true, but not nearly as many and we won't react nearly as strongly as we did to the "WTF THE DHS IS SEIZING DOMAINS NOW" posts.
GWB was a pretty disastrous presidency, but it didn't usually threaten to impact the internets' daily lives as much as some things now are. The internet is beginning to get mad at the government, and the trolls are heading to Washington. 4chan is the internet's immune system.