So, taking a look at the popularity of 2ch and how significant it is within Japanese internet culture, what exactly are the cultural/social differences that make 2ch so popular and 4-ch so dead (relatively)? Although one could claim it was Densha Otoko that really brought 2ch into the mainstream attention, the fact of the matter is that it was nearly ubiquitous previous to Densha.
Furthermore, what can be done to make 4-ch more popular? I would love to see the board become as strong as 2ch, and although that may not be possible, it would be nice to see a community develop.
>>311
Well I'm too lazy to make an account if you have an account you should get it started. Can't rely on other people.
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/4-ch
I started it. It's only a stub, though. I hope it doesn't get deleted.
What?
Do you mean?
http://4-ch.net/general/kareha.pl/1183529142/l50
This is one reason why...
You better remove the "pitiful small population" part. ;)
4chan is just a copy of Futaba Channel of Japan. Futaba Channel is a kind of copy version of 2chan but it mainly focused on almost illegal and naughty part of 2chan.
2chan has more varieties,such as politics, science, cooking, news, education, sociology, social science, physics, and all kinds of topics. Japanese 2chan and 4chan is completely different at this point.
2chan is actually less graphic and primitive,but some of old 2channelers are kind of proud of their "otaku" history on 2chan starting such a forum community in early stage in Japan. And they were more argumentative, even intelligent, and critical.(not only hentai stuffs...)People sometimes enjoy their cynicism.
And I think 4chan is not cool. Futaba channel is not cool.
2channel was cool actually. 4chan is just famous for bunch of porn.
2chan fills a cultural void for the Japanese that doesn't really exist in the West, hence 4chan doesn't need to fill it for us.
4ch is good small. or else we end up like 4chan
あげる
Not everybody here can relate to that, some people might be from Singapore, mexico etc.
If any of you go to a Japanese language class, you could invite them here, they'll surely enjoy it, unless they're faggots.
This site is a bit confusing to navigate for the average person.
it must look rather dull to the average imageboard user
>>327
Which is good, because it keeps the average imageboard users away.
4chan became popular because it had a huge potential userbase of sick fuckers on SA's FYAD to draw from.
4-ch (or 4channel, whatever) started from much more humble beginnings and isn't advertised anywhere. 4chan's reputation kept people interested in discussion from joining anything they viewed as remotely connected to it, so 4ch isn't growing as fast.
SA became popular because it was one of the first internet forums period and actually produced some decent content.
> SA became popular because it was one of the first internet forums period
lol. so wrong
> Early web-based forums date back as far as 1996.
> Something Awful ... was created by Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka in 1999 as a largely personal website,
there were hundreds (if not thousands) of forums on the web by 1998.
because all the users suck.
4-ch is not popular because everyone is too busy lurking on /b/ at 4-chan.org to care.
As one who rarely ever comes by here, I've got to say the topics of discussion are always the same generic (popular) ones you could get anywhere else. There isn't anyone talking about things that fit my niche interest.
>my niche interest.
Which is??
>>337
But that's the point. Discussing things you could discuss elsewhere, but with the advantages of an anonymous board. The goal isn't to be yet-another-niche board.
Hell, if you think about it, you can't be more generalistic than 2ch, even we are not that open compared to them.
>4-ch is not popular because everyone is too busy lurking on /b/ at 4-chan.org to care.
Sorry, but the cool kids lurk /r9k/
Maybe 4-ch isn't that popular because a lot of people like to have profiles and comments and ranks, etc etc that are often over-done and pointless.
There used to be a 4-ch banner though. I liked it.
>>342
Not me even, but I was just jokingly correcting him :P
Maybe you, since you made a big deal out of it.
It's not more popular because most people these days who might be called "weeaboos" aren't really weeaboos, they just adopt some of the styles. Something making it into popular culture doesn't mean people who follow popular trends will actually have any real interest in talking about things on a board like this, it just means they buy the anime t-shirts.
345 here again, Just mentioning that not only would they have no interest in talking here, we're blessed to not have them talking here.
I think the small community of 4-ch is well suited. It will grow on it's own accord if the users are out there, people flock to 4chan because they get the 'press', good and bad, and people want to associate with it. People probably would enjoy 4-ch because they feel like they found it some other way and that it's not as popular as some of the others. As long as the boards don't seem dead when people visit for the first time, people will stay here i think.
It used to be a lot deader. Its a lot more lively now, and with pretty good talk.
I find many of the catagories are too general. If we could split them up so the discussions could be focused, such as you could have a General Politics catagory, and then one for Communism, or Capitalism, or whatever, then I think more posting would be encouraged.
As it is now, you have to click on a very general catagory and then sift through the current topics to find anything relevant to your interests, but the catagories are so broad that it's often unlikely. This, I think, discourages much posting in many catagories. (Maybe I'm just lazy?)
>>349
seconded.
I mostly can't think of things to post because the categories are so broad.
I hate those "child" boards. If it has "grandchildren", I instanly close the page. As for Politics, it doesn't get many replies at the moment. If you click All Thread, there are 155 threads. That's 2 or 3 screen long. That's not a lot!
I also don't get this "I can't think of anything if it's broad" thing. If it's troubling you, make a new thread such as [Star] All Things Communism [Sickle] and let it live a long life (part 1..10) under the Politics board. That's how it's done.
>>349 I think there isn't quite enough participation for more categories to be justified. Maybe it's a catch-22 though.... fewer categories equals less participation which ensures that more categories won't be added.
>>321 I agree. There's a vast cultural difference. The West doesn't have as much of a need for this kind of thing at the moment.
Also.... there's a difference in sincerity that's a bit unique to Japan. It's almost embarrassing at times, but the general population is a lot more emotionally honest than the typical Western country. Postings here are frequently harder to really respond to since they seem a bit disingenuous. Not that there aren't a lot of posters being serious about whatever it is they're saying. But there's just an awful lot of.... posers, I guess. Peoples' posts feel like they're just for show.... they're just an act. So it's harder to really care about them and genuinely respond.
I'm relatively new to 4-ch and I've been posting mostly on the anime, food, and especially on the romance boards. For me, I think this is a great thing, but I do agree it does seem kinda dead. - _ -
So far, as a newcommer I think this place is great! I can be more open and honest here espcially because its so anonymous. Its like freedom of expression, and I don't see why its not more popular. Probably because most people haven't heard of it. Also there are tons of other forums out there that people are more loyal to. I know this is the third one I regularly visit besides the one related to the mmorpg I play.
Still just having like 100 more people on this would be great.
it's because you make such a thread, right?
i hope 4-ch can maintain a good standard.
>>356
Well, stupid people hate reading, so it likely will.
Well said. Too bad though that so many stupid people like writing... That might be the down side of it.
>>1 2 channel is originally for japanese so nobody out of japan really know about it, 4 channel is more for english speaking people so japanese would not really participate in this much how ever english speaking people put of japan dont really know about this so in the end not much people come here