What makes an imageboard or textboard work? 3 things:
- Openness - It must be easy to access and to post. As refugees from Something Awful's paid account systems, Shii defined the value of an anonymous imageboard as easy and inviting to post without having to create an account.
- Anonymity - Moot and Shii valued the ability for people to live and speak without reputations, something that is restored by the existence of the anonymous imageboard. This is in keeping with the Japanese tradition of Honne and Tatemae, where society itself forces people to mask their true beliefs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honne_and_tatemae
and thus made 2ch valuable to the entire nation of Japan as a place where people could release their inner feelings
3. Critical Mass and Community Vibrance - This component is harder for an imageboard clone to reproduce. The community must be vibrant and speedy, such that you can expect a reply within a few minutes or hours of posting. Without a strong community, the board is as good as dead, as we see with many textboards or imageboards.