What happened to 4chan? (6)

1 Name: 404 - Name Not Found : 2008-08-14 21:49 ID:uKv6e8Y3

Sorry if this is in the wrong board-
but what's happening to 4chan?
Don't get me wrong- I go to all the chans as much as I can [I prefer waka over 4 any day now]
can someone explain what's going on?
Like why is /b/ sucking...

2 Name: 404 - Name Not Found : 2008-08-14 22:13 ID:KLLOQRKN

/b/ has always sucked.
Now that's out of the way, unless you're referring to some current event I'm unaware of, the problem is the rapidly-expanding userbase. Previously (in the early days, when it was still fun) the culture was "lurk more forever". Lurking for at least a month before posting was the etiquette, and failing to do so would get you shouted down universally as soon as you demonstrated any ignorance of the still-complex but then-manageable memeplex.
Nowadays that culture no longer exists, the newbies outnumber the oldbies in any given thread, and the new users reenforce bad behaviour in each other. The reason for this influx of new users is primarily due to the media coverage of the scientology project, though the trend started before that and breaking into the mainstream was always inevitable.

That's all common knowledge. In my personal opinion, another major contributor to the suckiness is the current internet-wide notion that "trolling" simply means "saying something dumb" as opposed to "setting clever traps for idiots". So now that the definition has been lowered enough for any moron to do it, the morons do it relentlessly. Not that /b/ didn't always have crapflooding, but now it's done with attitude. This example and other prevalent behaviours mean there's little reason for older users to stick around and contribute the way we used to.

3 Name: 404 - Name Not Found : 2008-08-14 23:49 ID:PvbPEyMq

Ok, this is interesting....

4 Name: 0037!A0z7CY5eG2 : 2008-08-22 09:41 ID:Rxv0fJ/G

>>2 Everything here = lies.

There hasn't been a time when it was "lurk more forever" because there has never been a time when there was etiquette because that implies a culture, and 4chan has never had one of those. It has been stupidity and drama from day one.

This isn't to say that /b/ isn't funny.

I don't have any problem with /b/. It's always evolving, and granted right now it's evolving at the whim of special-needs teenagers, it's still going somewhere. The old generation has passed the torch. That's just how things go. It will be different in time, possibly better, possibly worse...

Seriously, >>2 why do you think so highly of yourself that you believe these youngsters want you to contribute your old garbage? If not for them, then for who, exactly? They are the new generation; they're in charge. It's over. Get a life.

5 Name: 404 - Name Not Found : 2008-08-22 13:18 ID:689Bedhh

>>4
Somehow I don't think you were there for day one. Early in the piece the culture was completely different, far more laid-back, and even often collaborative. That you claim it has never had one only indicates that you don't know what that word means.

Pretty much everything you've directed at me there is stuff you are imagining. >>1 asked a question and I answered it without actually mentioning how I feel about any of this (apart from that it sucks, but you could ask /b/ whether /b/ sucks--now or three years ago--and see what the answer is. It sucked even when it was fun).

But since you seem so fucking interested in me, I'll educate you: I have no particular feelings about /b/. It doesn't interest me anymore; the current tone does not suit me, so I almost never go there. That's it.

6 Name: 0037!A0z7CY5eG2 : 2008-08-23 07:24 ID:D7KhGKP7

>Somehow I don't think you were there for day one

LOL.

Man, I think you're making this all up. Has it ever been collaborative or even peaceful? There have always been stupid kids messing with the system, subverting everything remotely creative, from the start. Or maybe I'm just a pessimist. I'm probably biased because I was working against it at first (literally, day one). It went wild and did its own thing and I grew to like it. /b/ was beautiful, and it still is, much like a girl with downs is in just the right light and at the right angle...

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