
An Analysis of Anonymity and Ephemerality in 4chan /b/ (2011) [pdf] - lainon
https://projects.csail.mit.edu/chanthropology/4chan.pdf
======
nether
For me, the most eye opening connection to humanity:

> Through our investigation of /b/, we hope to contribute to scholarly
> conversations about data permanence. For example, Grudin (2002) suggests
> that we evolved to live in an ephemeral world, yet our technology takes us
> from the “here and now” to the “everywhere and forever.” Similarly, Mayer-
> Schonberger (2009) emphasizes the value of “societal forgetting,” where “the
> limits of human memory ensure that people’s sins are eventually forgotten.”

As a long time 4channer, there's some "naturalness" I feel in the off-the-cuff
discussions on the site where I know my stupidity won't be saved forever. The
ephemerality taps into FOMO, requiring that you _be there_ for a thread event
that is unfolding, and that is addicting to some.

~~~
rtpg
As another person who spent a long time on there, I now feel like the opposite
effect ends up happening.

Sure, it's anonymous. But the short-term nature means that the prime objective
when posting something is to _get replies_. So you get some troll bait or
other things sure to get replies.

Everyone else is doing the same, so you develop a vocabulary based primarily
around saying and responding to memes.

If the communication were natural, why is 80% of it memes?

Because of the FOMO, you get an effect similar to many MMOs. In order to
participate, you must spend a lot of time on the image board, on IRC, making
sure that you're doing your thing.

So you end up with a bunch of people who spend their (usually teenage) lives
online absorbing as much image board culture as possible to "get good" at it.
It's the ultimate clique. Everyone wants to be part of the secret club
(sometimes quite literal: the IRC channels like #/v/ would spend their time
creating private sub-channels to have "real talk").

I know on some of the lower-traffic boards you'll find some "real talk"
happening, but even then it's usually layered underneath snarky "contrarian
trueisms".

It's the ultimate secret club for people who think they get the internet, and
gets pretty close to a religion. Remember: don't say you came from reddit.

~~~
snerbles
> Sure, it's anonymous. But the short-term nature means that the prime
> objective when posting something is to get replies. So you get some troll
> bait or other things sure to get replies.

This can be traced to updates to 4chan's post linking system that highlight
replies to your post with a (You). Like upvotes, (You)s are a feedback signal
of attention.

~~~
krapp
I'm certain it goes back much further than that. Replace that feedback with
the feedback of bumping up threads - it's the same thing, only slightly less
convenient.

~~~
rtpg
definitely. I'd always keep track of my post IDs so I can see who replied to
my posts

------
kahrkunne
Why always /b/, though? I get that it's the most popular board, but its
culture is so different from the rest of 4chan that it might as well be its
own website.

I'd like to see an analysis of multiple boards, comparing culture differences
between them and why they're so different between being on the same website
with a lot of crossover. Someone here (I assume jokingly) suggested analyzing
/jp/, but I feel as if there's actually a lot that can be learned from
studying the jay.

~~~
snerbles
/b/ is still the most infamous board, nearly a decade after one Fox affiliate
station called it the "Internet Hate Machine" in response to its antics. Even
though the days of "old /b/" have long past, its memes live on.

The election certainly brought more attention to /pol/ in recent months, given
time we'll all be grumbling about how all the other boards are ignored.

------
ulucs
If anyone has not seen this masterpiece, here's a bachelor thesis about /fit/,
its persona and its memes.

[https://smartech.gatech.edu/bitstream/handle/1853/53595/SHED...](https://smartech.gatech.edu/bitstream/handle/1853/53595/SHEDD-
THESIS-2015.pdf)

~~~
ansgri
It says something about a paper when a _list of abbreviations_ can hold your
attention.

~~~
laichzeit0
Since I'm a long time /fit shitposter and lurker when I read that list of
acronyms I laughed a bit, but then it dawned on me "that's a pretty good bunch
of definitions, but still it doesn't really truly convey the whole meaning of
the words". You actually have to experience those things to completely "get"
the meaning of some of those words.

This makes me sad because one of my other hobbies is classical literature and
I don't think I will ever properly understand Plato either no matter how well
I read the definition of an Attic Greek word or see it appear in 10 different
contexts. Something is irretrievably missing and unconveyable. I find the same
problem when I try and translate words from my second language to English.

------
eptgrant
Personally I'd be more interested in a report on /pol/.

~~~
astrange
There is one. Sadly nobody has studied the most important and cultural board,
/jp/.

[https://arxiv.org/abs/1610.03452](https://arxiv.org/abs/1610.03452)

~~~
elliotpage
/jp/ was made expressly so it could be forgotten about, which works out for
both sides.

------
jack9
The conclusion section illustrated, indeed, nothing of value was learned. From
a dataset of 2 the conclusion is that they are different for each context.

~~~
kriro
That's pretty much grounded theory in a nutshell ;P

------
ProdSangi
Honestly,/b/ might seems mild when you compare it to /pol/ which is little
less anonymous

------
libeclipse
I wonder how /b/ would react to this. Has anyone posted it there?

------
reilly3000
When trolls go to grad school.

