Re:Ask HN: What is 4Chan?
by prestia on Tuesday December 14, 2010 @11:40AM
(#2004693)
I'm hesitant to open this can of worms, but you are correct in thinking that 4chan is simply and imageboard. The DDoS attacks on MasterCard were actually launched by a group called Anonymous, which is often associated with 4chan. However, 4chan and Anonymous are completely separate entities and their names should not be used interchangeably.
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Re:Ask HN: What is 4Chan?
by CalvinHobbes on Tuesday December 14, 2010 @11:43AM
(#2004704)
so the media saying it was launched be 4Chan is actually incorrect.
Users on 4chan are by default anonymous when posting content or comments (replies to content). At least when I last spent time there (in early 2007) it was considered a faux pas to post content with a username as it is looked as if one is trying to gain notoriety/fame for themselves, instead of giving up their content for the great good that is Anonymous.
Anonymous (capitalized) is, generally speaking, not a coherent group in any sense, but a meme describing the swarm of memes and the users who propagate them (often first at 4chan) through the internet (a meta-meme?).
The media understand nothing about that part of the Internet.