From Happiness To Suicide: The Origins Of 2Chan
The net during the early 2000s was pretty bleak compared to what it is at the present moment. Social media platforms like Facebook were still in their cribs and the click-clack of flip phones was then a familiar sound. The novelty of it all instilled some fear at times; remember how our parents told us not to talk to strangers on the web? One thing in particular remains from that era: imageboards. Although not mainstream anymore and partially active, imageboards took Japan by storm a couple of years ago. The Japanese websites 2channel and Futabachan shaped an entire generation and impacted subtly the ones to follow.
Shift_JIS art
An imageboard or a bulletin board system [BBS] is a type of web forum that hosts discussions on various topics. These are normally posted in categorical subchannels called “boards”, in chronological order, arranged as “threads”, which is a succession of posts related to each other. A thread is started by a user posting a picture and commentary along with it, whether it may be a question, some advice, or an opinion. These threads get archived after a certain time or can be deleted by the site’s moderators. On top of that, there are guidelines to follow in order to keep the website functioning; but more than often, these rules are lax, censoring and monitoring very little. Imageboards users talk about fashion, sports, video games, and otaku culture, but there are also incredibly infamous NSFW [Not Safe For Work] subchannels that are reserved for subjects like drugs, political incorrectness, pornography, and gore. Popular BBS forums are 4chan and 5chan, and nowadays, Reddit because even if it was originally a link aggregation site, it is slowly becoming an imageboard site. But, the most notorious one is 2channel which is now long gone, and its backup sister site, Futaba channel.
Futaba channel’s home page
In 1999, during the infancy of the world wide web, Hiroyuki Nishimura, a college student studying in Arkansas, United States, started an imageboard called 2channel; and later in 2001, its backup site Futaba channel. The appeal of this was that no signing up was required: users could post and comment anonymously, unlike more recent kinds of social media which focus on complete transparency for better data collection. 2channel was aimed at a Japanese audience and it was the most searched word in Google during 2002 in Japan.
Word came through to the US, and in 2003, Christopher “Moot” Poole, then 15 years old, took inspiration from Nishimura’s imageboard and built 4chan, a web BBS aimed at an American audience, from his room. The popularity of some of their boards skyrocketed a few decades ago, but due to their overflowing servers and lack of censorship, the lifespan of these boards would be fleeting, as they would get taken down as quickly as they would be created.
In relation to 4chan, Fredrick Brennan created 8chan in 2013, a similar website but far more controversial. While Futaba channel and 4chan are still up, 8chan was removed from the clearnet due to its enabling of criminal activity. Additionally, there are still other active imageboards today, like 7chan, Wizardchan, 420chan, and Endchan.
4chan users on a thread about Nishimura
4chan’s home page
Still to this day, Japan is known for its cohesive society. Standing out is out of the question, and it forces people to hold themselves back more than the Western norm. With this in mind, Nishimura made sure 2channel was a safe space for all Japanese people to express their thoughts with no restraint, so usernames were not forced upon users. The creator thought anonymity would permit more freedom of speech and make personal attacks or criticism between users unlikely. In this way, anonymity was a shield for the ego and reputation. Servers were based in the US in order to curb the restrictive censorship laws in Japan and widen the space for personal expression. For the country that is home to hikikomori culture [a person who avoids social contact.], websites like 2channel and Futaba are gifts from a divine hand.
Typical imageboard meme, by Nishimura
For something that was supposed to be an everyday outlet and nothing more, it quickly turned political. Corrupted would be too harsh of a word to describe what 2channel and Futaba had become, but there were more than just boards about cars and anime. People were openly discussing their suicidal ideations and desire to blow up their schools. In fact, a few terrorists were caught, by tracking down their posts on imageboards. There was a case on the American counterpart 8chan where a murderer posted pictures of the body of his victim before getting caught by the local police. This kind of explicit, rather criminal, content was enabled by the inactivity of the site’s moderators. In order to delete a post or thread, one had to flag it and an anonymous moderator would accept the deletion, but more than often these complaints would remain ignored.
Defamation, leaks of private information, like banking information or revenge porn, and cyber-bullying frequently came up on 2channel. A hub for hackers, user sassy ecchi leaked the credit information of around 75000 users of the aforementioned BBS, which included public figures, in 2013. Its influence on arts and media was undeniable but sort of unfavorable. Sono Sion’s movie “Suicide Club” from 2001 undoubtedly takes inspiration from the reoccurring mass suicides organized through Nishimura’s boards. On top of that, the creator had countless claims and lawsuits, mainly since he’s infringed so many Japanese laws, but Nishimura was firm on not changing his ways; in 2007, he told the Japanese press: “I don't have any intention of paying up to a country whose laws I don't respect. As long as they're not handing me the death sentence, I'm not backing down.”
4chan thread on Nishimura
The major controversial aspect is the weak grip that imageboards like 2channel have on extremism and hate speech. On the infamous Japanese imageboard, racism against Chinese and South-Korean people was prevalent, and regardless of current events, hate speech against minorities would also be found on all kinds of boards, as well as the normalization of the usage of slurs. On boards dedicated to NSFW content, misogyny was an everyday thing as it was likely axed to cater to the male gaze. This kind of environment attracted narrow-minded [or otherwise alt-right] people with unorthodox ideologies about society and the treatment of pop culture and fostered extremist groups, characterized by their fascination with anti-feminism, homicide, isolation, and self-victimization.
Racist thread on 2channel
In retrospect, 2channel and Futaba offered exactly was Nishimura promoted, which was freedom of speech and inconspicuousness. But, regardless of the backfiring of this near-total liberty, Nishimura’s websites were the pioneering source of modern-day social media, including the beginning of memes. Inside jokes and typos were repeated through some boards and, as an increasing number of users hopped onto this trend, memes were generated. In fact, 2channel’s official logo in 2012 was an amalgam of popular memes. Also, it was the birth of Shift_JIS art, which is keyboard control emoticons [for example: [^o^]/~~~~] before the integration of emojis.
2channel’s previous logo
Shift_JIS art
The main difference between contemporary social media platforms and Japanese imageboards is the lack of identity. Modern-day socialization apps give a lot of meaning to social status and can spike social anxiety, as well as being tightly knit to the claws of capitalism in order to perfect custom advertisement. They also promote transparency and sharp engagement statistics. On the other hand, there was no way to know who upvoted [aka “like”] a comment on 2channel or Futaba. There was no follower-following exchange, nor a way to privately message a user. The concept was nearly crude but, safe from agoraphobia, people felt like they could let out their buried thoughts. Unlike Instagram and Twitter, every user on Nishimura’s site is equal and he believes this decreases biases. About his websites, he said: “All information is treated equally; only an accurate argument will work.” Despite the fact that these websites were right at the forefront of the net and accessible to just about everyone, it was a gathering for shameless, unfiltered interactions.
Post by Christopher “Moot” Poole on 4chan, 2015
Today, these imageboard ownerships are disputed or have been sold to other techs. They are still an otaku hub and, even if they’re virtual ruins, they’re still in use and have accessible archives. The existing Japanese imageboards now are festering with internet outsiders and extremists on top of outdated layouts, but their impact on modern social networks remains unchanged. Beware of these sites' safety: it is advised to use an anti-virus program. But remember, don’t talk to strangers on the internet, kids.
About the Author:
Mizuki Khoury
Born in Montreal, based in Tokyo. Sabukaru’s senior writer and works as an artist under Exit Number Five.
