Mohamed Nanabhay/Flickr (CC)
Christopher Poole, founder of 4chan.
Founded in 2003, 4chan is an anarchic melting pot of internet culture. It gave rise to a wide diversity of phenomena that have since spread into the mainstream, adding rick-rolling, lolcats, and Anonymous. Due to the site’s moderation technique, specifically on its random /b/ dashboard, it has also been highly debatable at times, specifically for its raids on other sites.
The site’s creator, Christopher Poole, said 4chan founded the Futaba channel, a Japanese-language image forum dedicated to anime and manga, which he in turn promoted through 2channel, another Japanese-language site. (4chan originally intended to speak on the same topics, and his culture is still heavily influenced by psychics. ) On Monday, Poole, posting under his “debatable” moniker, announced that 4chan had been acquired through Hiroyuki Nishimura, the founder of 2channel.
In an interview with The New York Times, Poole called the sale “coming full circle” for the site. Hiroyuki is “literally the only user in the world who takes as much, if not more, delight than me in running a giant nameless network. ” of destinations that serves tens of millions of people,” he said. “He is the great-grandfather of everything. “
That the site has sold is rarely a big surprise. In January 2015, Poole announced his retirement and that he would hand over the site to a team of volunteers. 4chan has never had full-time workers (with the exception of Poole), instead relying on a team of anonymous volunteers and moderators.
Terms of the sale were not disclosed. Unlike other internet cultural hubs like Reddit, 4chan has never received outside funding. It offers advertising, but it struggles to attract mainstream consumers due to the incredibly questionable content posted on its forums. He also sells a “4chan Pass” for $20.
In a post on the news blog 4chan, Poole writes that he met Nishimura in 2011, “and we have temporarily become friends, bonding over our shared hobby of building and managing online communities. It means offering a virtual home to tens of millions of people. “Friends for more than a decade. There is no one more qualified than Hiroyuki to lead 4chan, and I can’t think of a more suitable user for the task.
He continues: “4chan is on the verge of two major milestones: its 2 billionth position and its 12th anniversary. It has been a wonderful privilege to serve as the founder and administrator of 4chan for approximately twelve years, and I can’t wait to see what waiting for you in the store under the experienced control of Hiroyuki.
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