4chan becomes wizardchan; the straw that broke the camel's back
I have been posting on imageboards since around 2008. If you are unaware, they are one of the last bastions of free speech online, aside from invite-only forums. The rest of the surface-level corporate internet has long regressed to the Nineteen Eighty-Four dystopia.
Last week, I made a post on /vr/ on 4chan. Now, that doesn't happen easily; it usually requires waiting on their timer (a few mins, or up to 15), and then solving their anti-spam puzzle. It used to be faster and easier (normal) to post on there.
The topic which caught my eye, was a 2x4 template of genres, where you could insert images of your favourite games. Some people posted some cool, obscure games - cool! I want to join in. So I download the template, open it in an image editor. I spend time contemplating my favourites and inserting them into the appropriate slots. I save it, upload it, and respond to the other good posts while waiting for the timer, and finally make my post.
Later in the day, when I checked back up on the thread, I noticed my post was gone. I thought that was weird and felt a little disappointed, but just returned to my normal surfing.
Today, I tried to make a new post. 4chan reacted unusually, and directed me to a custom page which said:
"You were issued a warning! ;_;
Discussion of modern games should be posted on /v/ or /vg/.
Now that you have seen this message, you should be able to post again."
I was confused. So... a temporary ban, for normal participation? At least they sourced and referenced my original post. So, looking at their archived version of my post, my sin was as follows:
I filled out the template, participated in a fun retro videogames discussion, responding to 7 people in an encouraging and kind manner, and discussed 7 'old' games. I saw that somebody liked Loderunner, an NES game. So if anybody else liked that type of game, I recommended a similar game called Pushmo for 3DS.
Only now with backwards logic, do I realise the 4chan mod's reason for their "Warning": the 3DS is too 'new' for the "Retro Games" board. Ridiculous.
I miss 420chan (and 99chan); I have been using 4chan since it went down in 2022, but I have been craving the type of community 420chan offered. 4chan is not great for many reasons, but it succeeds as the fast food of imageboards. I just haven't made the effort to get into other imageboards. But this experience, layered on top of taking forever to post and a minority of jerks who bring down the vibe, is enough motivation to finally make the effort to look elsewhere.
Disclaimer: This experience was unusual and imageboards are usually awesome. If you've never used them, there are dozens and they are all as different as genres of music.
Last week, I made a post on /vr/ on 4chan. Now, that doesn't happen easily; it usually requires waiting on their timer (a few mins, or up to 15), and then solving their anti-spam puzzle. It used to be faster and easier (normal) to post on there.
The topic which caught my eye, was a 2x4 template of genres, where you could insert images of your favourite games. Some people posted some cool, obscure games - cool! I want to join in. So I download the template, open it in an image editor. I spend time contemplating my favourites and inserting them into the appropriate slots. I save it, upload it, and respond to the other good posts while waiting for the timer, and finally make my post.
Later in the day, when I checked back up on the thread, I noticed my post was gone. I thought that was weird and felt a little disappointed, but just returned to my normal surfing.
Today, I tried to make a new post. 4chan reacted unusually, and directed me to a custom page which said:
"You were issued a warning! ;_;
Discussion of modern games should be posted on /v/ or /vg/.
Now that you have seen this message, you should be able to post again."
I was confused. So... a temporary ban, for normal participation? At least they sourced and referenced my original post. So, looking at their archived version of my post, my sin was as follows:
I filled out the template, participated in a fun retro videogames discussion, responding to 7 people in an encouraging and kind manner, and discussed 7 'old' games. I saw that somebody liked Loderunner, an NES game. So if anybody else liked that type of game, I recommended a similar game called Pushmo for 3DS.
Only now with backwards logic, do I realise the 4chan mod's reason for their "Warning": the 3DS is too 'new' for the "Retro Games" board. Ridiculous.
I miss 420chan (and 99chan); I have been using 4chan since it went down in 2022, but I have been craving the type of community 420chan offered. 4chan is not great for many reasons, but it succeeds as the fast food of imageboards. I just haven't made the effort to get into other imageboards. But this experience, layered on top of taking forever to post and a minority of jerks who bring down the vibe, is enough motivation to finally make the effort to look elsewhere.
Disclaimer: This experience was unusual and imageboards are usually awesome. If you've never used them, there are dozens and they are all as different as genres of music.