Imageboard

An imageboard is a type of Internet forum that revolves around the posting of images, often alongside text and discussion. The first imageboards were created in Japan as an extension of the textboard concept. These sites later inspired the creation of a number of English-language imageboards, such as 4chan.

Screenshot from the 4chan.org imageboard.

Characteristics

Imageboards, similar to bulletin board systems, are used for discussions of a variety of topics. The primary focus of imageboards, however, is directed away from text posts, and is instead placed on picture posts. The two share many of the same structures, including separate forums for separate topics, as well as similar audiences. Imageboards are much more transitory with content—on some boards (especially highly trafficked ones), the thread deletion time can be as little as 10 minutes. In Japan, where imageboards are more common, topics will vary widely, ranging from trains to current news. The most popular English language imageboard, 4chan, similarly has a large variety of topics.

Imageboards are also different from online galleries in that most of the works posted are not made by the poster, but instead are taken from other online sources: galleries, other imageboards, and edited pictures.

Tripcodes

A diagram of a typical tripcode derivation process.

Most imageboards and 2channel-style discussion boards allow (and encourage) anonymous posting and use a system of tripcodes instead of registration. A tripcode is the hashed result of a password that allows one's identity to be recognized without storing any data about users. Entering a particular password will let one "sign" one's posts with the tripcode generated from that password. Trying to take another user's tripcode and compute their password from it (for instance, to make posts that appear to come from a particular person) is somewhat computationally difficult. For those who want a custom tripcode, however, there are custom tripcode generators (which are technically tripcode crackers) available, such as Meriken's Tripcode Engine[1] and MTY_CL.[2] In general, anonymity is considered to be one of the advantages of an imageboard, and some boards have from time to time removed the ability to post with a name altogether (known as "forced anonymous/anonymity").

Secure tripcodes

Due to the fact tripcodes can be cracked given enough time, some imageboards, such as 4chan and 8chan, implement a "secure" tripcode.[3] Such tripcodes are not reproducible across different imageboards; they work by prepending a secure salt to the tripcode, barring intrusion, known only to the server owner.[3] They therefore function closer to a username than to a cryptographic signature; this is why QAnon could not verify themselves on another website when 8chan went down in late 2019.[4][5][6]

Software

There are two primary types of imageboard software packages in widespread use: linearly directed imageboards modeled closely after Futaba Channel (in which content is posted through hierarchical subsections of topical interest, usually denoted by a forward slash such as "/f" for female), and nonlinear imageboards modeled after Danbooru (usually indicated by the usage of controlled folksonomic vocabulary for topical tagging and search).

Futaba Channel clones

There are currently several Futaba-based imageboard software packages in widespread use: Futallaby, Wakaba, Kusaba X.

Futallaby is a PHP script based on the Futaba script from Futaba Channel. Although the Futallaby source is still freely available at 1chan,[7] it is no longer in development, and the download page recommends using Wakaba instead, stating that "Wakaba can do everything Futallaby does and so much more." Futallaby started as a translation of Futaba, later retooled to support XHTML and customizable CSS styles. It is mostly notable for being the first open source English imageboard script.

Wakaba is a Perl imageboard script with a SQL backend to store thread information.[8] It is designed to be more efficient and cleanly written than other scripts that are available, while preserving the same kind of functionality. Wakaba is one of the most popular western imageboard software scripts, used most notably by 420chan[9] and iichan (Wakachan).[10] Because of its focus on bare-bones functionality, Wakaba lacks many of the modern amenities provided by 4chan's Yotsuba,[11] and newer imageboard scripts. A few users have attempted to remedy this by forking the original project and adding in features they consider beneficial. Two FOSS examples of this are frankusr's Wakaba fork,[12] and the user experience focused Glaukaba.[13]

Taimaba is 420chan's continuation of Wakaba, overhauling it with many modern features and a public API. It is a hybrid Perl and PHP platform, as compared to Wakaba's static html output. This fork remains in use today.

Kusaba was a modular imageboard software written in PHP, which used MySQL.[14] The creator has discontinued the project, however, and recommends TinyIB instead.

Kusaba X is a continuation of Kusaba. Like Kusaba, Kusaba X is written in PHP, and is designed with modularity in mind. It requires a MySQL or SQLite database to run. Kusaba and its derivatives were at one time some of the most popular imageboard solutions. Kusaba X has since fallen out of active development, and has not been updated since July 2011.

Tinyboard is a PHP based imageboard script with a MySQL backend.[15] It was eventually discontinued and forked into vichan,[16] which itself was forked into infinity,[17] and infinity was later forked into OpenIB.[18] Tinyboard (and its forks) notably feature extensibility with JavaScript,[19] and the infinity and OpenIB forks include user-submitted board creation.[17]

Lynxchan is an imageboard based on JavaScript and Node.js. It requires a MongoDB database to run.[20]

Danbooru-style boards

Usually referred to as a "booru" (plural "boorus"). Unlike Futaba-inspired imageboard software packages, Danbooru and derivatives aim for a non-hierarchical semantic structure in which users are able to post content and add tags, annotations, translations, artist commentary, and comments.

There exist a number of different Danbooru-style imageboards, both those with shared source code and those that are not released for others to use. The two main Danbooru derivatives are Gelbooru and MyImouto.

Traits of Danbooru-style imageboards

Shared	Software	Programmed in	License	Notes
Yes	Danbooru	Ruby on Rails	FreeBSD	Uses PostgreSQL.
Yes	Shimmie 2	PHP	GPLv2	Uses MySQL by default (as part of LAMP), can also use PostgreSQL.
Yes	naranai 1.3.x	PHP	GPLv3	Uses MySQL. Built to replace Danbooru because author considered Ruby unsuitable.[21]
Yes	szurubooru	Python	GPLv3	Uses PostgreSQL.
Yes	Moebooru	Ruby on Rails	MIT	Uses PostgreSQL.
Yes	MyImouto	PHP	MIT	Uses MySQL. PHP port of Moebooru. Uses a custom Ruby-on-Rails-like framework.[22]
Yes	Sankakucomplex	PHP	MIT	Uses PostgreSQL.
Yes	Sequenzia	PHP	MIT	Uses MySQL. Modified and re-designed port of MyImouto for the Sequenzia Project.[23] Some code is specialised for the Sequenzia Project and AC Research.[24]
Yes	Philomena	Elixir	AGPLv3	Uses PostgreSQL, Elasticsearch and the Phoenix Framework. Successor to booru-on-rails.
Yes	booru-on-rails	Ruby on Rails	AGPLv3	Uses PostgreSQL, used to use MongoDB. Has been superseded by Philomena and is no longer actively developed as of December 2019.
Yes	anibooru.com	PHP	AGPLv3	Uses MySQL.
No	Gelbooru 0.2.x	PHP	Proprietary	Uses MySQL. Gelbooru 0.1.x is open source but 0.2.x currently is not.
No	Octabooru	PHP	Proprietary	(temporarily down due to host server issues) (download link removed as it leads to a phishing scam)
No	Metabooru	Python	Proprietary

Imageboards

420chan

An English-language imageboard based on cannabis culture[25] which was created on 20 April 2005 by Aubrey Cottle. The name is a reference to the larger 4chan[26] and the code term 420 of the cannabis subculture. Its boards include various drug-specific boards,[25] as well as a board featuring a chatbot named Netjester.[27]

4chan

4chan is an English-language imageboard based on the Japanese imageboard Futaba Channel. This imageboard is based primarily upon the posting of pictures (generally related to a wide variety of topics, from anime and popular culture to politics and sports) and their discussion. The Guardian describes it as "at once brilliant, ridiculous and alarming."[28]

The site and its userbase have received attention from the media for a number of reasons, including attacks against Hal Turner on his Internet shows,[29] distributed denial-of-service attacks against eBaum's World,[30][31] taking part in Project Chanology,[32] and multiple cases of anti-animal abuse reports.[33]

Many Internet memes have originated there, including lolcats,[34][35][36] rickrolling, and Pedobear.

8chan

8chan (or Infinitechan) was a primarily English-language imageboard, although it has sub-boards dedicated to other languages. Just like 4chan, 8chan is based on posting pictures and discussion anonymously, but unlike 4chan, 8chan lets its users decide what they want to discuss by allowing any user to create their own board dedicated to any topic, a concept first made popular by news bulletin boards like Reddit. 8chan also claims to have a strong dedication to freedom of speech and allows all content—so long as the discussion and board creation abides by United States law.[37] However, local moderators enforce the rules of their own boards and may delete posts as they see fit. It is currently partnered with the Japanese textboard 2channel.

Futaba Channel

Futaba Channel (ふたば☆ちゃんねる), or "Futaba" for short, is a popular, anonymous BBS and imageboard system based in Japan. Its boards usually do not distinguish between not safe for work and clean content, but there is a strict barrier between two-dimensional (drawn) and three-dimensional (computer graphics (CG) and photographic) pictures that is heavily enforced and debated.[38]

Hispachan

Hispachan was launched in November 2012[39] as a global imageboard for all Spanish-speaking countries. Vice Magazine describes it as "a site for completely anonymous Spanish-language discussion that has proven popular among hackers since its launch in 2012".[40]

In January 2017, a shooting in a school in Monterrey (Mexico) was previously announced on Hispachan.[41]

In June 2019, Vice accused some Hispachan discussions of being "collaborative misogyny".[42]

Karachan

Karachan is the largest Polish imageboard at 20 million posts, founded in 2010. Karachan has received attention from the Polish media after many trolling actions targeting Polish politicians,[43] journalists[44][45][46] and the Pope John Paul II.[47][48][49][50] As of July 2019 the site consists of a (Polish-language) faux page claiming the site is "blocked" due to "invalid content". However, a manual is known to exist, informing how to enter the actual forum and browse its contents.[51] Its name comes from the Polish word karaczan, which means a cockroach, an insect that is used as Karachan's logo.

Krautchan

A primarily German-language imageboard that was founded in 2007.[52] The name is an allusion to the ethnophaulism Kraut for Germans. Unlike most imageboards, posters on Krautchan didn't publish their postings under the generic name "Anonymous". The German name "Bernd" was used instead, and the Krautchan community identified themselves as "Bernds" instead of "Anons". In 2009, after the Winnenden school shooting, the interior minister of Baden-Württemberg cited a post on the imageboard in a press conference that appeared to forewarn of the shooting, but was later found to be fake.[53][54][55] The site also featured a popular English-language board, /int/, which was also the origin of the Polandball internet phenomenon and a number of other popular memes such as Wojak in August the same year. On March 21, 2018 the imageboard was shut down. Two days later the imageboard kohlchan was founded as a replacement. Attempts to view the latter via Google translate are redirected to NSFW content.

2ch

Dvach, Russian: двач, romanized: dvách)[56] is a Russian imageboard that replaced 2ch.ru imageboard (originally known as dvach) which was shut down earlier on January 17, 2009; it thoroughly copied original layout and was heavily advertised over the internet and managed to succeed the original one in popularity.[57] According to its owners number of posts left in the /b/ board exceeded 150 million.[58] In September 2016 a pro-Russian government organisation MAIL.RU helped to organize "defense" against alleged DDOS attacks that took place during the same month; events raised concerns and speculations among users who grew suspicious over alleged takeover committed by the mail.ru and who criticized owner's controversial decision to accept "help".[59][60][61] As of October 2018 It was widely believed that imageboard was simply "sold" on undisclosed terms to pro-government organisation.[61] The decision was met with high criticism of risks of disclosure of users' credentials in inherently anonymous-community to the government body that could potentially violate principles of anonymity urging many to leave the board by the end of 2016. By 2019 it remains among the largest active Russian-speaking imageboards.

Wizardchan

Wizardchan is an imageboard primarily dedicated to male virgin culture and topics including anime, hobbies, and depression. Users on the depression board often discuss suicide or self-harm, and a controversy emerged in the board's community about whether to refer users to suicide prevention hotlines.[62]

Ylilauta

Ylilauta is a Finnish-language imageboard that was founded in 2011 with the merger of the two most popular Finnish imageboards, Kotilauta and Lauta.net.

See also

• Anonymous (group)
• Textboard

Footnotes

Notes

References

1. ""Meriken's Tripcode Engine" is a cross-platform custom tripcode generator.: meriken/merikens-tripcode-engine-v3". 26 March 2019 – via GitHub.
2. "A custom tripcode searcher, written using OpenCL. Primarily targeting the GCN architectures (Radeon HD 77xx and later).: madsbuvi/MTY_CL". 9 March 2019 – via GitHub.
3. "Frequently Asked Questions". 4chan. Retrieved 2020-08-21.
4. Roose, Kevin (2021-01-17). "What Is QAnon, the Viral Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theory?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-01-21. Each of these sites uses a system of identity verification known as a “tripcode” — essentially, a username that proves that a series of anonymous posts were written by the same person or people.
5. Glaser, April (2019-11-11). "8chan Is Back as 8kun. Its Racist Users Found New Homes While It Was Offline". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2020-08-21.
6. Breland, Ali (2019-08-15). "How QAnon will outlive 8Chan". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2020-10-01.
7. "Futallaby Imageboard Script". 1chan.net. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
8. "wakaba.c3.cx". wakaba.c3.cx. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
9. "overscript.net". overscript.net. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
10. "wakachan.org". wakachan.org. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
11. "4chan Inline Extension News Post".
12. "frankusr's Wakaba Fork Repository".
13. "Glaukaba Imageboard Script".
14. tslocum. "Kusaba Imageboard Script". GitHub. Retrieved 2013-06-06.
15. savetheinternet. "Tinyboard - The better imageboard software". GitHub. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
16. czaks. "vichan - Tinyboard branch taking lightweightness somewhat more liberally". GitHub. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
17. ctrlcctrlv. "infinity - A vichan fork permitting users to create their own boards". GitHub. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
18. Cipherwraith. "OpenIB - An infinity fork focused on security". GitHub. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
19. "Cool codes js to improve vichan? #252". Retrieved 2017-07-13.
20. Stephen Lynx. "LynxChan - The best chan engine that you will ever shitpost with". GitGud. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
21. From Readme of the source code.
22. From Readme of the source code.
23. From Sequenzia Project Wiki page.
24. From Readme of the source.
25. Olson, Parmy (4 August 2013). We Are Anonymous. ISBN 9781448136155. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
26. "How imageboard culture shaped Gamergate / Boing Boing". boingboing.net.
27. "Taimapedia - 420chan". Retrieved 28 March 2015.
28. Sean Michaels (2008-03-19). "Taking the Rick | News | guardian.co.uk Music". London: Music.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
29. "Cyber foes find ways to silence hate-talk radio host". freep.com. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-28.
30. "Lindsay Lohan causes massive DoS war". Vitalsecurity.org. 2006-01-09. Retrieved 2008-01-20.
31. Bertiaux, Michaël (2006-01-09). "Ebaumsworld assiégé" (in French). Le Lézard. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
32. George-Cosh, David (January 25, 2008). "Online group declares war on Scientology". National Post. Canwest Publishing Inc. Archived from the original on January 28, 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
33. Popkin, Helen A.S. (August 31, 2010). "Web video: Woman throws puppies in river, 4chan tracks her down". MSNBC Technology. MSNBC.com. Archived from the original on September 10, 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
34. "Lolcats' demented captions create a new Web language", Tamara Ikenberg, The News Journal, 9 July 2007
35. Richards, Paul (2007-11-14). "Iz not cats everywhere? Online trend spreads across campus". The Daily Pennsylvanian. Archived from the original on 2007-11-17. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
36. Steel, Sharon (2008-02-01). "The cuteness surge". The Phoenix. Archived from the original on 2008-02-13. Retrieved 2008-02-10.
37. Howell O'Neill, Patrick (November 17, 2014). "8chan, the central hive of Gamergate, is also an active pedophile network". The Daily Dot.
38. 2chan.net Futaba Channel
39. Hispachan's History Archived 2016-11-24 at Archive.today (in Spanish)
40. "This Murder Has Exposed the Dark Side of Mexico’s Hacking Community" Vice News.
41. "Agresor en colegio de Monterrey pudo anunciar ataque en foro" Excelsior. (in Spanish)
42. "Hispachan: el foro español donde se difunden imágenes sexuales de mujeres y menores sin que nadie lo impida" VICE Spain.
43. "Koniec żartów z prezydenta Dudy. Policja przeszukała mieszkanie internauty. Prokuratura wszczęła śledztwo". wyborcza.pl. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
44. Świderski, Bartosz. "Hejt na Filipa Chajzera to zorganizowana akcja Karachana. Sianie zamętu sprawia trollom największą przyjemność". NaTemat.
45. "Tak zaczęło się obrażanie zmarłego syna Chajzera: "To co, szkalujemy? ZIEJMY NIENAWIŚCIĄ!"". pudelek.pl (in Polish). 22 July 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
46. "Hejt pod wpisem Filipa Chajzera o śmierci syna to zaplanowana akcja. 'Karaczan wkracza do akcji'. A to nie wszystko". plotek.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 9 January 2017.
47. Chmielecka, Julia. "Trolle i zlewy". Gazeta Wyborcza.
48. "Trolling level: master. To Karachan stoi za filmikiem "Mój sąsiad imigrant"". naTemat.pl. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
49. "Scenariusz jak z horroru w Rybniku. Ktoś włamał się na konto zabitej 17-latki i straszy pół miasta. Psychopata czy żart?". naTemat.pl. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
50. "Tak wyglądała ostatnia noc Alicji". nowiny.pl. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
51. "Jak wejść na Karachan". facebook.com/jakwejsc/ (in Polish). 19 October 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
52. Reißmann, Ole; Stöcker, Christian (20 February 2012). We are Anonymous: Die Maske des Protests - Wer sie sind, was sie antreibt ... p. 22. ISBN 9783641083748. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
53. "Massacre in Winnenden: School Shooting Internet Post a Fake". Spiegel Online. March 13, 2009.
54. Roth, Daniel (2012). Zündstoff für den "Columbine-Effekt"? Die Berichterstattung über School Shootings in deutschen Print- und Online-Medien. p. 116. ISBN 9783643113948. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
55. "German police now question whether killer posted warning". CNN. March 12, 2009.
56. Двач. Lurkmore (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-10-02.
57. "Геты 2ch.hk". Lurkmore.
58. "//Б/ред/ - че было в". Двач.
59. "2ch.hk". Lurkmore (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-10-02.
60. "Mail.ru защитила "Двач" от DDoS-атаки". Meduza (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-10-02.
61. Сосач — Колчевики. wiki.1chan.ca (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-10-08.
62. Hess, Amanda. "Please Do Not Downvote Anyone Who's Asked for Help". Slate.

External links

• Overscript - a list of imageboard software
• AllChans - OverChan V.3 - a list of imageboards