The effects of 4chan on the mind...

Aion

Aion

Time-Traveller
Today I have seen a lot, learning more about the type of people who use the internet. What I used to educate myself was a site called Encyclopedia Dramatica, which is a site that lists all the major 4chan related internet drama, also giving its own definitions for certain words.

First I started reading about Boxxy and how, because she, an attractive (and, more important, high school age) girl started a 4chan war by simply posting a video of herself talking fast and acting sweeter than sweet. Half the 4chan users fell in love with her, while the other half wanted to kill her for, in their view, destroying 4chan - for being the queen of the "newfags" that are taking 4chan in a less disturbing direction. The end result of all this was 4chan going down for four hours and the mentioning of the name 'Boxxy' being a ban worthy crime.

I then started reading about the other historical 4chan people. Most of the stories came down to camwhores posted their tits and having 4chan users discover their identity, trace the real person behind the screen and then use what the person posted to destroy them in real life.

For example, there was one case where some stupid 15 year old girl posted pictures of herself masturbating on some image website. A 4chan user found out, spread the news and it wasn't long before all the images were stolen and rehosted. The 4chan users then traced the real life person in the masturbation images, sent the images to her friends/family and also sent the mages to her school. The goal seems to have been to push the girl to suicide - to turn her into "an hero."

There are some seriously scary people on 4chan. I always thought of 4chan as a site just to get some decent camwhore/jailbait images but it goes beyond that. Rather than the site just having some trolls, it has trolls who can and will dig up everything about a person, use it against them and ruin lives. Who would've thought the internet could be so serious?

Anyway, back on track. I continued reading through the stories after that, eventually reaching 'rat-chan' - a story about a random 4chan poster who did something a little different. The poster put her housemates rat into a blender, killed the rat, set the rat on fire, hit the rat with a hammer so that its guts and brains came out (not pretty) and, finally, took a picture of what was left of the rat on her naked chest, with plastic stopping the insides flowing onto her body. And, in case you're wondering, yes, it was a she who did it - a fairly normal looking she in fact.

I ended my journey by reading about 'Chris-chan.' It'd take too long to go into detail about him so, instead, I'm going to link to his ED page and a SFW YT video of him...doing his thing. FYI, there's a NSFW video of him doing...certain things to a blown up doll linked to on the page.

http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Chris-chan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ujhJs0pccM

If nothing else, reading and watching the above passes time in an entertaining way. I'm not sure what else to say - the less the better is probably best.

...oh, and I also read some of this clearly-fake erotic loli story, about an uncle and his niece: http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Uncle_Anon

What I've seen can never be erased - I feel dirty; like I've stepped into an inverted and more sick version of our world that I never knew existed. On the plus side, I've discovered some good free camwhore sites thanks to ED, and that's always a good thing.

Anyone else had similar feelings after running into 4chan and the sites connected to it?

Note: It goes without saying that ED, for the most part, isn't SFW. Some pages are just text, others have nude ladies and some have links to images of dead rats. I don't recommend you risk looking at work because the text alone probably wouldn't impress your boss. Don't say I didn't warn you!
 
The way I feel about this sort of thing, not just on the internet but in real life, is that if people I don't know want to do things that don't involve me in any way then that's their business (and possibly the police's business, depending on what it is they're doing). My view on the whole "life ruining" thing is that firstly, if you care about people finding out, don't wank off on webcam. If you expect the worst of people to begin with then you're not going to be surprised when bad things happen.

There are a lot of people out there who's actions can make you feel sickened, angry or upset. But you aren't going to stop them from doing what they do, so don't go looking for it is my advice. You won't hear me say this often (I'm all for The Truth) but sometimes it is best to remain blissfully ignorant, if only for the sake of your own mental wellbeing.
 
The way I look at it, 4chan is the true face of humanity. Without the laws and the need to act proper in order to get along in a world of laws, how people act on 4chan is how people would act in real life in this day and age. I'm no angel but, if most people really like your average 4chan poster then the world is a much worse place than my limited imagination had lead me to believe.

Similar things to what happened to a fair few of the 4chan victims could've happened to me because, when I was more stupid, I didn't protect myself very well. I suppose that's why it disturbs me so much when I read some of the stories on ED.

...but, yeah, it's probably for the best not to think about 4chan, camwhores aside. Camwhores are good; putting a rat in a blender is bad.
 
It is an entirely logical phenomenon. In the absence of any authority, the scum of the virtual world will gather together.
And I don't just mean the e-heavy weights. Boxxy, the retard who posted a video of her masturbating. The dumb kid who an hero'd because of losing his ipod.

My opinion is that if the matter manifests itself in real life and causes actual harm, take the site down.
 
Aion said:
The way I look at it, 4chan is the true face of humanity. Without the laws and the need to act proper in order to get along in a world of laws, how people act on 4chan is how people would act in real life in this day and age.
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You're aware, of course, that people murder, rape, steal, deceive, insult, belittle other people on a daily basis, thousands and thousands of times over, everywhere in the world, and have done for hundreds and hundreds of years? This is just certain people's way of doing it, it's nothing especially profound.
 
No, ignorant is in fact my middle name. I'm unaware that a bullet can kill a person, I was under the illusion that no-onne truly steals from each other and, since I'm a good person, I've never been insulted.

You're a smart arse and an AUKN newfag. GTFO, f*****...or something like that. I've never been good at the whole swearing thing, even though Iswear a hell of a lot.


...Yes, but in real life groups of strangers from all walks of life and different countries don't band together to victimize other random people. The internet and anononimity factor make it a worldwide issue; not something that can be ignored because it doesn't happen to you or because it doesn't happen near you. 4chan is right in there, visible enough for someone in the UK to see someone on the other side of the world show pictures of the imsides of tortured rats.

In the land of the real, kiddy fiddlers, whores and nutjobs don't all group together in one place. That's why it's more scary than in real life, where these sort of people aren't usually all in one place supporting each other and easy to find.
 
Aion said:
In the land of the real, kiddy fiddlers, whores and nutjobs don't all group together in one place. That's why it's more scary than in real life, where these sort of people aren't usually all in one place supporting each other and easy to find.
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I agree. And its not only that they gang together. While I am all for anonymity, I think it should not be used for the purpose of destroying that of others.

I hate moralistic arguments against crime, and will not resort to one. It must be recognised that human society is utilitarian in many of its ways, and I personally do think that harmless crime should be abolished (crime against morality, blah blah), but this sort of behaviour is not harmless. Because people attach much importance to public opinion, this sort of cancer can hinder the lives of many in various ways. It is against our interests to let such an international 'defamation-engine' function unrestricted.

I am not talking about the average user here, but those persons who are willing to go at great lengths NOT for their own benefit, but simply to the detriment of others. A person who does harm simply for the purpose of doing harm obviously wants to be a malignant tumor quite deliberately, and should be treated as such.
 
It does help not to post nude pictures of yourslef though for the whole world to see.
But ED has quite an interesting archieve of all the drama from the interwebs
 
The internet is bringing the people of the world closer together - so naturally it's going to bring the psychos together (look at how the white supremacists and Islamic fundamentalists use it) at the same time as it brings say, anime and manga fans together as well.

It isn't good to prey on the naive, but yes, it is just the same thing people have always done - just a different way of doing it. Also certain groups do band together in the real world too. With regards to say paedophiles, contrary to popular (Daily Mail) belief the internet makes them easier to catch not harder, as they're essentially operating in the open as far as the authorities are concerned. That's better than them being a group of individuals who exchange and produce the stuff personally, as the police would have to infiltrate a group of individuals rather than just their e-mails or websites.

However as Derfel points out, that's fine when they're targeting real criminals but dangerous (much like security cameras, ID cards, etc) if they start criminalizing people who are in fact doing no harm to others. However I would disagree on the "defamation" point - that is the fault of our society which is wrong to judge people the way it does. So someone has some nude pictures on the internet. So what - why should that hinder their life? The only reason it does is this horrible idea (a carry over from religious ideas) that there is somehow a "public morality" which frowns upon people like that being bank managers or civil servants but is perfectly acceptable if your profession is porn star.
 
ayase said:
You won't hear me say this often (I'm all for The Truth) but sometimes it is best to remain blissfully ignorant, if only for the sake of your own mental wellbeing.
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Amen to that.

I do, however, have sympathy for this Boxxy character. All she did, as far as I can tell, was post some endearing/annoying (depending on your perspective) videos on Youtube and she ended up being hounded by some of the internet's most unpleasant individuals. You could argue that attention whores get what they deserve, and that they should know better, but some people are naive and unaware of this aspect of internet "culture".
 
ayase said:
However I would disagree on the "defamation" point - that is the fault of our society which is wrong to judge people the way it does. So someone has some nude pictures on the internet. So what - why should that hinder their life? The only reason it does is this horrible idea (a carry over from religious ideas) that there is somehow a "public morality" which frowns upon people like that being bank managers or civil servants but is perfectly acceptable if your profession is porn star.
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I agree with you wholeheartedly, although I think you read too much into my comment. I did not mean to imply that the acts you mentioned, and numerous other ones, are in any 'negative'. They are however morally reprehensible. I personally have no morals, so I couldn't care less about what people do, I'm fine with letting them decide in peace whatever the heck they do for a hobby. It cannot be denied, however, that the majority of people are judging. They do in fact care about their superficial little morals, and yes, if you have had your reputation destroyed publicly, that will most probably affect you economically. Morality is like cancer. We have diagnosed it, it is arbitrary, it is utter BS, but diagnosing it does not cure society.
 
I may have misspoken when I said I disagreed. Apologies. What I meant was that I blame society's judgmental nature for both the problems caused when personal things are leaked about a person and the desire for people to smear other individuals.

Derfel said:
It cannot be denied, however, that the majority of people are judging. They do in fact care about their superficial little morals, and yes, if you have had your reputation destroyed publicly, that will most probably affect you economically. Morality is like cancer. We have diagnosed it, it is arbitrary, it is utter BS, but diagnosing it does not cure society.
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Identifying the morality problem doesn't solve anything by itself, but at least some of us do realise it is a problem, and that's the first step. Society has been put off the idea of abandoning their current concepts of morality through the fact that it was championed by Nietzsche, as in most peoples minds Nietzsche = Hitler. We have a lot more to blame that guy for than physical destruction. Most of the concepts he latched onto and perverted for his own ends have never recovered.
 
You're only finding out all this now, Aion? I thought you were the ORIGINAL Anonymous.

ED gives you viruses.
 
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whoa...now thats something just slightly fcuked up.
blending a rat? sticking its sorry ruins on your chest? its an eye opener...in itself thats an understatement.

i thought 4 chan was just a violent place that members argued. belittled and tortured each other verbally...i've heard of people being traced on other websites..it's not really too hard to do. and trying to push people to suicide....im not too suprised to be honest...there's been worse done in the playgrounds of schools.

i didn't know there where camwhores on 4chan though.....this is the one bit of good news in this :lol:
so cheers for the heads up Aion....just stay way from such forums as dumpstersluts..... my friend came round once and logged in via my laptop....i was suprised.

I know there's weirder things on the internet....like those weirdo's who have intercourse with animals....but its still shocking when you hear of weird shiz like this.
 
Retro, if you're aware that the people who hang around /b/ have more than a few screw loose, why do you hang around the place so much that you seem to have an intimate knowledge of recent and past events?

It's like I said - if lots of people group together and do the same thing, without thinking they're risking themselves in the process, people feel no responsibility. If it was a real life situation where a persons real troll identity was at risk and the police could get involved then they wouldn't go to the same extremes described on ED.

In real life there have been examples of someone collapsing in a public area and not being helped for a lengthy period because everyone thought someone else would handle it. In real life there have been gang rapes where a stranger joined in because others were doing the same thing.

Really, sites like 4chan bring out the worst, most hateful and attention seeking aspects of us - power hungry creatures. It's very easy to gain power over others online if you have the knowledge required - far easier than it is to pull off in real life. In real life you can hide and protect you physical mail, yet online important information can be got at by someone guessing a password.

I once looked down on bullies, thinking they were pathetic. It was only after I started doing the same things I'd hated that I realized everyone is the same - we all need to use others to make up for our own failures. It feels good when you find someone worse, or more stupid than yourself and laugh at them with those who had laughed at you in the past. And that's how 4chan functions - people who have suffered find salvation on the net by casting aside their real identities and become part of a system designed to destroy the lives of others.

Maybe I'm being over dramatic, letting depression speak for me, but watching how people act on 4chan makes me feel disgusted to be human. I'm no saint - I feel nothing for anyone and hate how drama queens try to make me care about the deaths of people I never knew - but pushing people to suicide via bullying is something I would never attempt to do.
 
casting 4chan aside for the moment Aion, there are some chans that do have a few decent people. though there are ones that are more disturbing then 4chans /b/, namely a certain 12 + 7 = grotesque.

I think i remember reading something that some girl got hunted down for being posted on one of the chans.

Hied my warnings, unless your over 21 and armed with a 12 gauge then the lest you wanna do is post you face on sites like Aions on about
 
I sometimes fear some people on 4chan, especially the weaponry board. That said, I retain a fascination in how other people express their interest in often mundane subjects such as public transport and convenience food -interests which I now share- and as a source of bizarre and often highly-effective humour 4chan seldom fails to deliver. The behaviour there is worrying at times, but I remind myself to try not to take the conversations seriously.
 
4chan can produce hilarious memes, but I'm inclined to believe the negative aspects by far outweigh the good aspects. That Boxxy thing is just bizarre. I can't believe people hacked her account and tried, thankfully in vain, to ruin her life. A lot of people are 4chan are abjectly pathetic.
 
Otaku-san said:
casting 4chan aside for the moment Aion, there are some chans that do have a few decent people.
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What, like not4chan?

EDIT: Also, just a question, how many of you have actually been to 4chan? I'm not pointing fingers but it seems a lot of you are like "4CHAN IS A TERRIBLE PLACE. Even though I've never been there."

Just wondering.
 
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