4chan

4chan is an English-language imageboard website. Users generally post anonymously, with the most recent posts appearing above the rest. 4chan is split into various boards with their own specific content and guidelines, while registration is not required.

Launched on October 1, 2003, its boards were originally used for the posting of pictures and discussion of manga and anime, as the site was modelled on Japanese imageboards. However the site quickly became popular and expanded, though much of 4chan's content still features otaku, anime and other Japanese cultural influences.

The site has been linked to Internet subcultures and activism, most notably Project Chanology. 4chan users have been responsible for the formation or popularization of Internet memes such as lolcats, Rickrolling, "Chocolate Rain", Pedobear and many others. The site's "Random" board is by far its most popular and notorious feature. Known as "/b/", there are minimal rules on posted content. Gawker once jokingly claimed that "reading /b/ will melt your brain". The site's anonymous community and culture have often provoked media attention. For media planners, this enterprise is "further proof that creativity is everywhere and new media is less accessible" to advertisement agencies.

4chan has been instrumental in hijacking internet destinations for pranks, so that, for example images of Rick Astley appeared instead of the page that was searched for; the coordination of attacks against other websites and internet users; and reactions to threats of violence that have been posted on the site. The Guardian once summarized the 4chan community as "lunatic, juvenile... brilliant, ridiculous and alarming."