Did 4chan really get worse or did people just grow up?
4chan got worse because people grew up.
>>331975
It got worse because more people moved into the internet and made this their personal battleground.
>>331975
>tfw I can't imagine 4chan shitposting going on when I was too young to be exposed to it
I think me missing old 4chan is just me missing the older internet and my teenage years in general. Watching flash movies on Newgrounds, shitposting on /b/, and playing Playstation late into the night, just to go to sleep and do it all again tomorrow. Not to be sentimental but 4chan really did use to be a special place (and I guess it still kind of is). Now the "new generation" is creating their own golden age.
>>331975
It almost seems like the difference is just that 4chan forgot people actually do things just to be dicks sometimes or just to have fun and see what will happen without really putting much thought into it. The internet has always been that way, but now that I think about it it really seems like most people on 4chan assume everyone is doing things just to fit in or to effect change, rather than to just have a laugh.
One thing I personally remember about the older internet in general is that I never felt like I could change people. Trolls were just trolls, they were literally everywhere, in your chatrooms, spamming your email inbox, griefing you in online games and it was just an expected part of the internet that I lived with. Maybe that's just how I remember it when I was younger though I don't know.
But it all seems different now, and 4chan seems to have an atmosphere of expectation that even trolls should conform to a certain style of acceptable shitposting.
So basically I think all the same elements are still here, the environment just feels different because entitled oldfags or tryhard newfags think there's something sacred about humor here whereas in the past people would just recognize it as a troll and either laugh or move on. It probably doesn't help that there's also a much wider diversity of people on this site than there probably ever was in the past which creates a lot of tension.
>>332028
>Now the "new generation" is creating their own golden age.
>low quality shitposting
>turning every word into a 3 letter acronym
Truly a golden age for people who don't care about posting quality, come from reddit and like to think they are a le haxor anonmouse 4channer :^)
>>332062
My issue with the current one is more of that current shitposting leans more on normalfaggotry and that '4chan is for le shitpostin', rather than being for the sake of being a fucking dick
Its not like 4chan used to be any better, but your right anon, its the environment. And the current environment is worse then the previous one
>>332074
>that '4chan is for le shitpostin'
yeah true, I guess I wasn't thinking about that
That mentality is probably mostly being grown on other sites, what with all the websites basically acting as meme delivery services, and the social networks circlejerking and congratulating each other on posting a funny image macro
Not really sure there's anything we can do about that.
Shit, I almost forgot about the days when people actually fell for tool bars
>>332130
>You installed the tbp toolbar
>>332144
I remember installing shit like the infamous toolbar with the smileys and shit
>>332028
>tfw you found out about hentai through newgrounds
>>332074
>My issue with the current one is [hackneyed, whinging horseshit elided] and that '4chan is for le shitpostin'
it always has been, you turbonigger
What kind of mental vegetable expects to have serious discussions in an environment where trolls and shitposters cannot be put on ignore lists? Besides you, I mean.
And even if we inhabited a parallel universe in which there were no funposters on 4chan, it would still be utterly useless for discussion because the average """""person""""" here is a 15-year-old hikikomori who wastes his pathetic existence holed up in a physical and virtual hugbox. It's futile to discuss anything with these genetic failures because they'll defend their ignorance until they run out of funions. Just to save face. On an anonymous imageboard. What else is there to do but trigger them for keks?
>>332248
>it always has been,
No it hasn't you moron, the site was made for discussion, shitposting just apart of the site design
>What kind of mental vegetable expects to have serious discussions in an environment where trolls and shitposters cannot be put on ignore lists?
>I CANT DISCUSS ANYTHING OR DO ANYTHING BECAUSE I CANT FUCKING REMOVE OR REMOVE PEOPLE WHOS OPINIONS I DONT LIKE FROM MY SIGHT AND MY AUTISM MEANS I HAVE TO REPLY TO THEM AS SUCH THE SITE CAN ONLY BE USED TO SHITPOST
Have you ever heard of the saying, "Don't feed the trolls". I also bet you think reddit is anything but a echo chamber
> the average """""person""""" here is a 15-year-old hikikomori
Maybe if you're using boards like fucking /v/ or /pol/ or if this was fucking 10 years ago. People on the other boards that aren't just shitposting normally have a userbase thats actually adults
Shitposting is apart of the site, but its not the point of the site and can be used for actual good discussion. Congrats on being the problem
in a way [s4s] reminds me of old /b/ only less FYAD and more BYOB
they even still have the DESU spam going
>>332248
>"""""person"""""
What started this poor abuse of quotation marks? I've been seeing this shit everywhere recently.
>>331975
People just turned into special snowflakes and took everything so damn seriously
>>332295
>>I CANT DISCUSS ANYTHING OR DO ANYTHING BECAUSE I CANT FUCKING REMOVE OR REMOVE PEOPLE WHOS OPINIONS I DONT LIKE FROM MY SIGHT
>he actually believes that reading 8 shitposts and 5 tardposts for every genuine post is a good use of his time
confirmed for hikki
>I also bet you think reddit is anything but a echo chamber
>bringing up reddit when I didn't even mention it
Tonight isn't your typical night lad. Be sure to check thrice under your bed for the reddit alien.
>>332324
>>he actually believes that reading 8 shitposts and 5 tardposts for every genuine post is a good use of his time
>actually reading fucking posts
With the exception of things you intend to reply to, you fucking skim and scan most posts. If you can't get through a few hundred post thread in a few minutes, your doing it wrong. Good job being retarded
>>332336
>you fucking skim and scan most posts
I skimmed yours. No points for guessing the conclusion I came to.
4chan got better. /b/ got much worse.
>>331975
That browser sure looks comfy.
>>333731
I thought the same thing, but when you think about it though it's really not all that different from the ones we have today (at least not for me), except that the theme has warmer colors.
Modern software loves to use cold colors for some reason, a lot of blues and off-white in the blue-green range
>>332336
>you fucking skim and scan most posts.
Never.
>>332302
More parenthesis equals more questionability. Get with the times gramps
People will kill me for saying this, but at least for /a/, 2006-2008 was basically a proto-Reddit culture, where people would get into eternal debates, spam mimetic shit, and then sage threads which did not conform. On the other hand, there was also much more lighthearted and easy-posting which was generally enjoyable.
When Reddit was created, the culture shifted to be more dedicated, reactionary, and less open. Now, you guys say this would be an improvement, but my point is that 4chan only started to get anal about shitposting after the casual posters left en masse, leaving only those who could not find solace in social media or Reddit.
i dunno man, even old /b/ had some sense of when to stop being retarded
>>331975
Those are some facebook levels of autism back then
I'd say 60/40
/b/ as an example, at least had some variety back then
Now it's porn, roll threads, drug threads, and r8 my cock threads
>>332045
>But it all seems different now, and 4chan seems to have an atmosphere of expectation that even trolls should conform to a certain style of acceptable shitposting.
Yep, don't let anyone tell you that you're shitposting incorrectly
>>332168
i found out about hentai when i was 11 and asked my friend who his favorite Naruto character was and he said Hinata "because she looks good naked"
it's impossible to grasp just how surprised i was that naked anime actually existed
who cares
>>331975
4chan got worse because not everyone grew up
>>331975
more posters lead to lower quality posts. more mods/jannies lead to differing views on what should be deleted so more things got deleted
>>332045
>I never felt like I could change people
nailed it. everyone wants everyone to be like them and they use the internet to do it
>>332151
kek I remember people running virtual PC's and doing this shit
They grew up and thought: Wait, why am I working to make OC for free?
You know it's worse when people don't even have the decency to edit out imgur or tumblr filenames and not getting called out for it and refusing to lurk.
>>331975
Hasn't gotten worse or better. Same old thing, really. The people who think it got worse tend to be people who think it's meant to be a comedy website, so the jokes get old and stale if you're here all the time. Or they're edgy kids and 4chan just doesn't do it for them and they need something new and hip to be on. Or they're newfags who think OC matters. 4chan was always a discussion board. To discuss things other people already made and to talk about things anonymously.
Aside from that it's nothing that special or grand like people make it out to be that contribute to the whole "OMG DID 4CHAN GET WORSE? IT'S DYING!" stuff. Treat it as a discussion board and not some sort of playground. There's a lot of aspects to 4chan that can make it enjoyable. Fixate on one specific novelty and it'll lose that novelty with time.
>>338415
>Confirmed for never looking at 2004 screenshots.
What was considered fucking funny then might be considered genuine cancer now
>>331986
>4chan
>grew up
>>331975
4chan got supposedly worse because it grew, got bigger, got popular to a certain extent and it's diluted with many types of people, some compatible with others, others incompatible. 4chan has been at the forefront of the growing internet popularity.
4chan hasn't changed that drastically, in my opinion. It has always been the playground for social outcasts into a hobby, be it nerdy or other. Only there are more people now, some more annoying than others, maybe.
>>331975
It's almost comical to think how many arguments all over the boards there are over "was old /_/ better?" or "4chan has gone to shit" especially considering most of the people taking part of in them probably joined sometime in the 2010s.
While I may not have been around since the beginning (I joined in Fall of '06), I like to consider myself part of the old breed. Having been here since that time, I can tell you that there has indeed been a drastic difference to the website's culture.
However, unlike what some might try to tell you the general memes/jokes and post quality hasn't honestly changed that much.
>>331975
I do kind of miss the days when the site's userbase mostly consisted of hardcore otakus because they seemed to create most of the amusing content and weren't completely retarded.
Post more pictures of 4chan pre web 2.0
>>342157
If you first came to this site ten years ago, you would believe that it got worse and it could be that you simply matured a little.
But anyone objectively viewing the archived posts for the first time could arrive at the same conclusion as well.
>>342757
Is there a causal connection between having a board primarily composed of tripfags and the generally relaxed atmosphere I see in those images?
I like to think not, but what do I know?
If it's just coincidence then what else could be the cause?
>>342773
I'd say that the number of tripfags was caused by how small the community was, many people knew each other IRL and wanted to recognize them on 4chan too (like how registration works elsewhere). This would have also cause the relaxed atmosphere as it was a collection of like minded individuals who knew each other, but tripfaagging itself probably wasn't the cause.
>>342778
I wish there was something 4chan could do to encourage users to take it easy more.
>>342763
Got any more, anon? I posted the other caps but I desperately want to build my collection.
>>342793
I found these video of 2006 4chan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9kWv9Pc6BU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWKujWvVIPw
>>342793
>>342808
>>342811
>>342812
>>342814
>>342819
>>342821
>>342824
>>342830
>>342835
>>342836
>>342838
>>342840
>>342841
>>342843
>>342845
>>342845
ouch...
>>342846
>>342848
>>342849
>>342851
>>342854
>>342855
I don't think I do, it seems that they started becoming a commonplace thing in 2006/2007. There are very few from before that
We must go deeper!
Old screencap threads are the only decent threads on /qa/ desu
>>342865
Reverse image searching this found me this site from early 2004 by some 4channer, that is somehow still around: http://waha.nce.buttobi.net/
There's some oldconversations about 4chan still on 4-ch:
2004: http://4-ch.net/dqn/kareha.pl/1102249734/
2005: http://archives.4-ch.net/general/kareha.pl/1125346744/
>>342900
>did you ever get banned from 4chan? And what for?
>once I was banned from 4chan cause I told moot how to do his job. Then after he did what I told him to, he banned me "for good measure", lol
shiiieeet
>>342865
/a/ is only about 1-2 days old in that pic.
b_was_never_good.jpg
I've got a few old screencaps, not from 2004
no idea of the quality
/b/'s 100000GET
>>343006
Feel free to post
>>343009
>same person
Samefagging before it was cool
>>343009
>Mario Kart DS
Now I miss middle school.
>>343013
I'm amazed someone actually screencapped it, but I give thanks to them whoever they are
>when moot fucked with /b/'s theme, November 2005
Screencap of /l/
>>342763
>Zyzzx
>before Zyzz got famous
Bruh
does anybody have the cap, where all boards kek one guy, bc he doesnt use reaction pics?
>>343407
What is that zip.4channel.org web address about?
>>343465
Boards were being hosted separately. data.4channel, dis.4chan, boards.4chan, zip.4channel, etc.
There are a bunch of archived threads from 2004 /b/ here: http://rx.vyrd.net/
Most of the threads remind me either of Reddit, or those threads where /b/ pretends to be Reddit
>>343475
Holy shit, it's Kebinu.
>>344283
Who?
>>344304
Some Touhou fan I've known for years, nobody actually important. Just funny that he would be incidentally caught in someone's ten year old screencap.
>>344304
From LurkMore:
"Multi-board tripfag who, while contributing occasional fanboyish bursts of "original content" that ran the gamut from popular to mind-numbingly stupid and filled with fail, wore out his welcome by insisting on participating in every Kannazuki no Miko flame war thread on /u/ and /a/ and by biting on every attempt to troll him hook, line and sinker. The proper response to his posts is considered to be to either sage him or post a picture of Chikane Himemiya to piss him off. Is now usually saged on sight by Anonymous, except when he spams another 50-picture Marimite thread, at which point "sage for Kebinu" sometimes turns into "age for Kebinu". Among his other dubious 'accomplishments': The "Enemies of All Mankind" list of harem anime leads, some three dozen Flash loops (including the popular "rumpshaker.swf", "kaedepsycho.swf", "suigintoucooks.swf" and the 11/3/05 tribute), a parody of Monty Python and the Holy Grail using Velox's Fate/stay night sprites, and writing sexually explicit fantasies about anime girls, most notoriously his threesome fantasy about Nanoha and Fate. He is known to hate Chikane, the Nadesico movie, and Abicion.
Kebinu attempted the 100000GET on /u/ in October 2006 with an edited Chikane sprite, but missed. Since the get itself was off-topic, unremarkable and deleted, in a rare moment of sportsmanship, /u/ declared the "ChikaneGET" the honorary GET."
>>344346
>and the 11/3/05 tribute
Shit, I still remember that. Apparently that flash is still being rarely posted to /f/ according to swfchan.
The dedication of some people even after all these years, that's quite warming.
i still hate how I missed my chance to post that this year on 11/3/15, 10 years after Cotton-Eye Joe and flashing colors killed the eyes of /b/tards Fuck.
>>344346
That is hilarious that someone actually cared to write out his backstory. As you can see there was nothing particularly noteworthy about him.
>>342870
This, tbqh.
I'm wasn't old enough to really be on here '03 to '07, but a lot of these posts sound really cringe-y. Is that because stuff like "epic win" "internet over" became really overused over time, or was it cringey back then too?
>>343013
>Nyoro~n in 2006
I had no idea it was that old. In fact, how can it even be that old?
people just started to take everything here seriously. Boards like /pol/ and /r9k/ are full of genuine hateful people gullible enough to be influenced by what they read online, who spout meme buzzwords unintelligently as a response to anything that goes against the grain of the board's flavour of shitposting.
>>345671
This is pretty much exactly how I see it too.
>>342780
Tons of boards take it easy. However, their demographics are different than the big boards.
>>345687
Then I wish there was something 4chan could do to encourage users of big boards to take it easy more.
>>332048
>le haxor anonmouse 4channer :^)
Why is Anonymous so thoroughly ridiculed whenever anything comes up?
