Does /b/ represent true democracy?

Yeah I was a bit drunk when I posted that. I still stand by it more or less though.

Animasta had this picture in her images list and I quite like it.

This so hard.

It bums me out that all of 4chan is pretty much shoved under the "anonymous, lulz and exploding yellow vans" banner of 2006-era /b/ and talked about like some dark, scary place. The vast majority of boards are no different than this place (or any other forum for that matter), and it really rubs me the wrong way when people act like they're morally superior to the people who visit them.

To be fair, 4chan is still a little more rough even in the other boards, but most of them are not as bad as /b/. With the exception of /v/, because that place also sucks.

If the vast majority of the boards are akin to this place (or other forums), why go there? It seems silly to go to a place renowned for having very few rules to be civil. You can be civil on lots of other forums, without the distraction of a more anarchic group the likes 4chan attracts.

Why go here instead of Gamespot or IGN or Destructoid or Kotaku? Why go anywhere instead of anywhere else? It's a different community with different people and different discussions, often a lot more specialized and in-depth than you could hope to find on other sites.

Also, the imageboard format is just more conducive to discussion in general. You don't have to worry about politics or not being taken seriously because of your post count or something you've said in a previous discussion (and don't say that doesn't happen here because it absolutely does) or anything like that - ideas sink or swim based on their own merits, not how you present your dumb internet persona.

4chan is basically the id of the Internet. For better and (mostly) worse. At least it keeps /b/tards and /v/diots in a safe place where they be absolute cockbags to each other. Sometimes, they do wander off from 4chan and spread their disease to other parts of the Internet.

Alright, that's fair. So if you were given the option to have this imagboard, anonymous format, but in an environment where the "scary" side of 4chan was removed, would you? It seems like a part of the community is spoiling the image of a site you want to identify with.

If posting traps and naked females count as democracy.. sure?

I don't frequent /b/ as much as I used to but if you go to the right threads you can find a lot of cool people. The trolls are usually so bad that it's blatantly obvious what they're trying to do and they're easy to ignore. I love gallows humor and there's some quality stuff on /b/.

@sunbrozak: Forced civility leads to self censorship and smaller scope of discussion, and less honest discussion. Also some people value civility less than you.

I'm not sure what I said that gave you the impression that I don't recognize that people value civility less than myself. Probably poor wording on my part. Though you're right with your former point. I hadn't considered that the lack of rules can also be an outlet for those looking for meaningful discussion without a mod breathing down their neck when the subject of the conversation becomes sensitive, or the debate becomes heated.

@slaegar said:

@kevin_cogneto said:

@slaegar said:

On 4chan people call each other names that would ban you from almost any website (including this one) and it isn't even an insult.

4chan isn't something strange.

4chan is all of us.

The thing we want to say, the thing we all want to say, but can't.

Speak for yourself, duder. Not all of us want to go through life hurling insults at one another. What you call censorship, I call simple human decency.

EDIT: Hah, you censored yourself, nice work.

Yeah I was a bit drunk when I posted that. I still stand by it more or less though.

Animasta had this picture in her images list and I quite like it.

I do agree with what Fry is saying there, but I'd also point out it has no relevance to this matter. He is talking about free speech, & the old line of "I don't agree with you, but I'll defend your right to hold that opinion regardless". I mean when someone says "I hate gays", personally I find that repugnant & just a totally indefensible viewpoint, but I respect peoples right to hold that view. I don't have to respect that view though, which is an important distinction, & on top of that, free speech is a two way street, you can say that "I hate gays", but someone can come back at you & say you're a fucking bigot for holding that view.

Where as this is just "/b/ says intentionally offensive stuff for shock value." Which is fine. I've done that too. But I don't really need to visit a website that is nothing but shock value, because that just ends up diminishing actually shocking things. And at a certain point, I like still being able to be shocked by genuinely horrible things.

If by Darwinism you mean the Hallmark card version of it, than sure

If you mean actual Darwinism, please use the wonderful free source known as Wikipedia to learn what it actually is

Democracy is terrible outside the context of a few dozen or few hundred people in a tribal society; 4chan is also terrible; therefore they have something in common even if it has nothing to do with democracy.

@slaegar said:

@kevin_cogneto said:

@slaegar said:

On 4chan people call each other names that would ban you from almost any website (including this one) and it isn't even an insult.

4chan isn't something strange.

4chan is all of us.

The thing we want to say, the thing we all want to say, but can't.

Speak for yourself, duder. Not all of us want to go through life hurling insults at one another. What you call censorship, I call simple human decency.

EDIT: Hah, you censored yourself, nice work.

Yeah I was a bit drunk when I posted that. I still stand by it more or less though.

Animasta had this picture in her images list and I quite like it.

I hadn't notice you referencing me, but I posted that picture ages ago because it's fucking terrible and annoying and I hate it forever.

Having no rules is very rarely a good thing. There's a reason almost every other board on 4Chan hates /b/ and refers to it as the containment board.

To be absolutely blunt, I personally don't care about the so-called 'scary' side of 4chan. I am not offended easily and I am very rarely bothered by anything anyone says on the internet. Aside from that, the 'scary' part of 4chan - i.e. /b/, is thought of as the idiot filter for the site, and it works pretty well.

As has been pointed out, the attraction of 4chan is that there is no post-history and no legacy in the form of accounts etc so posters on the site take opinions on face value. Compare that with what happens here with certain posters like Darji who people will constantly pre-judge because of the strong opinions which he expressed in some of the Sarkeesian threads.

Anarchy is not an appropriate term for /b/ as /b/ is, as with all of 4chan, still subject to international amalgam law (general internet consensus on things that are super duper illegal pretty much worldwide) and is moderated for this reason. It is on the laissez-faire end of the law abiding internet, sure, but is certainly nothing approaching anarchy.

Cringing hard at this thread

@darji: Remember kids: Don't be a big meanie on the Internet. Or the Cyberpolice will get you.