creative writing 4chan

Is 4chan Malicious or Misguided? ‘The Antisocial Network’ Sees Both Sides

One of the most notorious places on the internet gets the biography it deserves in this fascinating documentary.

Allegra Frank

Deputy Entertainment Editor

Netflix via SXSW

Growing up in the mid-aughts, when posting and/or lurking on internet forums became a veritable hobby, I found that the forums I’d read—often about pop culture, video games, or anime—would parrot a similar line: Everything on the internet originated in their communities. The belief was that even something as niche as a forum about Nintendo Wii games or Cartoon Network could take credit for a widely shared meme, if its community members believed they said it, saw it, or shared it first. It made the internet, so vast and unknowable, feel so much more intimate, small, and private. And at the same time, it felt empowering: We smallest of people, we nerdiest of nerds, could make some impact, even if it was just seeing random people on Facebook share a goofy drawing of a Pokémon that we believed to have made and shared first.

I thought of all this while watching The Antisocial Network , an engrossing documentary that premiered March 10 at SXSW Film Festival . (It will stream on Netflix in April.) Tracking the explosive rise of 4chan, the film spotlights the best-known example of an internet forum bleeding out beyond its own bounds and into real life. And 4chan did much more than generate memes and even a new form of speaking online, both of which it did infinite times: It made a tangible, real-world impact, one that became shockingly political, criminal, and unstoppable.

The Antisocial Network marks the second sociological study of the internet from co-directors Giorgio Angelini and Arthur Jones, following 2020’s Feels Good Man . Like that film, which followed the bizarre evolution of the Pepe the Frog meme from innocuous comic to alt-right calling card, this doc threads the needle between appealing to those viewers well-versed in all things internet and those who know 4chan best as the birthplace of QAnon. It’s both nostalgic and illuminating to recall the image board’s more humble beginnings in 2003, as a lo-fi image board for anime fans to share fan art and talk about their favorite shows. Journalists and actual power users of the forum tell 4chan’s story from a personal standpoint, waxing nostalgic about how exciting it was to have a place where they could anonymously—a keyword here!—create personas for themselves, ones that were “an inverse of how I was in real life,” as a user who goes by Fuxnet explains.

Angelini and Jones combine their talking head narration with a swift and at times hilarious barrage of memes, GIFs, and forum posts for further color, bolstered by glitchy animation to convey the highly digital playground where much of the story is staged. But the flashy Dragon Ball Z and Naruto images eventually give way to something darker as the internet begins to bleed into real life. 4chan slowly became a harbinger of collective action, which started off appropriately goofy: In 2006, a group of users swarmed the avatar-based socializing game Habbo Hotel en masse after rumors swirled that the website banned avatars of people of color. Creating Black characters with Afros and wearing suits , they would gather in some of the game’s most frequently visited spots—particularly a pool area—and prevent anyone from playing there. But what was mildly annoying to people online eventually became annoying to people offline, as the group decided to replicate their efforts to actual pools. This on- and offline meme-turned-“raid” became known as “ Pool’s Closed ,” and The Antisocial Network cites it as the beginning of Anonymous.

Anonymous has become a well-known vigilante group to a large swath of non-4chan users for its large-scale actions, many of which involved targeting large corporations and places of power. But, as The Antisocial Network reminds us, it was born from a place of trolling. Fuxnet and other power-users at the time, like the pink-haired Kirtaner, Gregg Housh, and Jeremy Hammond, who was later sentenced to 10 years in jail for calling attention to his work hacking power players like Rupert Murdoch during Occupy Wall Street, recount stories of the intoxicating effect of pissing off everyone from white nationalists to major corporations. (Memorably, they often wore V for Vendetta -style Guy Fawkes masks while doing it, to render themselves an unknowable mass.) But this “merry band of chaos-makers,” as Kirtaner called them, eventually collapsed under the fear of what happened to Hammond.

But that bubble was blown back up sooner than later, and in much more malicious ways. Rumormongers eventually turned their (perhaps ill-considered) social justice campaigns into harassment efforts, as the film emphasizes. Yes, 4chan did some funny things like getting Oprah to read “ over 9,000 penises ” on television and sending a Nazi radio host to jail, as well as helping galvanize the 99-percenters. But it also instigated Gamergate and, later, the ridiculous amount of misinformation that arguably helped Donald Trump walk away with a victory in 2016. It also helped inspire more fringe and dangerous knockoffs that encouraged and validated people like Dylann Roof . The amount of archival footage, combined with the impressively involved collection of talking heads—the film also features interviews with Fredrick Brennan, founder of the even more toxic 4chan-spinoff 8chan, and former YouTube QAnon truther Isaac H.P., who range from seemingly unbothered to apologetic about their participation in objectively terrible online social movements—renders The Antisocial Network a gripping watch.

The film does eventually tread what feels like overly familiar, if necessary, territory in its last stretch. Perhaps this is recency bias, but it feels like there is little more to add to the discussion of the Jan. 6 Capitol Riots in 2024 that hasn’t already been probed by countless other docs. Here, however, the strong connective tissue helps make that part of the story feel relevant, if not particularly exciting. And talking to someone like Kappy, who was integral to QAnon’s rise, makes for a more interesting watch than just hearing from those who joined in on the conspiracy later on.

Even if the political discussion feels more repetitive than additive, however, The Antisocial Network ultimately feels like a vital watch. For over 20 years, 4chan has undoubtedly been one of the most important places on the internet. For its own users to help tell the story of its rise and dramatic descent feels right, necessary, and instructive. We may never be able to stop something as strong as Anonymous from cultivating a hotbed of hate and mission of misinformation—but this film also serves as a reminder that perhaps its power can be harnessed for better, if not outright “good.” It’s easy to be nihilistic about the internet, and the film often veers into that territory; even its creator, known as Moot, had to abandon the site due to its toxicity and encourage users to “ touch grass .” But it importantly reminds us that the internet is hardly small or private—so let this to be a cautionary tale in the face of a better future.

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Will 4chan still be seen as an innovator under new owner.

4chan, the anarchic website dubbed "the id of the Internet," looks set to stay true to its ethos under its new owner, Hiroyuki Nishimura, says the co-chief executive at TMW Unlimited.

"Would a cell phone carrier feel responsible when somebody receives a threatening phone call?" The words of Hiroyuki Nishimura, the founder of 2channel, explaining in an interview why he has no intention of paying the millions of dollars in penalties he’s received over the content on his site.

2channel, one of the earliest anonymous online message boards, inspired a host of copycat sites after its launch in 1999 and eventually led to the creation of 4chan by Christopher Poole.

Poole described his decision to sell 4chan to Nishimura this week as "coming full circle," calling Nishimura the "great-grandfather of 4chan."

4chan, the anarchic website dubbed "the id of the Internet," looks set to stay true to its ethos under Nishimura. The move could even mark a return to the early days of the social web where everything was about serving the needs of a given community, with advertising seen as an anathema to the spirit of building and serving that community.

Whether brands or creative agencies would still look to 4chan as an innovator or creator of future web culture is debatable, however.

The site’s subconscious imitators, not least BuzzFeed and Snapchat, have taken its essence and surpassed it with a far superior user experience and a more "brand-friendly" community.

It is doubtful whether 4chan, which Poole has run as a hobby rather than a business, would ever be capable of monetizing its audience in the same way as Facebook or Twitter. Arguably it is its lack of commerciality, as well as its anonymity, that its millions of users value most.

There is no real sense that Nishimura is interested in meeting brands’ needs over the needs of his users, which puts a question mark over any opportunities for brands the change in ownership will bring.

Currently, advertising display is a blunt instrument on 4chan. There is little control over what content your ad will appear alongside and hardly any tracking of user behavior.

Ultimately, the negative cultural baggage that the site carries from its association with hacker communities, misogynistic attacks, whistle-blowers and hardcore porn is enough to give most brand managers a few sleepless nights.

Chris Pearce is the joint chief executive at TMW Unlimited.

This article first appeared on campaignlive.co.uk .

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How to make strike out text on four channels

By trevor talley / in computers & electronics.

Four Channels is an imageboard website more commonly known as "4chan." It is famous for being the first place many popular Internet "memes" were seen, as well as for the actions of some of its users who call themselves "Anonymous" and have been allegedly involved in various Internet crimes. 4chan's format is that of a message board, mostly centred around the posting of discussions and images, and it uses the standard BBCode tags to format text in posts.

• Four Channels is an imageboard website more commonly known as "4chan."
• 4chan's format is that of a message board, mostly centred around the posting of discussions and images, and it uses the standard BBCode tags to format text in posts.

Open a web browser on your computer.

Visit "http://4chan.org."

Use the menus at the top of the 4chan page to select an imageboard in which to post your text. This can be any imageboard, but because the image-boards are split according to content, anything deemed inappropriate for the topic of the imageboard may be deleted, even if it may actually be appropriate.

• Click the link to start a new thread in your selected imageboard, or click on a thread created by someone else.

Click in the white box where you enter text. If you are starting your own thread, this will be at the top of the page. For someone else's thread, scroll to the bottom of the posts in the thread.

Type your post as normal, stopping when you reach the point at which you would like to type "strike out" text, which is better known as "strikethrough" text.

Type "[s]" into your post before the text you wish to strike through. When you have typed all that you wish to strike through, type "[/s]" (leaving out the quotation marks in both cases). These are called strikethrough tags. In BBCode, tags must be typed with the "[" and "]" brackets, and not the standard HTML "<" and ">" symbols, or any other symbols, or they will not work.

• When you have typed all that you wish to strike through, type "[/s]" (leaving out the quotation marks in both cases).

Continue typing the content of your post, using the above strikethrough method when needed. When done, press the button to post your content. If done correctly, your post will contain strikethroughs where you have placed the strikethrough BBCode tags.

What to Know About Creative Writing Degrees

Many creative writing degree recipients pursue careers as authors while others work as copywriters or ghostwriters.

Tips on Creative Writing Degrees

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Prospective writing students should think about their goals and figure out if a creative writing degree will help them achieve those goals.

Many people see something magical in a beautiful work of art, and artists of all kinds often take pride in their craftsmanship. Creative writers say they find fulfillment in the writing process.

"I believe that making art is a human need, and so to get to do that is amazing," says Andrea Lawlor, an author who this year received a Whiting Award – a national $50,000 prize that recognizes 10 excellent emerging authors each year – and who is also the Clara Willis Phillips Assistant Professor of English at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.

"We all are seeing more and more of the way that writing can help us understand perspectives we don't share," says Lawlor, whose recent novel "Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl" addresses the issue of gender identity.

"Writing can help us cope with hard situations," Lawlor says. "We can find people who we have something in common with even if there's nobody around us who shares our experience through writing. It's a really powerful tool for connection and social change and understanding."

Creative writing faculty, many of whom are acclaimed published authors, say that people are well-suited toward degrees in creative writing if they are highly verbal and enjoy expressing themselves.

"Creative imaginative types who have stories burning inside them and who gravitate toward stories and language might want to pursue a degree in creative writing," Jessica Bane Robert, who teaches Introduction to Creative Writing at Clark University in Massachusetts, wrote in an email. "Through formal study you will hone your voice, gain confidence, find a support system for what can otherwise be a lonely endeavor."

Read the guide below to gain more insight into what it means to pursue a creative writing education, how writing impacts society and whether it is prudent to invest in a creative writing degree. Learn about the difference between degree-based and non-degree creative writing programs, how to craft a solid application to a top-notch creative writing program and how to figure out which program is the best fit.

Why Creative Writing Matters and Reasons to Study It

Creative writers say a common misconception about their job is that their work is frivolous and impractical, but they emphasize that creative writing is an extremely effective way to convey messages that are hard to share in any other way.

Kelly Caldwell, dean of faculty at Gotham Writers Workshop in New York City, says prospective writing students are often discouraged from taking writing courses because of concerns about whether a writing life is somehow unattainable or "unrealistic."

Although creative writers are sometimes unable to financially support themselves entirely on the basis of their creative projects, Caldwell says, they often juggle that work with other types of jobs and lead successful careers.

She says that many students in her introductory creative writing class were previously forbidden by parents to study creative writing. "You have to give yourself permission for the simple reason that you want to do it," she suggests.

Creative writing faculty acknowledge that a formal academic credential in creative writing is not needed in order to get writing published. However, they suggest, creative writing programs help aspiring authors develop their writing skills and allow space and time to complete long-term writing projects.

Working writers often juggle multiple projects at once and sometimes have more than one gig, which can make it difficult to finish an especially ambitious undertaking such as a novel, a play for the screen or stage, or a well-assembled collection of poems, short stories or essays. Grants and fellowships for authors are often designed to ensure that those authors can afford to concentrate on their writing.

Samuel Ace, a published poet and a visiting lecturer in poetry at Mount Holyoke, says his goal is to show students how to write in an authentic way that conveys real feeling. "It helps students to become more direct, not to bury their thoughts under a cascade of academic language, to be more forthright," he says.

Tips on Choosing Between a Non-Degree or Degree-Based Creative Writing Program

Experts note that someone needs to be ready to get immersed in the writing process and devote significant time to writing projects before pursuing a creative writing degree. Prospective writing students should not sign up for a degree program until they have reached that sense of preparedness, warns Kim Todd, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts and director of its creative writing program.

She says prospective writing students need to think about their personal goals and figure out if a creative writing degree will help them achieve those goals.

Aspiring writers who are not ready to invest in a creative writing degree program may want to sign up for a one-off writing class or begin participating in an informal writing workshop so they can test their level of interest in the field, Todd suggests.

How to Choose and Apply to a Creative Writing Program

In many cases, the most important component of an application to a writing program is the writing portfolio, writing program experts say. Prospective writing students need to think about which pieces of writing they include in their portfolio and need to be especially mindful about which item they put at the beginning of their portfolio. They should have a trusted mentor critique the portfolio before they submit it, experts suggest.

Because creative writing often involves self-expression, it is important for aspiring writing students to find a program where they feel comfortable expressing their true identity.

This is particularly pertinent to aspiring authors who are members of minority groups, including people of color or LGBTQ individuals, says Lawlor, who identifies as queer, transgender and nonbinary.

How to Use a Creative Writing Degree

Creative writing program professors and alumni say creative writing programs cultivate a variety of in-demand skills, including the ability to communicate effectively.

"While yes, many creative writers are idealists and dreamers, these are also typically highly flexible and competent people with a range of personal strengths. And a good creative writing program helps them understand their particular strengths and marketability and translate these for potential employers, alongside the more traditional craft development work," Melissa Ridley Elmes, an assistant professor of English at Lindenwood University in Missouri, wrote in an email.

Elmes – an author who writes poetry, fiction and nonfiction – says creative writing programs force students to develop personal discipline because they have to consistently produce a significant amount of writing. In addition, participating in writing workshops requires writing students "to give and receive constructive feedback," Elmes says.

Cindy Childress, who has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Louisiana—Lafayatte and did a creative writing dissertation where she submitted poetry, says creative writing grads are well-equipped for good-paying positions as advertising and marketing copywriters, speechwriters, grant writers and ghostwriters.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual compensation for writers and authors was $63,200 as of May 2019.

"I think the Internet, and writing communities online and in social media, have been very helpful for debunking the idea that if you publish a New York Times Bestseller you will have 'made it' and can quit your day job and write full time," Elmes explains. "Unless you are independently wealthy, the odds are very much against you in this regard."

Childress emphasizes that creative writing degree recipients have "skills that are absolutely transferable to the real world." For example, the same storytelling techniques that copywriters use to shape public perceptions about a commercial brand are often taught in introductory creative writing courses, she says. The ability to tell a good story does not necessarily come easily to people who haven't been trained on how to do it, she explains.

Childress says she was able to translate her creative writing education into a lucrative career and start her own ghostwriting and book editing company, where she earns a six-figure salary. She says her background in poetry taught her how to be pithy.

"Anything that we want to write nowadays, particularly for social media, is going to have to be immediately understood, so there is a sense of immediacy," she says."The language has to be crisp and direct and exact, and really those are exactly the same kind of ways you would describe a successful poem."

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