4chan is an anonymous imageboard with a unique posting system and a profound effect on internet culture. The site uses a wiki-like infrastructure that archives threads once they reach a bump limit, yet these archives may collapse at any moment.
Like salmon climbing a rocky river, only the most vital memes can survive and flourish – and the Bibliotheca Anonoma exists to save them all!
/f/
4chan is one of the world’s premier anonymous imageboards, exerting enormous influence over English-language internet culture. Its innovative channel allows users to communicate anonymously in an environment in which social taboos can be bent in bizarre ways, and people engage in strange behaviors without fear of reprisal from authorities. Alongside its forum, 4chan also hosts many other wikis and archives that store threads and images. Unfortunately, these fragile websites sometimes collapse suddenly. Internet Archeology has helped restore some sections of 4chan; however, many others remain lost forever – thus prompting others like Bibliotheca Anonoma to compile an index to assist others in finding these lost treasures!
The /f/ board is widely known for its content dealing with fetish and nude themes, attracting over 13,000 members as of early 2019. Due to this board’s widespread fame and success, memes and cultural touchstones such as Soyjak (an illustration featuring Wojak with an emoji of an adult male in its image) have emerged within its community as an online phenomenon.
Although 4chan f/ boards do not comprise part of its main website, they still exist on servers associated with it. Amateur archivists manage most; some servers have even been shut down entirely in recent times, but others, such as the Isfahan archive, still contain nearly one million Flash images from 4chan.
Before recently, the /f/ boards were hosted on a centralized server managed by Intern3ts; however, due to internal contention between board admins and this server management service, its closure was eventually decided upon by admins. Meanwhile, its associated Wiki was moved onto another domain, while some content has also been replicated via SWFChan.
Users soon came to realize the effects of Chanarchive’s failure when its content disappeared from boards such as /x/ and /b/, including all their creepypasta and raid stories; others like /a/ and /jp/ experienced an upsurge of Fuuka archives and wikis in response.
/tg/
If you are searching for a 4chan fit archive, /tg/ may be your ideal destination. Its moderators require substantial opening posts, so each thread stands alone with purpose; reposts of catch-phrase templates or reposting is not permitted here; furthermore, its rules prohibit any discussion related to bestiality or scat.
Since this board is intended for mature audiences only, mods tend to be understanding of any material deemed as suitable for such content. If you want to avoid being kicked off for breaking one of the rules, make sure your original post does not serve as a template.
In 1998, one year after 4chan’s launch, an alternative to the heavily moderated fa/tg/uys was created as an outlet for Warhammer 40k fans who were filling /b/ with neckbearded posts; some members of fa/tg/uys had become annoyed with these discussions; the new board provided a home for these users, along with older RPG enthusiasts such as elves and dwarves; eventually it flourished for some time due to many drawings contributing their unique contributions that made it so famous.
Over time, /tg/ has evolved into more of a gaming board than a fandom hub. While still offering RPG content such as 40k and Forgotten Realms RPG games, more crossover occurred between it and /x/. This is primarily due to how these franchises (such as 40k and Forgotten Realms) have been made into video games deemed suitable for mature audiences (PG).
Additionally, /tg/ saw its share of Edition Wars and other controversial postings, although these never reached the levels seen on /pol/ or /ko/.
Soon enough, /tg/ earned itself a reputation for being an incredibly sexy board. While its community was friendly, there were always those coming simply to shitpost or spam the board – eventually forcing mods to enforce stricter moderating policies, leaving only remnants of its former self. Some posts can still be recovered through Internet Archaeology by exploring the Wayback Machine, but this represents a loss in history and heritage.
/sp/
4chan, one of the world’s best-known websites, features a distinctive anonymous posting system and has had an enormous effect on English-language internet culture. After inevitable bumps, threads on 4chan are deleted permanently; many other sites and wikis have taken up saving them and offer these threads up for safekeeping – however, these fragile archives could collapse without warning if we do not regularly monitor their status to keep these vital resources alive.
Early on on 4chan, /sp/ was one of the most active boards. Members discussed weight lifting, bodybuilding, and other fitness-related topics like fat loss. Users could share tips and personal struggles around weight loss/bodybuilding as well as offer personal advice from others who had experienced similar struggles themselves. Furthermore, this board was famous for memes/trolls/jokes as well as gathering places for celebrating sexual successes among thots.
At its height of popularity, /sp/ was one of the most beloved boards online, so much so that it even hosted the 2020 4chan Spring Babby Cup tournament. This competition consisted of matches between teams who had been eliminated from previous Babby cups before one won its way into competing in the 2023 4chan Fall Babby Cup tournament.
Although /sp/ was often contentious and controversial, its users were highly dedicated to keeping its servers running smoothly. Many spent hours archiving threads and images, while some even hosted servers at home to store all this valuable data.
Not only did some boards archive threads, but they also had their own internal rules and traditions that they followed as well. For instance, some required a tripcode in order to be seen by other users; others prohibited cursing or offensive content; still others had specific limits for how many bumps each user could make in an hour.
The /sp/ archive was an invaluable resource for those trying to understand 4chan culture, offering access to an expansive collection of SP content for public consumption for the first time. Unfortunately, due to a hard drive failure, its entirety was lost. Now, the Bibliotheca Anonoma is using Internet archeology techniques in an attempt to recover some of this lost data.
/p/
4chan’s text-based imageboard known as 4chan (pronounced fourchan) has had an enormous influence on English-language internet culture, particularly English culture of its users. Though many critics consider 4chan an anonymous posting system cesspool, its users have created many popular memes such as DYEL — used as an insult against someone’s fitness expertise or weight lifting regimen — that have spread throughout the internet and become iconic – some even become iconic expressions such as an acronym referring to “diesel.”
The /p/ community is well-known for its bodybuilding forums, which have produced several popular physique models. Forum posters regularly post about their fitness journeys, training methodologies, and gym workouts; some even won national competitions! One widespread poser was Zyzz, who advocated a lifestyle of healthy eating combined with heavy lifting for an aesthetic physique; he frequented both /fit/ and /misc/ boards where his self-congratulatory and boastful posts could often be found.
4chan was notable in its day for offering Fuuka archives – unlike 2channel’s system of thread archiving, which had limited relevance – as they allowed for more selective pruning of site content: like Alaskan salmon climbing up rocky streams, good posts would be remembered and reposted while poor content faded away into obscurity. Over time, all boards would possess their own Fuuka archives, enabling them to retain past content for years – however, losing this functionality can have drastic repercussions for board culture, as was evident when their archives were deleted by administrators /x/ and /b/ learned first-hand when administrators deleted their archives: losing this can have detrimental repercussions for the subculture of each board.
