Imageboard

This article uses bare URLs or very simple external links in its references. Such references are threatened by link rot. Please use proper citations containing each referenced work's title, author, publisher, date, and source, so that the article remains verifiable in the future. Several templates are available for formatting. A tool may be available to help. (February 2011) Screenshot from the iichan.net imageboard An imageboard (also chan, which is short for channel) is a type of Internet forum that revolves around the posting of images. The first imageboards were created in Japan, and many English-language imageboards today are centered around Japanese culture. Contents 1 Characteristics of imageboards 1.1 Software 1.1.1 Futaba Channel clones 1.1.2 Danbooru-style boards 2 Imageboards 2.1 Futaba Channel 2.2 4chan 3 See also 4 References 5 External links Characteristics of imageboards Imageboards, similar to bulletin boards, are used for discussion of a variety of topics. The primary focus of imageboards, however, is directed away from text posts, and is instead placed on picture posts.citation needed The two share many of the same structures, including separate forums for separate topics, as well as similar audiences. Imageboards are much more transitory with content—on some boards (especially highly-trafficked ones), the thread deletion time can be as little as 10 minutes.citation needed The most popularwhich? English-language imageboards tend to revolve around Japanese culture such as CG artwork or anime.citation needed In Japan, where imageboards are more common, topics vary widely, ranging from trains to current news.  Imageboards are also different from online galleries in that most of the works posted are not made by the poster, but instead are taken from other online sources: galleries, other imageboards, and edited pictures.citation needed Most imageboards and 2channel-style discussion boards allow (and encourage) anonymous posting and use a system of tripcodes instead of registration. Anonymity is considered to be one of the advantages of an imageboard. Some boards have from time to time removed the ability to post with a name altogether (known as 'forced anonymous/anonymity'). Programs such as tripcode explorer1 enable one to create custom tripcodes, in order to further cement one's identity. However, using a tripcode on some boards, such as 4chan, is generally discouraged by the community, who prefer to remain anonymous.citation needed Users of tripcodes are often referred to as "tripfags", a name meant to offend new users.citation needed On many imageboards, if a user wants to reply to a thread but not bump it, they can put the word sage (Japanese: 下げ) in the e-mail field.citation needed "Ageing" can refer to either bumping a post or putting the word age (Japanese: 上げ) into the e-mail field. It is considered polite to sage when replying to your own thread.citation needed Sage is used by some board users generally to signify a bad thread.citation needed In Japan, the imageboard is a much larger cultural symbol, with one estimate putting the total number of posts for Futaba's seven Nijiura (Japanese: 二次元裏) boardsclarification needed boards at over 56,000,000 and rising.2 Software There are two primary types of imageboard software packages in widespread usecitation needed: linearly-directed imageboards modeled closely after Futaba Channel (in which content is posted through hierarchical subsections of topical interest, usually denoted by a forward slash such as "/f" for female), and nonlinear imageboards modeled after Danbooru (usually indicated by the usage of controlled folksonomic vocabulary for topical tagging and search). Futaba Channel clones There are currently three Futaba-based imageboard software packages in widespread use: Futallaby,3 Wakaba,4 and Kusaba.5 Futallaby is a PHP script based on the Futaba script from Futaba Channel. Although Futallaby is still in use at 1chan,6 and the Futallaby source is still freely available, it is no longer in development, and the download page recommends using Wakaba instead, stating that "Wakaba can do everything Futallaby does and so much more." Futallaby started as a translation of Futaba, later retooled to support XHTML and customizable CSS styles. It is mostly notable for being the first English imageboard script. It requires MySQL to work. Wakaba is written from the ground up in Perl, and a SQL backend to store thread information. Wakaba is very strictly modelled after the Futaba and Futallaby scripts. Wakaba borrows some HTML codes and translated text from Futallaby. It is designed to be more efficient and cleanly written than other scripts that are available, while preserving the same kind of functionality. Wakaba scripts are in use at iichan. Wakaba is one of most popular western imageboard software scriptscitation needed, used most notably by fchan,7 and iichan (Wakachan).8 Kusaba is modular, written from scratch with PHP for server side scripting, JavaScript for some client side scripting, and with ADOdb Lite for database abstraction to a database, MySQL. The main focus of the development of Kusaba was to code faster and more efficient software for multi-imageboard sites. The center feature of the software is the centralization of the backend for all boards by having a single installation controlling all boards. The creator has discontinued the project in favor of separate imageboard projects, PyIB9 and TinyIB.10 In August 2008, the domain hosting kusaba expired. The last version of the software (1.0.4) was hosted on another imageboard site, Megachan, and development has been picked up by Kusaba X11 and OperatorChan. Danbooru-style boards Unlike Futaba-inspired imageboard software packages, Danbooru and derivatives aim for a non-hierarchical semantic structure in which users are able to post content and add tags, annotations, translations, and comments. There exists a number of different Danbooru-style imageboards, both those who have shared source code and those who are not released for others to use. Some of imageboard engines have a public API which can be used to automate publication and post viewing.121314 A de-facto standard for the API, created by Danbooru and used by the other imageboards has been established for this. The feature is used by a number of board crawlers1516 and Firefox extensions.1718 Shared: Danbooru (Ruby on Rails) Shimmie (PHP) Gelbooru 0.1.x (PHP) Non-shared: Gelbooru 0.2.x (PHP) Danbooru19 is a Ruby on Rails-based imageboard software that is released under a FreeBSD license. Shimmie20 is an imageboard written from scratch in PHP using MySQL as a database and GD or ImageMagick for image manipulation (thumbnails). Gelbooru.com runs an unreleased branch of the Gelbooru software (0.2.x).21 An older branch (0.1.x) has been released for public use.22 Imageboards Futaba Channel Main article: Futaba Channel Futaba Channel (ふたば☆ちゃんねる), or "Futaba" for short, is a popular, anonymous BBS and imageboard system based in Japan. Imageboard software packages Futallaby, Yotsuba, Kusaba X, and others which are used on many other imageboards, are all derived from Futaba's original PHP script. Its boards usually do not distinguish between pornographic and "clean" content, but there is a strict barrier between two-dimensional (drawn) and three-dimensional (CG and photographic) pictures that is heavily enforced and debated.23 4chan Main article: 4chan 4chan is an English language imageboard based on the Japanese imageboard Futaba Channel. This imageboard is based primarily upon the posting of pictures (generally related to anime, manga, and popular culture) and their discussion. The Guardian describes it as "at once brilliant, ridiculous and alarming."24 The site and its userbase have received attention from the media for a number of reasons, including posts sporting terrorist threats against schools and sports stadiums,25 attacks against Hal Turner on his Internet shows,26 distributed denial-of-service attacks against eBaum's World,2728 Cyber Bullyingcitation needed, taking part in Project Chanology,29 and multiple cases of anti-animal abuse reports.30 4chan users claim that many Internet memes have "originated" there, including lolcats313233 rickrolling, and chocolate rain. See also Anonymous (group) References ^ "Tripcode Explorer". Courtney Wade/Hurrchan. http://ww.hurrchan.net/wiki/Tripcodes. Retrieved 2010-08-19.  ^ "The Society for the Study of Modern Image Board Culture Thread". http://wakaba.c3.cx/soc/kareha.pl/1117571412.  ^ Futallaby image board script ^ wakaba.c3.cx< ^ "kusaba". http://code.google.com/p/kusaba/.  ^ 1chan.net ^ fchan.us ^ wakachan.org ^ PyIB Imageboard Script ^ TinyIB Imageboard Script ^ [1] ^ http://gelbooru.com/index.php?page=help&topic=dapi ^ http://danbooru.donmai.us/help/api ^ http://aspbooru.tk/Misc/API ^ imageboards searcher ^ another crawler - currently down ^ https://addons.mozilla.org/en/firefox/addon/3915/ ^ http://danbooru.donmai.us/help/extension ^ danbooru.donmai.us/help/source_code ^ code.shishnet.org/shimmie2 ^ "Gelbooru.com". http://www.gelbooru.com/.  ^ lozertuser (12/04/08 02:23 PM). "Gelbooru source 0.1.10 is released. Get it here!". Gelbooru.com. http://gelbooru.com/index.php?page=forum&s=view&id=99.  ^ http://www.2chan.net/ Futaba Channel ^ Taking the Rick | News | guardian.co.uk Music ^ "Wisconsin Man Is Charged in Fake NFL Stadium Threats". Bloomberg.com. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=aVpJWbr6YesA&refer=home. Retrieved 2006-10-20.  ^ "Cyber foes find ways to silence hate-talk radio host". freep.com. http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070205/NEWS07/70205031/0/NEWS06. Retrieved 2007-02-28. dead link ^ "Lindsay Lohan causes massive DoS war". Vitalsecurity.org. 2006-01-09. http://www.vitalsecurity.org/2006/01/lindsay-lohan-causes-massive-dos-war.html. Retrieved 2008-01-20.  ^ Bertiaux, Michaël (2006-01-09). "Ebaumsworld assiégé" (in French). Le Lézard. http://www.lelezard.com/actu/3167/ebaumsworld-assiege.html. Retrieved 2008-01-19.  ^ George-Cosh, David (January 25, 2008). "Online group declares war on Scientology". National Post (Canwest Publishing Inc.). Archived from the original on 2008-01-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20080128145858/http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=261308. Retrieved 2008-01-25.  ^ Popkin, Helen A.S. (August 31, 2010). "Web video: Woman throws puppies in river, 4chan tracks her down". MSNBC Technolog (MSNBC.com). http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/08/31/5010813-web-video-woman-throws-puppies-in-river-4chan-tracks-her-down?pc=25&sp=25.  ^ "Lolcats' demented captions create a new Web language", Tamara Ikenberg, The News Journal, 9 July 2007 ^ Richards, Paul (2007-11-14). "Iz not cats everywhere? Online trend spreads across campus". The Daily Pennsylvanian. http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2007/11/14/News/Iz.Not.Cats.Everywhere.Online.Trend.Spreads.Across.Campus-3099929.shtml. Retrieved 2008-01-19.  ^ Steel, Sharon (2008-02-01). "The cuteness surge". The Phoenix. http://thephoenix.com/Article.aspx?id=55486. Retrieved 2008-02-10.  External links Overchan (a directory of English-language imageboards) Overchan V.2 (an imageboard portal) The Imageboard Search Engine (utilizes search API of some Danbooru-style imageboards) v · d · eAnonymous and the Internet Related websites 4chan · Encyclopedia Dramatica · Lurkmore.ru Topics eBaum's World · Epilepsy Forums · Habbo Hotel · Scientology · Project Chanology · Hal Turner · Operation Titstorm · Operation Payback · Operation Leakspin · Patriotic Nigras · ROFLCon Terms Griefer · Imageboard · Internet vigilantism · Lurker · Troll Internet portal