nichanneru and its social implications O:

[Ihmhi]

Ladies and gents, allow me to introduce you to nichanneru, known in English as 2channel:

http://www.2ch.net

At first glance, nichanneru (Japanese for "two channel") seems like a rather innocuous website. It has a simple layout, advertisements everywhere... the only thing different for us (mostly English language speakers and all) is the fact that this entire website is in Japanese.

So, other than showing you that I am a Japan fanboy as well and that I know a Japanese website, what was the point to all of this?

Well, in terms of sheer posts, nichanneru owns Gaia completely.

There are 2,000,000 posts on 2channel every day. Every day. There are loads of message boards that do not even get to 2,000,000 posts total.

Hence social implication #1: What kind of effect could such a popular BBS have on society on a whole? Do remember that Japan is a much smaller country than America (in terms of populace, they have roughly 1/3 of our numbers).

Next, the posting system on 2channel is different than on Gaia. Basically, it has the following fields: Name, E-mail, Post Content. That is it. Anyone can come into the board and post, and while you are able to make up an Internet name, almost everyone chooses to remain completely anonymous.

For those who can, you can get something called a tripcode". Basically it works thusly: NAME#TRIPCODE. Anything you type after your name and # is used to generate a random hash value, which is your tripcode. Only you can make the tripcode because only you know the letters, numbers, and symbols that make it up to generate that specific value. Therefore it gives a tiny element of proof of identity on a board that heavily favors complete anonymity.

JSHIFT art is hugely popular. Take a look at the boards that I am reading right now, the 2channel English boards:

http://academy4.2ch.net/english/index.html

JSHIFT art is basically like ASCII art but much cooler. I am mentioning no social implications for this, I just think it is cool. d:

Lastly, thread survivability on 2channel is a big issue. Threads automatically "complete" at 1,000 posts (this is why they are numbered). After that, if you want to make a new thread, someone has to start a continuation. This ensures that the topic is basically refreshed every 1,000 posts. Imagine if Gaia automatically locked threads that hit only 1,000 posts!

I have created one thread myself. Here is the complete text of the first post, made by me:

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

For an English section of the forum...

Name: Ihmhi E-mail: i_have_mental_health_issues@yahoo.com

...there is an awful lot of Japanese still flying around. d:

Chat with an American (me!) if you would like to. (^-^)Y

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

That is it. In the course of roughly 400 replies so far, I have:

-been called a "nutcase" (most likely due to my e-mail addy xD)
-insulted
-called boring when I inexplicably had to leave
-impersonated during my absence
-asked if I was a "cherry boy" (a.k.a. a virgin) (...the answer is no.)
-asked where I live
-asked if I was really American

...it goes on. The thread in question is still going, and you can view it here if you would like to. It is mostly in English:

http://academy4.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/english/1152534360/-1000

As for this topic, let us get down to the important bits. Here are the discussion points:

-What kind of effect could such a popular BBS (remember, 2 million posts every day have on society on a whole?
-How would Gaia be if it allowed complete anonymity and had little or no moderation?
-If any English-language message board (Gaia, most likely) started getting postcounts in the millions every day, what sort of effect could it have on society?
-If a bunch of 2ch users found out about Gaia online and its chibi-ish avatar system, how long would it be before we were completely overrun by otaku?

I could have posted this in E.D. but I would have had to show a bunch of people I really do not know my thread in the 2ch forums in which I answer a lot of questons that I really do not want picked apart by the general Gaian public. Therefore, I have posted in an atmosphere where I have the same (or even greater) level of intellect as in the E.D., but a much greater level of respect and awesomenness.  

[The Grey Dragon]

I'm sure that 2-chan probably know about us.

I've heard from reading part of the 4-chan guild that, there is Gaian Hentai. I'm not talking about Tilt Mode. I'm talking about unofficial hentai drawn using the Gaian NPCs, though I'm sure that L0cke could get bored every now and then and decide to draw some kinky Sasha/Moira.

If topics got locked at every 1,000 posts... my... there would be "BUMP 4 1,000,000 posts!" continuations!

@_@ How crazy.

I'm not sure of the population in terms of England, since I'm not sure on the total population of America. All I know is that it's probably not as dense as England.

I don't think Gaia would ever really get that many posts in a day... it would lag considerally... remember 2k5 Halloween? @_@

Anyway... have you ever heard of 4chan's /b/? They don't get 2k^2 posts a day, but they do get alot compared to the other boards on that side. They got the 10million GET recently.




How interesting... they seem to like Harry Potter alot o_O

Then Gaia may have more. Both are probably growing all of the time, and though more people understand English, and more nationalities visit Gaia.  

[and_solo_said]

-What kind of effect could such a popular BBS (remember, 2 million posts every day have on society on a whole?

If it were an English speaking site, none; it would have to be the result of a massive social shift to the internet, due to some massive technological advances on our part or a massive degeneration in the standard of post content.



-How would Gaia be if it allowed complete anonymity and had little or no moderation?

Not as good. You wouldn't feel that you have an obligation to act sensibly and so there would be a massive increase in the number of noobish posts. I doubt it would degenerate into pornography and suicide tips, but it would be spammed up to the rafters.



-If a bunch of 2ch users found out about Gaia online and its chibi-ish avatar system, how long would it be before we were completely overrun by otaku?

A very long time. they probbably prefer the anonymity of their site and if they don't, they would just blend in and it probably wouldn't matter.  

[The Grey Dragon]

and_solo_said

Not as good. You wouldn't feel that you have an obligation to act sensibly and so there would be a massive increase in the number of noobish posts. I doubt it would degenerate into pornography and suicide tips, but it would be spammed up to the rafters.

Quite, but after a while people could get quite bored.

I'd also say that, isn't that what the Chatterbox is for?

Though this means that people would be able to spam ED without reprimands. I'm sure they'd get rather bored of it after a while.

It's like when your parents go out of the house. You'd think "Whee! I can run around the place like an idiot." But then after a while you'd settle down and think. "Nah. I'll just go do my usual stuff... but I am bringing food wherever I want DX!"  

[and_solo_said]

The Grey Dragon

and_solo_said

Not as good. You wouldn't feel that you have an obligation to act sensibly and so there would be a massive increase in the number of noobish posts. I doubt it would degenerate into pornography and suicide tips, but it would be spammed up to the rafters.

Quite, but after a while people could get quite bored.

I'd also say that, isn't that what the Chatterbox is for?

Though this means that people would be able to spam ED without reprimands. I'm sure they'd get rather bored of it after a while.

It's like when your parents go out of the house. You'd think "Whee! I can run around the place like an idiot." But then after a while you'd settle down and think. "Nah. I'll just go do my usual stuff... but I am bringing food wherever I want DX!"

Yes, but with how many users gaia has, and the number of passing idiots, by the time the original noobs get bored there will be an army more to replace them.  

[The Grey Dragon]

and_solo_said

The Grey Dragon

and_solo_said

Not as good. You wouldn't feel that you have an obligation to act sensibly and so there would be a massive increase in the number of noobish posts. I doubt it would degenerate into pornography and suicide tips, but it would be spammed up to the rafters.

Quite, but after a while people could get quite bored.

I'd also say that, isn't that what the Chatterbox is for?

Though this means that people would be able to spam ED without reprimands. I'm sure they'd get rather bored of it after a while.

It's like when your parents go out of the house. You'd think "Whee! I can run around the place like an idiot." But then after a while you'd settle down and think. "Nah. I'll just go do my usual stuff... but I am bringing food wherever I want DX!"

Yes, but with how many users gaia has, and the number of passing idiots, by the time the original noobs get bored there will be an army more to replace them.

Hah, quite.

I'm sure we could salvage the guilds at least <3  

[Ihmhi]

and_solo_said

-What kind of effect could such a popular BBS (remember, 2 million posts every day have on society on a whole?

If it were an English speaking site, none; it would have to be the result of a massive social shift to the internet, due to some massive technological advances on our part or a massive degeneration in the standard of post content.

What if it did happen, though?

Hypothetical situation: English-language people flock to 2ch and load up the English sections with, zomg, English. The board owner decides "Hey, how about I make an English board for foreigners" or something. Then from there it goes to a few sections of theirs, and then from there perhaps even a splinter site stateside.

Even if we do not regard that, what would its social implications be for Japan alone? (I actually wanted this to be my original statement, but I iterated my ideas too vaguely; I will simply add this as a supplementary question instead.