A textboard is a simple kind of Internet forum; most textboards require neither registration nor entry of a screen name.[1] Textboards, like imageboards, were invented in Japan, but they remain relatively unknown outside it, in contrast to imageboards (such as 4chan and 8chan).
Features
One of the key differences between textboards and traditional forums is that textboards allow users to post without registration, and often encourage anonymous discussion.[2][3] Hiroyuki Nishimura, the founder of 2channel, says that the philosophy behind anonymous posting is that “all information is treated equally; only an accurate argument will work”.[4] Many textboards support a form of pseudo-registration by allowing users to use tripcodes, although users tend to post anonymously.
Textboards tend to be much simpler than traditional forums. While forum software such as phpBB or vBulletin supports image or other media embedding, private messaging, polls, and various other features, textboards allow only the posting of text.
Notable textboards
- Ayashii World (あやしいわーるど) – introduced anonymous posting to Japan.[5][6]
- 2channel – largest forum in Japan, receiving millions of posts a day.[7]
- world2ch.net – the first English speaking textboard. launched in March 2003 and closed in May 2004.[8][9]
Textboard software
- Perfect Dark is a Japanese peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P) application that contains textboards.
See also
References
- ^ Shii (2006). “Shiichan Anonymous BBS”. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
- ^ Fisch, Michael (2022). An Anthropology of the Machine: Tokyo’s Commuter Train Network. University of Chicago Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-226-55869-1. Retrieved 2025-08-08.
- ^ Anonymous. “A Guide to Anonymous Boards”. Archived from the original on 2015-02-28. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
- ^ Furukawa, Hideki, “Q&A With the Founder of Channel 2” Archived January 9, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, The Online Journalism Review, August 22, 2008
- ^ Kaigo, M., & Watanabe, I. (2007). Ethos in chaos? Reaction to video files depicting socially harmful images in the Channel 2 Japanese Internet forum. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), article 6. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/kaigo.html
- ^ Stryker, Cole (2011). Epic Win for Anonymous: How 4chan’s Army Conquered the Web. New York: The Overlook Press. pp. 133–134. ISBN 9781590207383.
2channel was based on a previous text board called Ayashii World, the first big anonymous text board in Japan… Ayashii World, like many anonymous chan boards, experienced so much downtime that its owner began to receive death threats, prompting him to shut down the board in 1998.
- ^ “Posts per day”. 2channel. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
- ^ “world2ch.net [World2ch Historical Society Wiki]”. w2ch.14get.heliohost.org. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- ^ World2ch page predating 4chan – [Internet Archive]