2channel

, also known as 2ch, Channel 2, and sometimes retrospectively as 2ch.net, was an anonymous Japanese textboard founded in 1999¹ by Hiroyuki Nishimura. Described in 2007 as "Japan's most popular online community", the site had a level of influence comparable to that of traditional mass media such as television, radio, and magazines. At the time, the site drew an annual revenue of around (about US$1 million), and was the largest of its kind in the world, with around ten million visitors and 2.5 million posts made per day. The site was hosted and had its domain registration provided by Jim Watkins, based in San Francisco, California. In 2009, ownership of the site was transferred to Singapore-based Packet Monster Inc., under which Nishimura remained in control. In February 2014, Watkins seized the 2ch.net domain, taking full control over the website and assuming the role of site administrator. This has resulted in two textboards claiming to be the legitimate 2channel: 2ch.sc, owned by Nishimura through Packet Monster Inc., and , established in 2017¹ by redirect from the original domain and owned by Watkins through Philippines-based Loki Technology Inc.…

, also known as 2ch, Channel 2, and sometimes retrospectively as 2ch.net, was an anonymous Japanese textboard founded in 1999 by Hiroyuki Nishimura. Described in 2007 as "Japan's most popular online community", the site had a level of influence comparable to that of traditional mass media such as television, radio, and magazines. At the time, the site drew an annual revenue of around (about US$1 million), and was the largest of its kind in the world, with around ten million visitors and 2.5 million posts made per day. The site was hosted and had its domain registration provided by Jim Watkins, based in San Francisco, California. In 2009, ownership of the site was transferred to Singapore-based Packet Monster Inc., under which Nishimura remained in control. In February 2014, Watkins seized the 2ch.net domain, taking full control over the website and assuming the role of site administrator. This has resulted in two textboards claiming to be the legitimate 2channel: 2ch.sc, owned by Nishimura through Packet Monster Inc., and , established in 2017 by redirect from the original domain and owned by Watkins through Philippines-based Loki Technology Inc. 2channel and its successors are more controversial than other social media in Japan; they are extremely popular among Japan's extreme right-wing, known as the netto-uyoku, who post xenophobic comments, often targeting Korean and Chinese people. Defamation is of particular concern; by August 2008, Nishimura had received more than one hundred lawsuits for defamatory comments left on the website. Announcements of crimes also have drawn scrutiny of 2channel and its successors. In 2012, 2channel was accused by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police of allowing its platform to be used by amphetamine dealers, although no charges were filed. In September 2007, 2channel claimed over 2.4 million posts per day. As of July 2020, 5channel claimed 1,031 boards receiving around 2.7 million posts per day on weekends, with no growth since March 2016. Meanwhile, 2ch.sc claimed 826 boards receiving around 5,700 posts daily.

History

Culture

browsing a thread on 2channel's automobile board as it appeared in 2008 via the Nintendo DS Browser Due to its large number of boards, the types of information exchanged on 2channel are very diverse. There are boards for topics as diverse as sports, sex, celebrity gossip, computer programming and ongoing earthquakes; even some academic research has gotten its start on 2channel.

Anonymous posting

One of the most distinctive features of 2channel is its use of anonymous posting. Nishimura explained his reasons for preferring anonymity online to USC Annenberg's Japan Media Review thus: If there is a user ID attached to a user, a discussion tends to become a criticizing game. On the other hand, under the anonymous system, even though your opinion/information is criticized, you don't know with whom to be upset. Also with a user ID, those who participate in the site for a long time tend to have authority, and it becomes difficult for a user to disagree with them. Under a perfectly anonymous system, you can say, "it's boring," if it is actually boring. All information is treated equally; only an accurate argument will work. However, a frequent criticism directed toward anonymous textboards like 2channel, most notably by Kazuhiko Nishi, is that their anonymous nature make them mere . 2channel's anonymity is a departure from most English language internet forums which require some form of registration, usually coupled with email verification for further identification of an individual; its anonymity in part inspired the creation of 4chan. On 2channel, a name field is available, but it is seldom used. However, as open proxies such as the Tor network are banned from posting on 2channel, the administrators have some degree of ability to help law enforcement unmask users if necessary.

Matome

2channel historically allowed anyone to use its data, providing it in an easily parsable format; this made it simple to create third party "dedicated browsers" ( ) for posting on and using 2channel. The openness of the data allowed for the proliferation of and , which summarize 2channel threads and attempt to collect what they see as the "best of" 2channel. In 2007, due to growing discontentment towards such sites, Nishimura added a board, /poverty/, which marked every post on it with the phrase . This caused many users to abandon other boards for that board. Watkins made it a priority to combat "piracy" of 5channel by third-party matome sites in March 2014, adding tensai kinshi to many popular boards. Such sites siphon users from 2channel itself, with some receiving in excess of 100 million monthly pageviews; in one case a matome site earned its owner per month. Watkins followed up the rule change by restricting access to 2channel's data in March 2015, by requiring that dedicated browser authors use a special API to access 2channel's, and later 5channel's, thread data. On 10 July 2023, Jane, a company that provided a 5channel API server, terminated its 5channel API service, thus ending several applications' support for the site. Some browsers, including Jane's, replaced their support for 5channel with another anonymous textboard site named Talk.

Phenomena

Densha Otoko

Densha Otoko is a Japanese franchise consisting of a movie, television series, manga, and other media, all based on the purportedly true story of a 23-year-old man who intervened when a drunk man started to harass several women on a train. The man ultimately begins dating one of the women. The event and the man's subsequent dates with the woman, chronicled on 2channel, directly inspired the franchise. Whether or not the original 2channel story is actually true is debated.

Political activism

2channel and other websites with "chan" in their name have been known for activism done by their users for a variety of causes.

Slander and legal issues

During Hiroyuki's administration, he was often openly defiant of Japanese law, especially around libel, and his duty to follow it, telling Yomiuri Shimbun in March 2007: By May 2008, Nishimura had lost more than fifty libel lawsuits in Japanese civil courts, and had been assessed millions of dollars in penalties; by August, according to him, he'd received more than one hundred lawsuits. While according to the official pages of the website, slander was prohibited, activists such as Debito Arudou claimed that the site did not actually respond to requests to delete posts in his case, returning mail unopened. After the transfer to Packet Monster Inc., Arudou, who had still not received any of the court ordered penalty, wrote in an op-ed that Nishimura had only transferred his assets to increase his "unaccountability". While Nishimura at that point had never paid any of the compensation courts ordered in his cases, in 2010 one of his plaintiffs was successful in getting compensated through the publisher of one of Nishimura's books.

Far-right nationalism and anti-Korean hate speech

2channel, with its massive size and anonymous posting, is abundant with slander, hate speech and defamation against public figures, institutions, and minority ethnic groups. Far-right users of 2channel are referred to as netto-uyoku, a term roughly analogous to "alt-right". Though the site has rules against posts illegal under Japanese law, the scale and anonymous nature of the site makes prompt deletions difficult to realize in practice. Furthermore, on occasion, 2channel has been accused of being reluctant to remove defamatory posts. The discussion boards are also often used to coordinate real-life demonstrations; as an example, 2channel users organized an August 2011 rally against Fuji Television, their complaint being that the channel was broadcasting too many Korean television shows. Sankei Shimbun reported in 2018 that 5channel, which received most of 2channel's users, has the same reputation for attracting netto-uyoku. 2channel netto-uyoku frequently make racist comments against Koreans. In 2009, it was even discovered that an Asahi Shimbun employee had posted racist remarks towards Koreans on 2channel. After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, fake news proliferated on 2channel, falsely accusing Chinese and Korean people of "plundering" evacuation centers.

See also

Futaba Channel (2chan) Ilbe Storehouse, South Korea Shift JIS art Tianya Club, China

Notes

References

External links

(5channel) (2ch.sc)

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1376123223 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.