Could this really be the end of one of the internet's most notorious websites?
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Nearly a week after a major hack forced it offline, the notorious imageboard 4chan remains inaccessible, and there's a growing feeling that it's going to stay that way—and that maybe it's not so bad.
Founded in 2003, 4chan is—or was—something of a waypoint for a particular part of online subculture: Basic, unrefined, unmoderated, and almost entirely anonymous, which is what made it so notorious. Vice called it "the internet’s favorite hotspot of moral bankruptcy" in its report on the hack, and that seems about right: There are certainly worse places to go in the digital world, but none that are so singularly famous for it.
Even if you never used 4chan you've almost certainly heard of it, and its impact in recent years has seeped out into the real world. A 2018 Southern Poverty Law Center report cited "participation in the rampantly racist and misogynistic online trolling culture of 4chan and its offshoots" as a notable influence in the rise of the alt-right. Its reputation was ugly enough that in 2021 Minecraft scrubbed a decade-old reference to 4chan's /v/ board, where creator Markus "Notch" Persson had heavily promoted the game in its early days.
What ultimately brought 4chan down wasn't controversy or opprobrium from the right-thinking denizens of the online realm, though, but rather a beef with another imageboard, Soyjack.party. A message on that board celebrating the attack said the alleged hacker had been in 4chan's systems for over a year before launching the hack.
Specifics are unclear, as you'd expect from this particular type of old-time internet gong show, but the attack itself was devastating. While 4chan was built around anonymity, users could register accounts to take advantage of certain features; many did, and they were reportedly all doxxed: A TechCrunch report posted shortly after the attack said the hacker posted screenshots purportedly showing 4chan's "back end, source code, and templates to ban users," along with a list of 4chan moderators and "janitors," users who can delete posts and threads but don't have full moderator access. One janitor told TechCrunch they believed the posted information was all real, and that the hack was "obviously an issue of greater magnitude" than previous leaks.
Despite that, the janitor seemed unexpectedly sanguine about the whole thing, adding that "doxxing is a longstanding pastime on 4chan, and the possibility that we could be exposed has always been there." Others may not share that sentiment, though, given the potential to tie users—including some who'd registered with .gov and .edu domains—to alt-right, sometimes violent, political content and movements.
The extent of the hack has led some to believe that 4chan may never be restored. A BoingBoing report said that "with every single user of note doxxed, the site's servers decimated, and the admin team in disarray, it's unlikely 4chan will be back up soon. Or ever." With each passing day, that looks more and more likely. It's been six days since the hack, and 4chan remains offline.
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It's possible that 4chan will come back eventually: The problem isn't restoring the site, but plugging the security holes, which by all reports are numerous and gaping. One 4chan moderator has said on social media that work on restoring the site is underway, but quite a number of users in the 4chan IRC channel seem to have accepted that this really is very likely the end. And at least one guy doesn't seem to mind:
Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.
