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The Internet Technology

2ch: Japanese Web Forum As Social Vent 275

Posted by timothy from the with-deep-sea-vent-worms dept.
News for nerds writes "This NY times article (reg blah blah) sheds the light on Japan's largest Internet bulletin board - 2ch. About 5.4 million people come to this "Channel 2" each month, many of them several times a day (just like you nerds making beowulf cluster of alphabets all the day!). Founded in 1999, "ni-channeru," as it is called there, has become part of Japan's everyday culture as no other Web site has. While you can also find useful info such as dinner recipes there, it's almost like Battle Royale came into life as a web site, filled with verbal and physical violence backed by pseudo anonymity."
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2ch: Japanese Web Forum As Social Vent More

2ch: Japanese Web Forum As Social Vent

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  • Sounds Like... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Nerd With Nalgene ( 740915 ) <erickb87.hotmail@com> on Monday May 10, 2004 @02:28AM (#9104254) Homepage Journal
    A nerd-less version of Slashdot.

  • 3get (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    As 2ch-er....

  • We have that in America (and rest of world) too... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 10, 2004 @02:33AM (#9104277)
    It's called USENET

    http://groups.google.com for you kids out there.

  • Punch bag (Score:2, Insightful)

    by romit_icarus ( 613431 )
    A virtual Japanese punching bag!

    On a serious note, media properties like this, I suppose, do their bit in maintaining social balance. Japan already has a disturbingly high suicide rate...

    • Re:Punch bag (Score:2, Insightful)

      by romit_icarus ( 613431 )
      Wouldn't you call a rate of 36.5 per 1000 (for men) disturbingly high?

      Especially, when it comes from a relatively economically stable country with no current war involvements...

  • Tried to read it (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 10, 2004 @02:33AM (#9104282)
    But buggered if I know how they communicate in a language made almost entirely of rectangles.

    • Re:Tried to read it (Score:5, Insightful)

      by yintercept ( 517362 ) on Monday May 10, 2004 @02:49AM (#9104351) Homepage Journal
      It's all in the subtle positioning of the rectangles.

      The large number of people who don't have oriental language sets installed on their browser is a bit sad. Occasionally, companies and programmers have bouts of interest in localization. Such efforts often fall through.

      Regardless, the Internet is a great place to learn language skills. Personally, I think all web designers should chose a second language and trying muddling their way through web sites written in a different language to understand the challenges of different cultures.

      • Re:Tried to read it (Score:2, Informative)

        by L7_ ( 645377 )
        i think he just hasn't installed the asian font sets, so all the characters show up as rectangles.

        *whoosh*
      • I used to have them installed. But due to spam, I prefer to not have them so I don't have to suffer when the fonts load.

      • Re:Tried to read it (Score:4, Informative)

        by Hatta ( 162192 ) on Monday May 10, 2004 @03:45AM (#9104535) Journal
        The large number of people who don't have oriental language sets installed on their browser is a bit sad.

        If you don't speak any asian languages, what's the point? It's like locales. Just sitting on my disk, wasting space. Apt-got localepurge and haven't noticed a single change. Except several dozen megabytes more HD space, that is.

        Or perhaps you mean that I should want to have such things. Because languages are good for me or some such. Sorry, but I have way too much to learn already, that'll have to wait for another lifetime.

        • Re:Tried to read it (Score:4, Insightful)

          by cozziewozzie ( 344246 ) on Monday May 10, 2004 @05:46AM (#9104829)
          Or perhaps you mean that I should want to have such things. Because languages are good for me or some such. Sorry, but I have way too much to learn already, that'll have to wait for another lifetime.

          There is an old European proverb that says: With each language you learn, you're worth one more person.

          Learning languages is great. Learning languages is a unique gateway into loads of new information, new literature, and other cultures. Think of all the good scientific work written in German. Think of all the South American literature. Think of all the Asian philosophy.

          I really could never understand people who are not interested in learning languages. Maybe it's because I grew up in Europe, but I see people who don't at least speak one language next to their own as just shy of illiterate (and they often ARE illiterate).
          • Learning languages is a unique gateway into loads of new information, new literature, and other cultures. Think of all the good scientific work written in German. Think of all the South American literature. Think of all the Asian philosophy.

            Now, I see this and think, "Hm, pity it wasn't all written in English. Then I could read everything and not be bothered with choosing a language to learn and spending years mastering it before I really understood the complexities of it."

            Now, I'm not saying that learn
            • Oh, I agree that you shouldn't spend all your time on languages. I think everything you mentioned is worth learning about!

              That's why I'm trying to learn as many languages as I can while I'm working on a PhD, playing instruments, mastering perl/HTML/CSS and several other things :-)
        • Same thing here. I erased the localizations for Mac OS X and freed up 451MB of space but I kept the Asian font sets, so pages render correctly. I hate rectangles.

      • The large number of people who don't have oriental language sets installed on their browser is a bit sad

        Personally, I think the large number of anime geeks who don't speak Japanese but do have Japanese language sets installed on their browser is a bit sad.

        Just kidding. I have them installed too! ^_^

      • The large number of people who don't have oriental language sets installed on their browser is a bit sad.

        Is it? Not all of us have the time to try to muddle through websites in other languages. I'll do it in French if necessary, since I understand a little, but honestly.

  • Physical violence? (Score:2, Informative)

    by aidfarh ( 573967 )
    First I asked myself, "How could a web site be filled with physical violence?". Then I RTFA and became more confused, as there was no mention of any physical violence.

    Then I realised it was just an attempt by the poster to get more hype for the post by inserting illogical statements in the desciption.

  • moderation? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by moxruby ( 152805 ) on Monday May 10, 2004 @02:35AM (#9104292)
    It seems generally true that as a website becomes popular, a certain group of dickheads (usually males in the 12-16 age group) turn up with the goal of ruining it for everyone.

    Slashdot deals with this in a unique way by allowing the users to do the police work. This is (imo) vastly superior to having overzealous super-moderators cruising around laying down the law.

    2ch sounds like it's an order of magnitude larger than slashdot. Can any japanese users of 2ch shed light on how they deal with the "fuckwit factor"?

    • Re:moderation? (Score:3, Informative)

      by Hobobo ( 231526 )
      RTFA - They don't.

    • Re:moderation? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by metlin ( 258108 ) * on Monday May 10, 2004 @02:57AM (#9104394) Journal
      It seems generally true that as a website becomes popular, a certain group of dickheads (usually males in the 12-16 age group) turn up with the goal of ruining it for everyone.

      Not really. The point is, they have their own world, just like the rest of the community.

      Think of it as the equivalent of graffiti - sure, it ruins walls and what not, but hey it's a creative outlet and a means of expressing themselves. And better this than anything else.

      And more importantly, it's called Freedom of Speech - and I really like the way Slashdot handles this.

      The point is, almost everyone feel like trolling at some point of time or the other, or atleast on some topic or the other. And when you do, you inevitably fall into the so-called fuckwit category that you mentioned.

      And quite honestly, I take offence at your choice of words - fuckwit factor? What is that supposed to mean?

      It's a forum, and people can discuss just about anything that pleases them - and on a place like Slashdot, you are given the choice of seeing what you like. Despite everything, I would not like anyone messing with the posts, no matter how shitty they are.

      There are times when I read at -1 (and quite honestly, enjoyed the trolls) and there are times when I read at +3.

      There is no one-size fits all.

      And that's one of the many reasons I like Slashdot (well, Kuro5hin is better in some respects when it comes to tolerating trolls, but I digress). Your fuckwit tolerance level changes, and you have the choice of choosing how tolerant you are.

      And finally, to answer your question - RTFA. They do not.

      • Re:moderation? (Score:2, Interesting)

        by spacecowboy420 ( 450426 ) *
        There was a time in the not so distant past when I too enjoyed the guilty pleasure of troll browsing. I loved watching someone get hooked by an elaborate post that was just off enough to alert a discerning browser to the trollness of the post. It was/is my understanding that an effective "troll" is one that creates a response. I thought it was a wonderful way to teach n00b5 to think before they post, kind of knee jerk suppresion training.

        Then came the crap flood "trolls". See, a finely crafted troll is one
        • Agreed.

          I enjoy a quality troll as much as the next man, but the sad reality is that most of the rubbish rated as "troll" is nothing more than crapflooding.

          I firmly believe that slashcode should merge the "troll" and "flamebait" moderation and add a "crapflood" moderation.

          I could then give -6 to all crapfloods and +1 to everything else.
      • "And more importantly, it's called Freedom of Speech"

        Oh, flippin' please... For a while it was even funny to hear about how I _have_ to let fuckwits ruin forums, newsgroups, online games, etc, in the name of "freedom of speech." Then even that got old.

        It was also funny for a while to notice how those making the biggest fuss about "fredom of speech", were the ones who had no fscking clue what it means. Or how it's usually the exact same fuckwit group which thrives on ruining everyone else's fun. Then even
        • if I don't like what you've said on my private web-site, MUD or IRC channel, I have all the right in the world to delete the message, or ban your IP range, delete your user, or whatever

          From my understanding, though, once a site starts deleting, say, defamatory messages it is reponsible for moving all of them. That is, one strategy would to be to remove no defamatory statements, and say, "freedom of speech." Once you start prohibitng true freedom of speech on your site, though, you are now liable for thos

    • usually males in the 12-16 age group
      I think that you vastly underestimate the amount of jerks over the age of 16, ;)
      "On average, people are mean."

      Slashdot deals with this in a unique way by allowing the users to do the police work. This is (imo) vastly superior to having overzealous super-moderators cruising around laying down the law.
      That is an interesting observation considering that it works nearly the opposite way in real life. Perhaps it has to do with the ratio of offenders to the population. In

  • Most importantly, it's the best place in the world for a constant stream of pics of cute japanese girls :D

  • Another News Link (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 10, 2004 @02:37AM (#9104299)
    Here's an article to accompany this story. Plus no need to register with NYT. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/ 2001923719_japannet09.html [nwsource.com]
  • Venting their frustrations anonymously on a Web-based bulletin-board system? Who would'a thunk it?

    What will they think of, next?!
    • a Web-based bulletin-board system? Who would'a thunk it?

      You laugh now, but in ten years time you'll be venting on a Japanese-made bulletin-board: it'll be smaller, faster, cheaper and in stereo.

  • Maybe I should have done the NYT registration thing, and read the article, but the board is in japanese!

    I work [7bamboo.com] with japanese, and I understand a few words, but I just can't see what the hubbub about this article on a japanese board that I can't even read is.

    Here [morphedmedia.com] is a very active forum of trolls and flames in english if anyone is interested.
    • Maybe I should have done the NYT registration thing, and read the article, but the board is in japanese!

      Uh, yeah. Kind of the point. This is a story about how a culture other than ours is using the internet for emotional release.

      I work with japanese, and I understand a few words, but I just can't see what the hubbub about this article on a japanese board that I can't even read is.

      Well, why don't you ask the people you work with? Maybe it would help you understand them a little better, which is th

  • Registration Free Link (Score:5, Informative)

    by karmatic ( 776420 ) on Monday May 10, 2004 @02:41AM (#9104318)
    Reg Free Link here [nytimes.com] .

    They are making this harder to do...

    • Re:Registration Free Link (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      How did you get that link? I was trying to make my own reg free link, and got it by going to Google news,
      and searching for the article but it just forwarded me to the ny times site without any additions to the html link.

      I noticed however that the 3 things you need are the partner (=google, or =slashdot?), an ex=(something,
      maybe related to the partner?), an en=(i don't know how you get this?) and an ei=5062

      How?

      • Don't want to give away my karma-whoring tips, but I will anyway.

        Steps:
        1) Go to site, login. Look at page title.
        2) Go to google news, search for title
        3) Don't click the First link above the main search results, go down 2 lines to where the link is repeated. Replace partner=GOOGLE with partner=SLASHDOT, just in case their admins ever check the log.

        Have fun. It took me about 5 minutes of searching to figure this one out. I even tried doing a google redirect - it won't work.
    • Thanks for the reg-free link. Registration won't even work with Opera through my Italian proxy server. Also, the NY Times is getting so weak that I'd have given up without your simplified link. Now regarding the actual content...

      I've known about ni-channeru for a while, but the Japanese language as used there is mostly too difficult for me to follow. I judge it more by the reactions of my Japanese friends when I ask them about it, and their reactions are pretty weird. Overall, I think most of them regard i

  • Wikipeda article (Score:5, Informative)

    by Kusunose ( 768083 ) on Monday May 10, 2004 @02:57AM (#9104389)
    2ch [wikipedia.org]

  • Context & Japanese Social Habits (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Fedhax ( 513562 ) on Monday May 10, 2004 @02:59AM (#9104401)
    For those of us that are on a continent that ends with "America" or lives in Europe, this idea may not seem new or even novel. For us, dealing with Trolls and Frames are just annoying necessary evils for communicating in a broad, public forum. We deal with it ( Ignore, Moderate, Meta-moderate, etc ), and keep moving forward.

    Now, to say that Japan, and its society, resembles nothing like Western cultures is a massive understatement. In that culture, being able to speak your mind, in a raw form, can be dangerous to your reputation which affects your career, finances, and relationships, and the last thing a Japanese person wants is to be alienated from the Group. The issues of Tatemae and Honne cover this social restraint of tactful to the group and honest in private, among other aspects of Japanese life.

    Basically, this public, anonymous forum gives Japanese people the ability ( It is still a novelty to most of them, I would imagine ) to act "normal": Polite, Helpful, Insight, Confrontational, Insulting, Argumentative, etc. These free-flowing interactions are just not acceptable in a Japanese public setting. In the end, if you know the context of the culture ( I have a little insight into it [triumvirate.net], but I am sure other /. with more experience in Japan than I can pick up where I leave off. ), this bulletin board is a very big deal.

    • Excellent comment.

      To a lesser degree, American women feel compelled to pretend to agree with the group. So, the same problems occur in the United States. The learn this habit because they want what the U.S. culture supposedly will give them.

      Also, it is good to mention that Japanese who live with the openness of the U.S. culture often learn to like it a lot, and sometimes have difficulty being accepted when they go home.

      The social pressure in Japan is HUGE.
    • Now, to say that Japan, and its society, resembles
      nothing like Western cultures is a massive understatement.

      yeah, like they actually employ understatement in communication rather than using the word to simply further inflate content-free rhetoric like the sample of yrs quoted above - (Hey let's bold and italicise my pearls of wisdom just to make sure no-one misses them)

  • Battle Royale (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Siener ( 139990 ) on Monday May 10, 2004 @03:02AM (#9104411) Homepage
    I must say, this article does not seem much more than an excuse to get Battle Royale [imdb.com] mentioned on slashdot's front page. For those of you not in the know, it's a Japanese movie about a class of 9th graders who have to kill each other in a government organised game show.

    Unfortunately for all the American slashdotters, it has never been released in the US (not even on VHS or DVD), and probably will never be. There have been many debates on why exactly this is. I know only one thing, if I were the distributor, I would want to keep it out of the US. The profits will not be worth the moral outrage it will cause.

    Bottom line is that it is a great movie, and if you have the chance, you should watch it.

    • Or, if you're in the UK, watch Channel 4 [channel4.com] at 11pm tonight (Monday 10th). They're showing it.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • I have seen the first one, but not the sequel "Battle Royale 2"

        Don't bother with the sequel. It's unutterable crap, skipping character development and human interest in favour of bloodshed. And since it's playing to an audience that saw Battle Royale and then came back for more, it decides that the mass slaughter of children isn't going to shock anyone - so instead we have the celebration of international terrorism. How imaginative.

      • The second one is much worse than the first if you take it seriously. Otherwise it's one of the funniest movies ever.
    • Did it happen to be released right after the Columbine, CO killings? If so then you have your answer.

      Americans really responded to news of junior high kids serially massacreing their fellow students.

      Has anything like it happened in Japan or is it all an imaginary situation, possibly based on the prozac induced insanity that happened in our own backyard?

    • Its an interesting film with a fairly positive outcome at the end. People willing to give their own life for their loved ones.

      Got good release here in Australia though. And BR2 is doing the same I think.

    • and he liked it so much that he cast Chiaki Kuriyama [imdb.com] from Battle Royale as Gogo Yubari in Kill Bill Vol. 1 [imdb.com]

      and she's also basically the same character in both movies

      tarantino is on record saying he loves Kinji Fukasaku [imdb.com], and both kill bill movies were really nothing more than tarantino's tribute to the film makers and films he's always loved (and well done, i might add)

      here's more: [japattack.com]

      TM: The scene where Go Go Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama) stabs a guy who approaches her for sex...was this from Battle Royale (Kinji Fukasaku, 2000, Japan)?


      QT: I went out to dinner with Kinji Fuaksaku and Kenta (Kinji's son) and I was going "man, I love this movie! It is just so fantastic!" And I said, "I love the scene where the girls are shooting are shooting each other." And then Kenta starts laughing. So I ask, "why are you laughing?" He goes, "the author of the original Battle Royale novel would be very happy to hear that you liked that scene." And I go "why?" And he says, "well, because it's from Reservoir Dogs!" Even when I was watching it I was thinking "God, these 14 year old girls are shooting each other just like in Reservoir Dogs!" And Kenta said, "he took that from Reservoir Dogs, so he'll be very proud that you like that!"

    • Re:Battle Royale (Score:2, Insightful)

      by scosol ( 127202 )
      Just FYI- I and a lot of people I know have picked up the NTSC director's cut on ebay :)

      Moral outrage?
      Have you seen "Ichi The Killer"?
      Fry's sells that for fucks sake!

    • I haven't seen Battle Royale, but there's a good american take on this general idea called Series 7 [imdb.com]. It's about a government sanctioned gameshow where random people are given a gun and told that they are on the show. After that they have to kill the other contestants or be killed. The last survivor gets to continue to the next series.

      It's a very shocking movie, the violence is very realistic, it's shot on video and looks like any other reality show. It reminded me of Man Bites Dog [imdb.com] for it's disturbing

      • I haven't seen Battle Royale, but there's a good american take on this general idea called Series 7.

        The idea is very much the same, but Series 7 lacks one thing that makes Battle Royale so disturbing and controversial: In Battle Royale it's 14-15 year old school kids killing each other, not adults.

      • Not exactly a date movie.

        Depends who you date.

        That response could be a simple flip joke, but actually I'm thinking of one girl I dated in particular. She had a brain and a very dark and twisted sense of humor (definite pluses in my book). One day we sat around talking - in a little village cemetary from the 1800's. She brought me there. She pointed out her favorite headstone with some poetry she liked.

        My motto: "Normal people are boring. I don't have many boring friends." She was cool, she was twisted,
    • The movie is based on a book of the same name, written by Koushun Takami. A perfectly acceptable translation is published by Viz [amazon.com] here in the States.

      I agree though, the connection between Battle Royale and 2ch seems tenuous at best.

    • I've always thought that, as with many many Japanese films, if you imagine that it's a message about America, (weather or not it's actually intended to be) you'll get an interesting viewpoint.

    • Unfortunately for all the American slashdotters, it has never been released in the US (not even on VHS or DVD), and probably will never be. There have been many debates on why exactly this is. I know only one thing, if I were the distributor, I would want to keep it out of the US. The profits will not be worth the moral outrage it will cause.

      I guess there's a first for everything. I haven't seen the movie, but the blurb doesn't sound too bad. So what makes it morally outrageous in your opinion?

    • Unfortunately for all the American slashdotters, it has never been released in the US (not even on VHS or DVD), and probably will never be.
      Lots of import versions are available. Poker Industries [pokerindustries.com] has several versions. There are probably lots of others places to get it including ebay and suprnova.
    • Uhhh ok. Rented it from blockbuster last night. Along with suicide club. Rated R. It was on VHS.

  • NYT sensationalism (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ChronoWiz ( 709439 ) on Monday May 10, 2004 @03:05AM (#9104416) Journal
    Didn't the NYT just do a article about the wild west, irc [slashdot.org] which turned out to be utter sensationalist crap. Why should we believe this, or even read a word of it? Not to mention that none of us can actually read EITHER article without a little/lot of effort respectively (finding google link/learning nihongo).

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday May 10, 2004 @03:11AM (#9104436)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:The big deal (Score:5, Insightful)

      by miu ( 626917 ) on Monday May 10, 2004 @03:50AM (#9104558) Homepage Journal
      Over here, personal disagreements just get sat on and when people have disputes, rather than talk about it to fix it, they just never end up talking to that person again. Or if they do talk, it's under the cover of being insincerely "nice". This is just so the peace is not disturbed.

      And this is different from American corporate culture how?

      People gossip, form alliances, backstab, bully, and snub here in the US too. A showdown or heart to heart to resolve differences is actually fairly rare in any office, it's more likely that a person will silently become your enemy and never show it until they have a chance to screw you over.

      Sure the Japanese are different, but so is every other country. I think too much credence is still given to the "inscrutable oriental" image.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re:The big deal (Score:5, Interesting)

        by nikster ( 462799 ) on Monday May 10, 2004 @06:13AM (#9104904) Homepage
        Sure the Japanese are different, but so is every other country.

        dude, you have not worked in germany.

        the way criticism is delivered differs substantially.

        america uses the hamburger tactic: criticism (the meat) is wrapped in sweet talk and encouragement (the bun). in germany, it's just the meat. in japan, just bun.

        if you do something good in america, they will make you think you just achieved the greatest thing in the world, whereas in germany you get a dry "not bad" and that will be the end of it.

        when there is a successful project, there will be own-shoulder-padding to no end in america whereas in germany they will focus on what hasn't worked and could be done better.

        to americans, the germans just seem blunt to the point of being insulting... and to germans, the americans seem to be on prozac...

        from what i have seen in aisa is that - for example - they will never say "no" to a higher-up, whereas in germany and america it's expected (at least in my industry) and managers rely on that as valuable feedback. e.g. in asia you will not point out problems that you see with your boss' suggestion. even if you know you can't possibly do it you will keep silent and try your best...
    • "Later on I googlesearched my name and found a messageboard post with my name mentioned. It turned out that one of those workers was venting about something I said at work, under a nickname on some private message-board."

  • So much for the supposed anti-microsoft bias of Slashdot! This story appears to be taken straight from a Microsoft website [msdn.com].

    So I guess all the folks who think Slashdot is nothing but a bunch of M$ hating Linux fan-boys can go back in the closet now. Sadly, only to be replaced by a new crew crowing about how /. has sold out to the Evil Empire [microsoft.com]...
  • About 10 years ago or so, this would have been called FidoNet [fidonet.org]" FidoNet is now still alive, but is mostly just one large Flame War. It's a shame that they're using the web for this, as Zone 6 (Asia) is down to about 20 some members.
  • I think the article greatly exagerates both the audience and the importance of this website. I live in Japan, and travel in fairly geeky circles, but none of my Japanese friends in IT had heard of the website. I also frequently read the newspapers and occasionally the tabloids, but I haven't seen it mentioned there either.

    It's true that there haven't been many successful "web communities" in Japan until now (unless, of course, you count the sex sites), and most internet usage here has been business ori

    • I think the article greatly exagerates both the audience and the importance of this website.

      I think you greatly overestimate the overlap between your geek circles and otaku (geek) circles. I also live in Japan, but don't move in geeky circles, rather creative ones. Everyone knows ni-channeru because it's one of the central hubs of creativity.

      As anyone who has lived here knows, the scenes in Japan are greatly splintered, and every scene has its own subcultures. In London, someone would say she's a goth. I

  • Why is it that whenever I go to a Japanese website, it looks like it was made in 1993? Really - frames, rectangular pixellated graphics slapped around, garish/nutty backgrounds. Urgh.

  • Show me, show you! (Score:2, Informative)

    by djshiawase ( 570864 )
    2ch is, of course, where Kikkoman [infoseek.co.jp] was invented.

    It's been a great source of material for Japanese assignments over the years, a place where youth vent about society over there.

    Slashdot is big, but it's not on the scale of 2ch. It's a pity it's so poorly organised. Trying to find information without using a search engine is practically useless at 2ch.

    But as long as they keep creating things like Kikkoman, 2ch will keep popping up here in the west!

  • best part:
    On Friday, Mr. Nishimura said he paid $20,000 a month to a company in Palo Alto, Calif., to provide a host for the Web site. With the advertisements, Mr. Nishimura said he managed to break even.


    In keeping with his detachment, Mr. Nishimura said he was bored with his Web site and did not believe it was worth enough to attract buyers. Asked about Channel 2's role in Japanese society, he said people used it simply to "kill time."

    "Many people who write on Channel 2 are stupid," Mr. Nishimura said, making a statement that many Channel 2 regulars would agree with but one that will surely draw a flurry of attacks. "They cannot change the world by writing about it. If they really want to have an impact, there are other things they could be doing."

    that's a hilarious and refeshing attitude ;-)
  • There are other similar image boards, like 4chan.net (not direct linking because they're already losing the bandwidth cost war and saturating their 10mbit link) and the new 5chan.net [5chan.net]. Both of these are in English, and there are lots of different categories of imageboards (these two are more image-based). I won't go into detail here, but stay away from 'Random' and 'Guro' (and 'Yaoi', if you're straight), since those two can sometimes have things worse than goatse and tubgirl there.
  • If you're confused about 2ch's actual mode of operation, Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] has this to say:

    "What is unique about this BBS is its scale and its management style. It has more than 100 "board groups" ("ita"(board)) each with its own categorical topic (ex. "Social News", "Computer", "Cooking"). Each "ita" usually has hundreds of "threads", which are actual discussion pages created by anonymous visitors for each detailed topic (ex. "Coming election in Tokyo, 4th vote", "P4 vs. Athlon, overheating 51 times", "Best wheat

  • must be the assembly programmer in me (Score:3, Interesting)

    by prockcore ( 543967 ) on Monday May 10, 2004 @05:26AM (#9104793)
    But I see 2ch and I don't think "channel 2" I think of a dot.

    2ch is the ascii code for a '.'

    Slashdot should now be known as 2f2ch
  • ...it's almost like Battle Royale came into life as a web site, filled with verbal and physical violence backed by pseudo anonymity.

    So it's exactly like ./ without the dinner recipes.

  • About 5.4 million people come to this "Channel 2" each month

    Make that 5.4 million minus one.

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