Textboard

A screenshot of the Kareha software.

A textboard is a simple kind of Internet forum that does not require registration.^[1] While popular in Japan, they remain relatively unknown outside it, in contrast to imageboards (such as 4chan).

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] The founder of 2channel, Hiroyuki Nishimura, says the philosophy behind anonymous posting is that "anonymous posting is good because it means that „all information is treated equally; only an accurate argument will work”."^[3] Many textboards support a form of pseudo-registration by allowing users to use tripcodes, although users tend to post anonymously.

Textboards also tend to be much simpler than traditional forums. While forums software such as phpBB or vBulletin support image or other media embedding, private messaging, polls, and various other features, textboards allow only the posting of text.

Notable textboards

• Ayashii World - Introduced anonymous posting^[4][5]
• 2channel - Largest forum in Japan, receiving millions of posts a day^[6][7]
• dis.4chan.org - formerly "world4ch", the textboard section of 4chan.^[8] Read only as of 7 April 2014.^[9]

Texboard software

• Kareha is a commonly used open-source textboard software loosely modelled on the scripts used on 2channel, and uses structured XHTML and CSS layout.^[10]
• Shiichan is another 2ch-type message board software written in PHP, created by Shii in 2004.^[1]
• Perfect Dark is a Japanese peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P) application that contains textboards.

See also

• Imageboard
• 2channel
• Internet forum

References

1. Shii (2006). "Shiichan Anonymous BBS". Retrieved 2011-10-18.
2. Anonymous. "A Guide to Anonymous Boards". Retrieved 2011-10-18.
3. Onishi, Norimitsu (2004-05-09). "Japanese Find a Forum to Vent Most-Secret Feelings". The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
4. 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
5. 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.
6. "2ch.net Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
7. "Posts per day". 2channel. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
8. "FAQ – What were 4channel and world4ch?". 4chan. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
9. Christopher Poole. "Goodbye to some old friends - 4chan Blog". 4chan. Retrieved 2015-07-14.
10. Wakaba and Kareha

External links

• Overscript (an imageboard and textboard software listing)
• Meltingwax Text Overchan (a text overchan)