How old were you when you discovered this site? How did you discover

Was a freshman in highschool when my friends introduced me to /b/

I was so scared of visiting I was shaking when I opened it. When I first saw gore I couldn't sleep for days.

found 4chan because of ebin memes

checked out some other boards

r9k made me less depressed because I accept who I am more now.

>>37470991
Also, my life has changed for the better I think. I also met someone from /mu/ after an animal collective concert.

18
It has worsened my life significantly, but I did learn some new things
I'm really on the edge of leaving after 4 years now

>>37470991
Pretty much how it was for me too. I steered clear of gore threads but loved YLYL.

>>37470968
It was when I was around 18-19 years old, I've been visiting mostly /r9k/ board. It's like my life didn't progress that much, I feel like I reverted a bit to my old self. I don't remember how I discovered this site.

>>37470968
I was 13 and first went on /b/ because of the Encyclopedia Dramatica article about it. Not sure how I discovered ED though. That was back around early 2010; I remember because it was at the tail end of Project Chanology and everyone was buzzing about whether there'd be a second one

17-18 but I started lurking regularly at 21. I'm now 26.
Discovered it through a forum that was pretty much like 4chan in the sense that you could say whatever you wanted and the mods/admins wouldn't ban you.
I've learned a lot of stuff here because I posted on /int/ for a long time. I now have a thicker skin and my banter skills are better.

>>37470968
About 16, back in 2010, I absolutely fell in love with this place, the Anons, culture, and other bullshit. So I stayed, it provides some of the best times, and while those times have become fewer over the years my love for 4chan has never faded. Even now have this stupid fantasy that one day win the lottery, buy this place, and run it at a loss while investing my money else where to pay for it. Taking care if this place I call home and being an active admin, genuinely listening and trying to better this place.

I can't entirely remember anymore how came across this place I think a friend back in highschool told me? Yeah don't really remember anymore. Well made me much more a recluse, though also feel at home here, it's absolutely fucked my sense of humor, and my sexuality. Changed my political views, life out look and more, got me into weird fandoms, and so on. Generally life is shit, but for better it worse still love this place, and you faggots.

When I was 14 I heard about it on the news and I wanted to see what the big fuss was about. It's been downhill ever since.

12
I stumbled on it back when lolcats made me laugh
I didn't have any friends and /b/ always made me laugh hard, I was never really affected by the gore or sex, I wasn't attracted to it but it never bothered me either. I lurked for 6 years before starting to post regularly, first time was on r9k. I clearly remember my first post, some normalfag triggered me so hard I had to say something.
Now almost a decade later I still have no one and nothing but this site. I don't find solace here anymore, just calm comfort at the sight of the familiar logo, colors and layout.
Other than that this website is almost dead to me, I'm waiting for it to actually die, and then I'll be offing myself.
/r9k/ gave me friends to cry with, /b/ gave me friends to be silly with, and /pol/ gave me people to laugh at, so I can say that this site had a great influence on me, who knows what i would have done to others or myself by now if it wasn't for 4chan.

>>37470991
>>37471023
Same here, only when I first opened /b/, I saw a very disturbing CP...basically a small girl, she couldn't have been older than 10, handcuffed and jerking some dude off..
I nearly threw up, blacklisted 4chan and never visited it for a year or so. After that I found out there are more boards than /b/ and I started frequenting /pol/ and /r9k/, which is where I lurk and post even now, 7 years later

>>37471452
How do you jerk off someone with handcuffs

>>37471452
I don't understand how you guys are so disturbed by it, what's the big fuss
You don't know people are being raped mutilated and killed every second of every day?
It was sometimes good for me as a kid to be reminded that at least I have it slightly better than them

Also

(I think we saw the same pic)

>>37471503
Hands cuffed together, facing inwards, dick between hands
Handcuffs go on wrists

12 (20 now)
Saw a '/b/ is a weird place' image and fell for the trap. I will manage to leave 4chan one day

>>37471583
Hahahahahahahagahagahaghahagsgsgsghsjsididhbdndjdjxhxbdbdn

No you won't

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>>37471583
guess what
origami

I was 14.
I discovered what gifs where so i went to google and typed in "gifs"
I discovered a site called 4gifs. For about a month or 2 i would go to the site because it would update daily with funny gifs. But then after a while they stopped adding new content.
So i go on youtube and type "gifs"
>LOL RAVE 4CHAN GIF COMPILATION
I would mostly lurk in /b/ because it wasnt a porn board back then

I remember showing my friend this funny meme in class and a girl behind me said
>LOL DO YOU GO TO TUMBLR?

im starting to miss those days

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>>37470968
Eighteen, I pressed a link completely by chance and it happened to bring me here. So far it's made me realize that you've to lurk firsthand then post as opposed to do the opposite of that. Learn the culture. That kind of stuff? I guess.

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Must have been 11 or 12. I frequented a hl2 forum and some of the users would occasionally bring up /b/ so I dived in to be one of the cool kids.

I've lurked on /b/, /a/, /g/, /v/, /x/, /pol/, /r9k/ and tripfagged in /cgl/ half a decade ago. Witnessed the birth of /diy/, /out/, /vg/, /pol/, /s4s/ and shittier boards.

Watched the fall of moot and hell knows how many changes in moderation.

Some boards were unironically better several years ago but it doesn't really matter to me, I've come to terms with the fact I'm stuck in here through the highs and the lows, both of the website and my life.

I'm gonna turn 23 this year...

14. I'd say the worst effect 4chan has had on me was making me an elitist in everything for a while, which made me not want to talk to other kids. I developed such an elitist and sometimes obscure taste in vidya, music, etc. that I didn't want to hang out with dumb plebs. I think it was a shield against feeling bad because I didn't really fit in.

>>37471950
How new are you
I guess discovering it by luck is better than coming from reddit

>>37473245
I'd say new enough? I guess. Been here for a couple weeks now, a month. Something like that.

I've been on /r9k/ since it started. I was 12, and had been browsing /b/ mostly before then. I'm 21 now, turning 22 this year.

>>37473285
Oh... This makes me unreasonably mad
You're being a very respectful newfag, understanding the culture instead of establishing your own
What do you like about this place?

>>37473329
It's just fun and I get to see many perspectives of others. I make friends here too. So a whole lot.

>>37473322
Let me ask you a question then
Do you think fembots exist

>>37470968
i was 14 i've seen some game raids and political raids and thought it would be nice to give it a visit.

>>37473350
You consider yourself to be a robot?
Orignaloid

Learned about it through a maplestory forum (don't judge me) back around 2005. I'm over 30 now, mostly lurking.

>>37473386
I think I've been above all of that? In the sense that I don't fit criteria, just said so otherwise. I'm just me.

>>37473420
We all fit a criteria, there are seven billion of us, no one is /original/
Cyborg maybe? Or that special snowflake thing makes me think you're a well mannered normie

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13

I'm 26 now

I'm still a newfag

>>37473480
I don't think I'm special, just I really don't fit the labels here. I mean that objectively but maybe am wrong?

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>>37473512
Try this, it's overused but not too bad

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14, 24 now

Probably via Gaia. It's been too long

It has changed my life for worse in every way imaginable

I actually just started visiting /r9k/
Always heard about it, never bothered
But now I'm kinda hooked

I think I first stumbled upon 4chan in mid 2011 after watching some Newgrounds animations mentioning the site.

>>37473795
get out while you still can, idiot.

In 2013 just after I had turned 15. Thought /b/ was funny, then I saw someone post Shoveldog which scared me away for a couple months. When I came back I branched out to /r9k/ and /tv/, and it's been like that ever since, with some ventures out into /v/, /sp/, and even /x/ occasionally.

I remember 4chan when it came out. I heard about it from another site and came here to check it out and thought of it as this cool chinese or japanse site but beyond that I didn't come here hardly ever. Of course, as time went by this site's reputation got bad very fast and I'd come here rarely to lurk and even more rarely to post. I only started coming here regularly in 2014 and it's been a waste of my time.
It has changed my life in ways I can't describe. This site is disgusting, but the criticisms I've gotten here have helped me grow as a person. The criticisms I got on namefag sites were just bitter "no u" teenage-tier feuds and they only made me angry and made me want to kill the guy on the other side of the monitor.

>>37474051
I will try my best
Thanks for the advice

I was 14 and friend said /a/ was a good place to find anime. That wasn't true but /b/ has some pretty good porn so. /b/ became an even bigger cesspool than it was then so I began lurking here instead. Started posting a lot around 2013 I think.

I started browsing when I was 13 to shill my minecraft server on /b/. that was in 2011

>>37470968
You just made me realize I've been here for over 10 years.
For the last 5 years anon is the closest thing to a friend I've had.

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12 or 13 in 2004 or 5 due to either the loli board or nevada tan. been browsing regularly since the 2006 habbo hotel raid. the alt right are the cancer.

>>37471221
>>37471104
>>37473964
>>37474122
>>37474178
FUCKING NEWFAGS

>>37473703
lol gaiafags so randum xD *holds up spork* my name is katy but u can call me t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m!!!!!!!! lol... as u can see im very random!!!! thats why i came here, 2 meet random ppl like me im 23 years old (im mature 4 my age tho!!) i like 2 watch invader zim w/ my girlfreind (im bi if u dont like it deal w/it) its our favorite tv show!!! bcuz its SOOOO random!!!! shes random 2 of course but i want 2 meet more random ppl like they say the more the merrier!!!! lol neways i hope 2 make alot of freinds here so give me lots of commentses!!!!
DOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <--- me bein random again ^-^ hehe... toodles!!!!!

love and waffles,

t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m

>>37473356
There's probably less than 100 in the world, but definitely. This board didn't start out as misogynistic as it currently is. Early /r9k/ was basically just a fedora'd up /b/, where people disillusioned with ebin raids, porn, and copypasta would migrate to tell stories. This storytelling identity later crystallized when the board was revived right around the era of the surging popularity of greentext and greentext-centric memes (implying, ISHYGDDT, feels, etc.)

A handful of bitter incels switched to this place from /b/ as their personal soapbox to whine about why girls in their school wouldn't date them, and their hatred resonated with a lot of the board's miserly userbase. At first, it was clear that the majority of womanhate was, to some extent, facetious, but now the ideology has become so central to this board's identity that I imagine most people posting womanhate are unironically doing so. I guess it makes sense; 4chan users are often young guys who were social misfits growing up. Also, communities on this website often have elitist cultures (think /v/ and /mu/). Consequently, 4chan is compatible with the idea that it must be everyone else's fault that they are ostracized and refused romantic attention. It is clearly not a personal flaw, because they are unique (for browsing this website) and have superior interests and tastes.

Full disclosure, I am a woman, and, as I said, I have browsed this board throughout its entire existence. I have pretty much consistently identified with this board's userbase. In school, I was high-performing but friendless. I was average looking, but did not put enough attention into fashion or hygiene to make anything of it. I never related with my peers, but was nevertheless envious of them. I pined for romantic attention, but the idea of casual sex made my blood boil, and I resented those who had it. I usually agree with characterizations of stacies/roasties, because I consider myself distinct from those women.

>>37474502
Please
You know very well what this board was made for, or you're not as old as you claim to be
Read moar roastie, you'll find that Moot made it exactly for the purpose of misogyny
And if you truly were anything close to a robot, you wouldn't feel the need to state that you have a vagina after one (you)

>>37470991
>When I first saw gore I couldn't sleep for days
>>37471452
>I saw a very disturbing CP...
>I nearly threw up

How the hell can an it affect you this much? They're just images.

>>37474630
>Moot made it exactly for the purpose of misogyny
0/10 that's why he left the site.

>>37474630
Moot made it as an experiment based on an XKCD comic. He had no clue what would happen to it, retard.

>>37474668
yeah the first time i saw that shit was on google in the 90s when i was 6 or 7. didn't really affect me since i was younger than anyone involved.

>>37474685
Bitch you make my blood boil
All you gotta do is read the updates Moot gave, they're only a few clicks away
There are reddit newfags more respectful to the culture than you

>>37470968
21 back in 2011 I had come her at ages 19 and 20 but the format confused my brain at some point I started browsing tv and the memes were decent so I stayed and never left...

I did leave R9 for a while and got myself a job for a solid year but now its about to end so im back. This place really is degenerate tho. I recomend anyone looking to turn their life aroundn leave 4chan or at the very least leave R9

>>37474713
this guy got trolled pretty hard desu senpai baka

>>37474713
yeah this was literally just /b/ with an originality filter.

>>37474502

This is an absolutely purposeless post to make, but why are you so intricately criticizing the guys that come here while justifying why you come here? We all do that but I wonder where you get off specifically doing it.

>>37474754
>>37474713
>>37474685
You autistic fucks need to read what he wrote bringing it back before shitposting

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>>37474744
>Bitch you make my blood boil
yeah ok keep pretending to be retarded

>>37474361

>newfags

I came here before you, commie.

>>37474801
EBIN b8
Oeganilo

Back in 2006 when I was 15 for the maymays.
Am now an expert memelord but I'm essentially socially retarded and I spend days shitposting instead of doing worthwhile stuff.

Don't know if that's a good thing or not.

Somehow found /d/ in about 2006? via newgrounds hentai. That was really the only board I used, until the whole chanology thing and I decided to go see wtf /b/ actually was. Had fun doxxing and lulzing for a few years until nobody wanted to do it anymore, every raid offer was just met with NYPA. I wouldn't say this place has changed my life, it's just an effective waste of time when there's nobody to talk to or i've scrolled through the entire facebook feed.

>>37474788
i remember when that happend. girlvinyl shut down ED cause she couldn't take the heat, so m00t put /r9k/ back up since he didn't think it was right to remove content in an effort to micromanage the userbase, which i agreed with at the time, but now don't as the original userbase is now all but gone to 7chan.

>>37470968
19
encyclopedia dramatica
gained a little common sense, but other than that, i could have used the time i wasted here in a more productive way

i was 18 i use to post on gamespot.com forums talk about video games and off topic stuff. it's the only thing i do now.

>>37474805
really? name 3 boards that were there then but aren't now.

>>37474870
This guy gets it
And what was the original user base?

>>37471001
Shouldnt you strive to be better rather than accepting how you aer

>>37474927
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNO6G4ApJQY
a combination of people who liked to troll fox news and people who really liked anime. no neo nazis or anything. kinda makes me regret at the times i posted nigger. nigger nigger? NIGGER.

>>37470968
I was about 13. My neighbor taught me about newgrounds, found out about /b/ and its reputation from there and I've been browsing ever since. It has certainly changed my life for the better by helping me become more self aware and less autistic, I felt like I finally had found somewhere where I fit in, but I also think it's made it worse in the sense that I distanced myself from everyone around me more.

>>37474903

You do know that anybody could just google that and get the info that way right? But I remember /a/ and /b/ only in 2003.

>>37474784
I like most of the people here. That's why I keep coming back. I don't really socialize or even use normiebook, so it's nice to have a place to speak to people with whom I can relate.

I'm not criticizing all of this board's userbase, but rather a subset of it. I'm mostly just wary about the newfags and reddit transplants who tricked themselves into brazenly hating all women due to an inability to think for themselves and understand subtext. Stacies/roasties started out exclusively describing hypergamous, materialistic, vapid women, but has devolved into a catch-all for all women as bait threads started grasping for sr. I honestly don't even care about the people who sincerely hate women because of mommy issues or male pattern baldness or whatever.

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>>37470968
I'm a 32 yo married father of two, business owner. Mildly successful, in fact. I shitpost here because I enjoy the frustrated intelligence of robots, and I am quite seriously rooting for you. I post encouraging banter with the hopes of positively influencing that one robot who can break free. However I'm a chronic thread killer and rarely do I get (yous), but I still lurk because some of y'all are definitely genius level smart, and I appreciate your bantz.

Since 2007, when I was 12 and found out about 4chan from ED or Something Awful. I'm 21 now and don't really post that much anymore, but I like /mu/

>>37475117

I honestly don't like most people that use 4chan and I never have. Something kept me away from here even though I can remember the opening of this site. But I can take your explanation and also use that to explain femanons, female redditors, etc who have an immensely bitter hatred of average and low-tier men because they don't feel as though men are matching up to their expectations in real life. I don't think women have it as hard as 4chan or reddit circlejerk about and it is annoying to see how arrogant femanons (like you) can get, but it's not about hating all women exclusively.

>>37473512

What's with the unncesary question marks?

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>>37475123
here's your (You) old man

you're a good person though

>>37475312
It's just how I type. Sorry.

>>37475123

>I enjoy the frustrated intelligence of robots

Why? These guys are unappreciated outcasts who have been pushed away. It doesn't help to have some patronizing asswipe like you come here to rub it in some more.

>>37475078
yeah, you're a liar. /sm/, /l/, old /g/, /fk/ and /z/ if you want to count them

>>37475269
You're right, the hatred definitely goes both ways, and is often rooted in entitlement on both sides. I
also realize it's not about hating all members of the opposite sex for the vast majority of people with those mindsets, just those that they feel are unfair to them or contribute to perceived unfairness.

I pretty much only hold contempt against the people who convince themselves that it is because they take everything on here at face value.

If you're trying to characterize me as among the women you described, you should know I really don't have any "expectations" of men; I'm a faggot.

>>37475435

No, you're just a stupid faggot. /b/ and /a/ were the first boards here, and that's what I remember when I first reluctantly went shortly after I heard the site opened. Any retard like you can go google it to confirm.

>>37472181
I went the ytmnd/mmorpg route and didn't get to 4chan til 2014 starting at /o/

>>37475516
>/b/ and /a/ were the first boards here
>Any retard like you can go google it
sure buddy, we believe you. only took you 8 minutes to reply, but yeah sure.

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Middle school, somewhere in 2007/2008.
I visited a gaming forum and they were talking about it, went on and I didn't like the site layout so I stopped going.
Returned in 2011-2012ish and stayed ever since.

>>37475632

You are objectively wrong if you don't agree that /b/ and /a/ were the first boards here.

>sure buddy, we believe you. only took you 8 minutes to reply, but yeah sure.

I see you're very invested in this exchange, you queer. Go google it, retard.

>>37470968
2005 I was 15. Saw it open on my brother's pc. Saw some hentai pics, jerked off and forgot about it later. Became a resident shitposter in 2011 after my life already took a turn for the worst and became NEET. If anything it improved my life knowing I'm not alone. I immediately fit in, like this site was made for me.

Was a summerfag in 2011 on /b/, then outgrew /b/ and moved onto /r9k/ and now I'm here. To this day the only boards I use are /r9k/, /gif/ and sometimes /pol/ or /bant/.

>>37475451

I actually think modern western society is quite unfair in many aspects, I slant towards being more sympathetic for men for obvious reasons but women's actual issues get ignored and replaced with "HURRRR WOMEN ARE OPPRESSED BECAUSE MEN WON'T ASK THEM OUT ANYMORE!". Or other equally retarded things like that. Taking personal responsibility is one thing but to pretend as though our respective societies and the world don't have an impact on who we become is not only wrong but autistic and naive as well.