And now the end is near
And so they face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case of which I’m certain
They’ve lived a life that’s sad
They ate each and every Hot Pocket
And more, much more than this
They did it for free
Oh yes. In what may be one of the biggest blows against internet culture in a decade 4chan has been hacked.
A hacker (or, potentially, hackers) managed to bring down the site on Tuesday; as of this writing, it is still down, providing errors for any users that visit. Oh, and in case you were wondering, this was the last post before the whole thing went down.
Classic.
But it’s far more than the site just being hacked. Many a revelation was had, but none quite so damning as those in regard to the jannies. Oh, yes, many signed up with their own real names, and no small number signed up with .edu email accounts. This is all going over exactly as you might expect.
But that’s not all. The janitorial staff also, back in 2014, decided to shut down all discussion of the then recent GamerGate. No, not due to their political preferences, as you may well have expected, but due to overall laziness, with only one jannie correctly identifying the problem this would inevitably create. THAT’S RIGHT: THEY MADE THE ENTIRE THING WORSE BY BEING LAZY FUCKS AND SITTING ON THEIR ASS EATING HOT POCKETS. AND THEY DID IT FOR FREE.
So, naturally, all other sites essentially downstream of 4chan, which does include most forms of social media, have engaged in a fair amount of mocking the jannies, who do it for free.
However, the most embarrassing thing discovered is that the entire board was running on software that ended its support in 2016, meaning the entire thing was running on software that was almost a decade out of date (and poorly maintained). moot did a poor job of coding the site, and when it got handed over to hiroyuki, he apparently decided that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Ahh, well, man’s got isekai adventures to go on; can’t blame him if he wants to pull some elfin strange.
As for the hacker, well, priority #1 was to reinstate the long banned /qa/ and declare victory using hiroyuki’s account.
So where do we stand now? Well, most of the jannies have been doxxed, primarily due to their poor infosec. Per TechCrunch, at least one jannie is still somewhat shocked by the hack.
“I’m somewhat taken back. 4chan’s moderation team has had leaks in the past, but this is obviously an issue of greater magnitude,” the janitor told TechCrunch. “I’m not happy about the situation. I’m sure most others aren’t, either. But many of us have been doing this for a long time. Doxxing is a longstanding pastime on 4chan, and the possibility that we could be exposed has always been there.”
Jannie lol
“I’ve been most concerned with the leaked information, for obvious reasons,” said the janitor. “I’d wager that the fact that 4chan was effectively taken over by a hacker(s) is probably ‘worse’ than screenshots, at least from the perspective of the site’s continued operation.”
While 4chan is the origin point for many memes, it also has a less than savory reputation, as you may notice all other news outlets leading with (it’s like they’re reading from a script or something). That said, I’ve always viewed it, and many other sites in which posting your thoughts is encouraged, as an internet toilet. And, brother, it is (or was, as the case is and may continue to be) the nastiest truck stop bathroom you might find. Someone muck sprayed the floor, all four walls, and somehow the ceiling too, all so that the jannies could clean it up.
If it ever comes back, it won’t likely be soon. I imagine making sure it’s running software more recent than the first Trump administration should be a priority. They’ll also have to likely find a whole new host of jannies willing to do it for free, not easy. Also, they’d have to overcome the shame of being outlived by DarkSydePhil.
Source: TechCrunch
About Author
