/b/

About

/b/ is an image board on 4chan. It is one of the original boards created for the site and was intended to be a dedicated "random" board for nearly any type of content. Over time, the board grew to become one of the most infamous 4chan boards on both the site itself and outside of it. The board's users are commonly referred to as /b/tards and /b/ros.

History

/b/^[1] (Random) was the first board created for 4chan.^[2] The board was initially conceived as a place for random content, but quickly became a common source of spam, trolling, and shitposting. In combination with 4chan's minimal board rules, pornography and gore threads could also be frequently found on the board.

Board Culture & Reputation

/b/ quickly managed to become the site's most infamous board. It initially had minimal rules, only placing bans on illegal content such as child pornography and requiring its users to be above 18. Because of this, the content found on the board often included gore and shock media; this gained the board a reputation as a place for outsiders to avoid.

The board grew to become by far 4chan's most popular board with over 30% of the site's traffic in early 2009^[3] out of the 44 image boards at the time.

Do Not Talk About /b/

The Rules of the Internet is a list of protocols and conventions to serve as a summation of popular catchphrases and axioms commonly associated with 4chan. Since there are numerous drafts and editions in circulation, the rules fluctuate in number and the validity of each rule remains debatable. Despite this, several of the rules are agreed upon across internet communities. These generally accepted rules include Rule 1 & 2, which both read "Do not talk about /b/."

Rule 1. Do not talk about /b/.
Rule 2. Do NOT talk about /b/.

GET & Dubs

GET refers to a randomly generated event on 4chan that is noted when a post's unique ID number consists of rare integer sequences, most notably similar ending numbers. Attempting to get a GET became especially popular on /b/, to the point where users would make a post ending in two similar digits (dubs) or more to decide forum game outcomes and even meme status. In early February 2010, the site's admin, moot, made dubs temporarily unavailable due to the spam they caused (shown below).^[4] Over time, the option has been re-enabled and disabled multiple times.

Milhouse Is Not A Meme

"Milhouse Is Not A Meme" is a paradoxical statement and a well-known debate on 4chan about what makes an internet meme and what doesn't, using The Simpsons character Milhouse Van Houten as an example. The origin of this phrase dates back to /b/, where a user attempt to make Milhouse a meme ricocheted and turned the phrase denying Milhouse's meme status into a meme.

Queen of /b/

Queen of /b/ is a nickname given by /b/ users to Catie Wayne, who is better known by her online pseudonym Boxxy. First appearing on video in 2009, Boxxy received mixed feedback on /b/, becoming a popular form of trolling and the center of multiple shitstorms on the board.

Pool's Closed

Pool's Closed is a catchphrase associated with a series of raids carried out by /b/ on the online social networking site Habbo Hotel in 2006, where members of the group formed human blockades to obstruct the entry points of popular hangouts with their dark-skinned avatars dressed in afros and business suits.

Peter The Cat, King Of /b/

Peter is a calico Scottish Fold cat who is known on 4chan as The King of /b/ due to a 10,000 post thread. When his photo is posted, people tend to respond with "Hello, Peter." He is often confused with Starecat.

4chan Singing Threads

4chan Singing Threads refers to threads on 4chan in which anonymous posters share lyrics for others to sing and have the resulting compilations be uploaded to video sharing sites such as YouTube. In early to mid-October of 2009 a thread on 4chan's /b/ board was created in which users were asked to choose a song to sing via a GET game. The winning post ended up picking Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer.

Search Interest

External References