http://www.4chan.org/I just found the place where Jake Whatshisface started the rumor about a planned attack on US football stadiums. And what a place it is. This forum is divided into image boards and text boards, and it's notable for three things:
-At the image boards, the conversation revolves around posted images and the first post in a new thread must contain an image. The text boards don't seem to draw as much attention.
-There is practically no moderation. The only rules seem to be that members have to stay on topic for the board they're in and that they can't post anything blatantly illegal (child porn, death threats and so on).
-There are no user accounts and posters can be anonymous if they so desire, though I think IPs are logged.
The result of this is... interesting. Many posters take advantage of their anonymity to put their racism on display for all the world to see. Some (most?) boards allow very non-worksafe pictures, a few of which have the potential to permanently damage your mind. "Weapons" "Technology" and "News" seem to be porn-free. "Weapons" is rather entertaining, mainly because some posters have encyclopedic levels of knowledge about the topic. In fact, I think that's the forum where Jake Whoever posted the message that started the football bombing scare in the first place. "News" is a reliable source of racist tirades. "Papercraft" has some pieces of art that'll blow your mind with their attention to detail. The text-only boards seem to feature an even higher level of vitriol than the picture boards, if that's even possible.
Anyway, that's my field report on 4Chan, one of the freakish corners of the Internet where conspiracy theories spawn. If you want to contemplate the dark side of the human condition it makes an entertaining break from FR, Rapture Ready and Townhall.
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