Explaining Internet Toxicity: The Uncensored History of 4chan

The Digital Cesspool You Never Knew You Should Fear

The internet has dark corners that reek of stale Mountain Dew, desperate loneliness, and concentrated human misery. If you've been fortunate enough to avoid knowledge of 4chan until now, consider your blissful ignorance officially shattered. This wretched hive of anonymous posting has shaped internet culture more profoundly than most realize, and understanding it means understanding how the most toxic elements of modern discourse evolved.

Birth of the Beast

4chan slithered into existence in 2003, created by a 15-year-old kid named Christopher Poole (known online as "moot"). Imagine being in high school and deciding, "You know what the world needs? A lawless wasteland where people can post whatever vile shit pops into their heads without consequences." That's essentially what happened. Poole modeled the…