, or Futaba for short, also sometimes called 2chan (not to be confused with

2channel , also known as 2ch, Channel 2, and sometimes retrospectively as 2ch.net, was an anonymous Japanese textboard founded in 1999 by Hiroyuki Nishimura. Described in 2007 as "Japan's most popular online community", the site had a level of influ ...

), is an

imageboard An imageboard is a type of Internet forum that focuses on the posting of images, often alongside text and discussion. The first imageboards were created in Japan as an extension of the textboard concept. These sites later inspired the creation of ...

in Japan. A popular Japanese website, it deals with a wide variety of topics, from daily personal problems to sports,

ramen is a Japanese noodle dish. It consists of served in a broth; common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen has its roots in Chinese noodle di ...

, and

otaku is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, particularly in anime, manga, video games, or computers. Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in '' Manga Burikko''. may be used as a pejorat ...

and

underground culture Underground culture, or simply underground, is a term to describe various alternative cultures which either consider themselves different from the mainstream of society and culture, or are considered so by others. The word "underground" is used ...

Origin

Futaba Channel was set up on August 30, 2001, as a refuge for

users when 2channel was in danger of shutting down. It started as a

textboard A textboard is a simple kind of Internet forum; most textboards require neither registration nor entry of a screen name. Textboards, like imageboards, were invented in Japan, but they remain relatively unknown outside it, in contrast to imageboar ...

but eventually added imageboards based on the GazouBBS software. The English-language imageboard

4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from anime and manga to video games, cooking, weapons, television, ...

website was based on Futaba.

Concept

Futaba Channel consists of about 60 imageboards (three of which are ' boards) and about 40

s, with topics ranging from daily personal problems to food, sports, ramen, and pornography. There is also a place to upload general non-image files. Futaba is powered by a custom script based on GazouBBS (, from , , meaning "image"). The Futaba script was open source (last updated in 2005) and its ancestors are used to run many Japanese and English imageboards.

Culture

Futaba has spawned a number of visual gags and characters; the

OS-tan OS-tan is an Internet meme consisting of ''moe'' anthropomorphs of popular operating systems, originating on the Japanese imageboard Futaba Channel. The designs of OS-tan, which were created by various amateur Japanese artists, are typically fe ...

s would be one such

meme A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ...

that has spread to western internet culture. Some of the characters that appear on Futaba Channel have entered the real world in the form of various real-life goods, such as figures, dolls or images printed on pillows. Such items are mainly produced by Japanese

dōjin In Japan, is a group of people who share an interest, activity, or hobby. The word is sometimes translated into English as " clique", "fandom", "coterie", "society", or "circle" (as in " sewing circle"). Self-published creative works produced ...

artists and groups. Non-Japanese Internet users sometimes refer to Futaba Channel as ''2chan,'' due to the address of the site. It is frequently unclear whether this is intended to mean Futaba Channel or

, and sometimes it even refers to both, as if they were a single website. To eliminate confusion, the names ''Futaba'' and ''2channel'' are often used.

Features

del Function

A function to report a post that violates the rules and to request deletion, which has been added to each board of Futaba ☆ channel since September 27, 2008. A hyperlink with the text "del" will be created in the upper right of the thread, and clicking on it will open the "Form for deletion request" page the contents are a bribe picture, a child pornographic image, personal information, slander, intimidation, double throw, harassment etc. In addition, a function has been added since July 2013 when a specific IDless board has a deletion request exceeding the threshold, the ID will be displayed forcibly.

Thread isolation

On some boards, when the del number of a thread accumulates more than a certain number, they disappear from the normal catalog and are "isolated". In order to view the isolated thread, you need to enter the address directly. In the past, the thread was moved to a special board called "隔離" (Isolation) and could be viewed, but the board is now gone. Therefore, it can not be seen without knowing the URL of the isolated thread as described above.

References

External links

*
Futaba Channel
English navigator at Blue Three (last updated 2014) {{Authority control Internet forums Imageboards Japanese websites Internet properties established in 2001 2001 establishments in Japan