And on the 8th day, the Lawd Gawd had a Son. And the Son, whom He had nameth Jesus, looked forth into the future, and he did say: "The peoples of the world, I willst bringeth them to my bosom, for I doth love them all. Excepteth they that reside in 4chan. I fucking hate those guys. Forsooth."
I’ve had some interesting experiences on the internet the past few weeks. See, I’ve come to expect a certain kind of friendliness from the internet. Yes, I know, big fucking mistake. But hear me out. Most of my internet community experience recently has been limited to this site, my WoW guild, and listening to podcasts, and the result of this is that I’ve become quite spoiled. Podcast hosts are generally quite amiable people, my guildmates are definitely nicer than your average Goldshire chat, and, with a few exceptions, the people on this site are awfully kind, even to n00bs.
So you can imagine my surprise when I stepped outside of those boundaries. I made the mistake of making a goofy introductory post on another not-to-be-named website. I was lambasted on all sides, but mostly for not delivering on content. I didn’t even think anyone would even notice I’d posted, much less expect something more than a slightly non-sensical hello from me.
Then my co-worker started sending me links from 4chan. Not just anywhere on 4chan, but from /b/. Notice I’m not providing any links here. /b/ is essentially the epitome of the internet. You can find all sorts of things there, including some things you may be looking for, but take a wrong step and you’ll see something you can’t unsee. Many of the internet memes get their start there, such as "IMMA FIRIN MAH LASER" and the ever-popular "TiTS OR GTFO". But you know how there is a large group of people on the internet who thrive on anonymity and use its veil as a cover from behind which they lay siege on the goodly peoples of the ‘nets with insults, flames and sometimes real-life attacks? You know, the trolls? 4chan is their Valhalla. The trolliest of the trolls reside here, forming organized attacks against real-world organizations and generally just being assholes. I’ll not go into the details of my sojourn in order to protect the innocent. Needless to say, however, I feel somewhat tainted now, as if I can never be clean again no matter how much I scrub.
I talk about this not to complain about the things I’ve encountered, but rather to point out my realization that this site is rather unique. The people here are, for the most part, NOT ASSHOLES, and I think it should be kept that way. Let the other sites on the internet keep their throngs of broken people. We’ve got the beat.
That being said, I intend to show my appreciation for this site with a project I will be undertaking this summer. Only one person knows about this project, and it’s not even Break! (I’m hoping to surprise him.) I don’t want to say anything definite about it just yet, but I’ll leave you with one bit of information: It will be something that anyone coming to this site, of all places, will certainly enjoy.
