4chan Is Running Out of Money and Martin Shkreli Wants To Buy It (theverge.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: The infamous message board 4chan is struggling to stay afloat and will have to make changes to reduce costs, the site's owner wrote in a post on Sunday. "4chan can't afford infrastructure costs, network fee, servers cost, CDN and etc, now," writes Hiroyuki Nisimura, who bought the site from its founder last year. Nisimura says ads haven't been effective enough to support the site, nor have subscriptions offering additional features. "We had tried to keep 4chan as is. But I failed," Nisimura writes. "I am sincerely sorry." There are three options for 4chan to survive going forward, as far as Nisimura sees it: sell more subscriptions, include "much more" -- and potentially even malicious -- ads, or cut traffic to the site in half. That might be done by closing message boards, slowing down the site, or reducing the size of images that can be posted. Nisimura makes it sound bad (his post is titled "Winter is coming"), but he also proposes changes to save the site. Meanwhile, another infamous name -- Martin Shkreli -- says he's interested in buying 4chan; he's in touch with Nisimura, so maybe we'll see how that remarkably bad combination turns out. Martin Shkreli tweeted: "I'm open to joining the Board of Directors of 4Chan. @4chan." Not too long after, Hiroyuki Nisimura replied: "I have replied your DM. Thank you for supporting 4chan @MartinShkreli twitter.com/MartinShkreli/...."

Comments

Just let it fold and be done with it

[Anonymous Coward]

The internet will be better for it.

Re:Just let it fold and be done with it

[Anonymous Coward]

Because shutting down a site that has controversial and illegal (and borderline-illegal) material has always been a good way to stop the bad behavior?
On the contrary, I think the internet is better for 4chan (and /b/ in particular) existing. If you're familiar with the SomethingAwful forums, 4chan is like a FYAD board in that it gives trolls and idiots someplace to go and get the stupidity out of their systems.
And where do you think many of the great net memes first came from? Hint: it's not Slashdot.
I'm not worried about 4chan. It will survive or it will die and then rise again. It's done it before.

Re:Just let it fold and be done with it

[sinij]

why should we help them stay afloat?

Lets hope 4chan stays afloat, because otherwise 4chan posters will be dispersed throughout other sites and communities. Like a cyst bursting into bloodstream.

Re:Just let it fold and be done with it

[Anonymous Coward]

what about /r/blacklivesmatter? was that also shut down? of course not.

Re:Just let it fold and be done with it

[ArylAkamov]

Lets hope 4chan stays afloat, because otherwise 4chan posters will be dispersed throughout other sites and communities. Like a cyst bursting into bloodstream.

>Implying we're not already here

Boogiemanposting aside, a lot of the boards are pretty useful. /g/, /fit/, /diy/, etc.

Re:Just let it fold and be done with it

[Anonymous Coward]

Black lives matter is about as interested in "equality" as white pride.

Re:Just let it fold and be done with it

[93 Escort Wagon]

Lets hope 4chan stays afloat, because otherwise 4chan posters will be dispersed throughout other sites and communities. Like a cyst bursting into bloodstream.

Do you really think 4channers aren't already at sites like Slashdot? When I see the odious behavior of some ACs here, I generally assume it's another bored kid with no social skills.

o_O

[XSportSeeker]

A match forged in the deepest levels of Hell I guess?

4chan board of directors: Martin Shkreli, Palmer Luckey, ...

Perfect. Do it now.

[cfalcon]

I can't imagine a more perfect match for 4chan than Martin Shkreli. They absolutely and completely deserve each other forever.

Re:And nothing of value was lost...

[PopeRatzo]

4chan is kill, RIP 4chan.

I can't think of a more perfect person than Martin Shkreli to buy 4chan. It's ideal, really.

Re:Perfect. Do it now.

[jeti]

If someone behaves like an asshole, online or offline, he is an asshole. Any further distinction is irrelevant.

Re:Perfect. Do it now.

[LordLucless]

People behave like assholes on 4chan to drive away the overly-sensitive. Many are refugees from other forums, where you get banned for diverging from the groupthink/using the wrong pronoun/supporting the wrong presidential candidate. They created an environment where people who complain about their feelings getting hurt by words on the internet get laughed out the door. Personally, I find its honest abrasiveness more refreshing than the passive-aggressive politeness of other forums.

Re:Nishimura, with an h

[Anonymous Coward]

>misspelling Hiroshima Nagasaki

>being this new

Re:Perfect. Do it now.

[drinkypoo]

People behave like assholes on 4chan to drive away the overly-sensitive.

That doesn't make them not assholes. If the only way you can come up with to stop people from complaining about what you're saying constantly is to ante up on being a fuckhead... you're an asshole.

Personally, I find its honest abrasiveness more refreshing than the passive-aggressive politeness of other forums.

And personally, you like assholes. That's OK, but don't pretend something else is true.