[ivarious]

It's rather disappointing that the authors didn't talk about the biggest thing that has reshaped discussion in 4chan since years.

The reply indicator.

For people who don't go to 4chan, you can read it on http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/you-here-s-your-you. Basically, if someone else replied to your post, the post pointer will show a (You) word, showing that the poster replied to a post that you wrote.

Moreover, the post number of posts that replied/quoted you will be attached to your own posts. Much-replied post will have a lot of link to the posts that replied them, and very visible when you skip through the thread.

This one simple feature has changed 4chan. Before, posts are similar and anonymous since they don't have visual distinction between each other. You have to actually read their content to know what's inside. The reply indicator make controversial posts very visible and "famous" in the thread.

Much like Reddit's voting system and Facebook likes or Twitter's retweets/favorites, 4chan now has its own post rating system. The difference is that Facebook likes and Reddit's vote system rewards popular posts that people agree with and liked. 4chan's "rating system" rewards controversial posts that people rebuke or laugh at.

The presence of this reply indicator make people try to post controversial contents, and to be controversial by 4chan standards, your post have to be very, very controversial.

[the8472]

I speculate that the ban on raids had a much bigger impact. Before that they were used for all kinds of things, mostly to cause mischief, occasionally even for a good purpose, e.g. op chanology. So this might have tied up and channeled a lot of the mischievous energy of the more active users. Now that it's banned we get more informal, less organized hit-and-run harassment.

[Pigo]

I miss the BattleToads threads, especially when they would record their calls to the Pawn Stars and GameStop stores. Or just visiting 4chanarchive to watch drama unfold in some previously massive thread. There just isn't anything like it on the Internet still, as far as I'm aware. Unless you enjoy a 'LIK DIS IF YOU CRY EVERTIM' Facebook post.

[sotojuan]

Last thing I remember being like that was the Baneposting raid on a Reddit AMA.

[kakarot]

Posts linking their replies in the header has been a feature for a very, very long time. This doesn't have the negative impact you think it does. It's not a post rating system, and only trolls and candyasses pay attention to the number of replies on your post.

There isn't any kind of long-term karma game like on other sites. 4chan is still content-heavy and shit posts are still looked down upon by the larger community. It may not seem that way, but the stupidest people are often the loudest.

[ivarious]

>Posts linking their replies in the header has been a feature for a very, very long time.

Before, that was add-on/userscript feature. Since moot adopted them into 4chan's codebase, everyone has it.

>only trolls and candyasses pay attention to the number of replies on your post

Exactly. This feature encourages and rewards trolls and people who fish for replies.

>There isn't any kind of long-term karma game like on other sites. 4chan is still content-heavy and shit posts are still looked down upon by the larger community.

The dynamic of the discussion changes though. Even a slight nod matters in a long run considering that 4chan's culture evolves in a very rapid pace, thanks to its ephemerality and anonymity.

>

Come on.

[kakarot]

After Hacker News, 4chan is the only non-specific community I enjoy, due to how it manages threads it's easy to sift past shitposts and find the good stuff. All of the problems you present aren't really representative of the actual 4chan experience. I'm sorry you haven't figured out how to make it work for you.

[flgr]

Interestingly, Facebook's algorithms also reward activity which has the effect of bubbling up group posts with a lot of drama.

[NotaSockPuppet8]

Facebook's algorithms are far less transparent and outside a user's control compared to 4chan's bump system.

Just recently it was shown that their automatic news feeds promoted fake news articles.

[gonehome]

I think this is just how stories get more attention naturally.

For a more detailed explanation: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/12/17/the-toxoplasma-of-rage/

[MichaelGG]

The addition of flags probably do far more damage to /pol/. Too much meta discussion or just insults based on the flag of the poster.

[amiga-workbench]

Those bloody Canadians though...

[RGamma]

No, it's disappointing that 4ch is getting any attention, because attention has always been the cancer that is killing X. I suppose network effects can also work against you...