4chan founder Christopher “moot” Poole has sold the controversial message board to Hiroyuki Nishimura, creator of the Japanese anime forum 2channel. Poole, who handed off daily site duties to a team of moderators early this year, declined to reveal terms of the acquisition.
In an interview with The New York Times, Poole said Nishimura is literally the only person in the world with as much – if not more – experience in running an anonymous, large destination community that serves tens of millions of people. He’s the great-grandfather of all of this, Poole praised.
In a statement on the matter, Nishimura said he is proud to be taking Poole’s place as the owner of 4chan, adding that he has long admired the site’s place on the web as a producer of anonymous and Internet culture. The new owner added that he looks forward to continuing to grow and develop the site and support the community.
The exact direction that Nishimura will steer 4chan in, however, wasn’t disclosed.
If you haven’t already surmised by this point, the similarity in names and the fact that 2channel’s founder was the one who bought 4chan wasn’t exactly a coincidence.
Poole created 4chan in 2003 at the young age of 15 as an American version of 2channel where people could discuss anime. The site has expanded significantly since its creation and while it does still have an anime section, the /b/ section is home of the type of content the site is most known for.
Image courtesy SHARE Conference, Flickr
https://www.techspot.com/news/62186-4chan-now-under-ownership-2channel-founder.html
