2channel
Sign in to save, 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 influence comparable to that of traditional mass media such as television, radio, and magazines. At the time, the site drew an annual revenue of around (about US$1 million), and was the largest of its kind in the world, with around ten million visitors and 2.5 million posts made per day.
Key facts
- Website.name
- 5channel5ちゃんねる
- Website.logo
- 5ch logo.png
- Website.logo_caption
- Logo in 2012, featuring a spittoon featuring Giko, Shii, Mona and Moralar, surrounded by popular memes from the site
- Website.url
- (historically)
- Website.commercial
- Yes
- Website.type
- Textboard
- Website.language
- Japanese, with a small minority of boards in English
- Website.owner
- Jim Watkins
- Website.author
- Hiroyuki Nishimura
- Website.users
- 10 million monthly (2010)
- Website.current_status
- Active
- Website.logo_size
- 200px
- Website.parent
- Loki Technology Inc. via Race Queen Inc.
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
29 sectionsContents
- History
- Predecessors
- Early history
- Ownership transfer and government scrutiny
- Personal information leak
- Domain seizure and split
- Culture
- Anonymous posting
- Revenue
- ''Matome''
- Phenomena
- ''Densha Otoko''
- Shift_JIS art
- Political activism
- Controversies
- Slander and legal issues
- Crime announcements
- Far-right nationalism and anti-Korean hate speech
- Technology
- Major outages
- 2010–2011 Korean DDoS
- 2015 8chan DDoS
- Societal impact
- Children's use of 2channel
- 2channel in the media
- See also
- Notes
- References
- External links
, 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 influence comparable to that of traditional mass media such as television, radio, and magazines. At the time, the site drew an annual revenue of around (about US$1 million), and was the largest of its kind in the world, with around ten million visitors and 2.5 million posts made per day.
The site was hosted and had its domain registration provided by Jim Watkins, based in San Francisco, California. In 2009, ownership of the site was transferred to Singapore-based Packet Monster Inc., under which Nishimura remained in control. In February 2014, Watkins seized the 2ch.net domain, taking full control over the website and assuming the role of site administrator. This has resulted in two textboards claiming to be the legitimate 2channel: 2ch.sc, owned by Nishimura through Packet Monster Inc., and , established in 2017 by redirect from the original domain and owned by Watkins through Philippines-based Loki Technology Inc.