That’s right, after 11 incredibly offensive years, the original founder of forum/internet bear pit Chris Poole (aka Moot) is quietly fucking off. “I’ve decided it’s time for me to move on” Moot explained in a statement on the site, which he founded at age 15. “I’ve spent the past two years working behind the scenes to address these challenges, and to provide 4chan with the foundation it needs to survive me by bolstering its finances, strengthening its infrastructure, and expanding and empowering its team of volunteers. And for the most part, I’ve succeeded. The site isn’t in danger of going under financially any time soon, and it’s as fast and stable as ever thanks to continued development and recent server upgrades. Team 4chan is also at its largest, and while I’ve still been calling the shots, I’ve delegated many of my responsibilities to a handful of trusted volunteers, most of whom have served the site for years.”
This seems to me like a reasonable, dignified exit from the site and I doubt that it’s going anywhere any time soon. The site has seen all manner of hijinks, episodes of bizarre humour and some other, rather more dramatic things like a practically global (and successful) manhunt for a puppy-killer and a deeply unsettling incident in which a man posted images of his dead girlfriend, then confessed to having murdered her. Beyond that, the hacker collective Anonymous originally emanated from 4chan, along with basically every meme since memes became a thing, LOLcats, Rick Rolling, Raptor Jesus, I accidentally [insert noun], Chocolate Rain and countless others. Sadly #cuttingforBieber, the hacking of Trayvon Martin’s email and a slew of phony bomb threats also started there, but the community is so wide that it’s impossible to generalise. I don’t doubt that Moot has a bright future ahead of him, but his creation of the biggest, most galvanizing communities on the internet will always be pivotal one. I mean, how else were we supposed to know that we should do a barrel roll!?
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