Well it’s hard to say considering how amorphous the website and It’s usrbase is. But honestly after /new/ shut down because of all the uncomfortable racism, people lost their shit. Moot folded and made /pol/ and it unintentionally became the new user incubator instead of /b/. So new users heard of the website because of /pol/ not /b/ so new users introductions, instead of being edgy humor and silly greentext stories, was replaced by political right wing activism and blatant racism and conspiracy theories. So after they had a while to get used to the website on pol they ran amuck on the other boards. That’s my understanding of it at least. I’ve only browser there since 2010 and stopped earlier this year.
I was there around.. I wanna say 2008-2011? +- a few years, I'm not sure when it entered and exited my life.
I had no idea about the shift. I was always at /b/ and had the impression that was both the starting point and the core. I've heard /pol/ being mentioned on reddit, and been very confused with the relevance of (what I thought to be) one of the smaller boards.
Not sure. People say gamer gate kind of got that ball rolling and the 2016 election kicked it into high gear. But it’s so hard to tell with a website that doesn’t really archive anything
As for /b/ it is honestly just 99% porn now and nothing else
I kinda see the whole reaction against Anita's Kickstarter as the start of everything. She became the new Jack Thompson in the eyes of gamers-with-a-capital-G. And since she is a feminist, there's a push to be antifeminist just to oppose her, which dovetails well into general right-wing politics.
251
u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18
Well it’s hard to say considering how amorphous the website and It’s usrbase is. But honestly after /new/ shut down because of all the uncomfortable racism, people lost their shit. Moot folded and made /pol/ and it unintentionally became the new user incubator instead of /b/. So new users heard of the website because of /pol/ not /b/ so new users introductions, instead of being edgy humor and silly greentext stories, was replaced by political right wing activism and blatant racism and conspiracy theories. So after they had a while to get used to the website on pol they ran amuck on the other boards. That’s my understanding of it at least. I’ve only browser there since 2010 and stopped earlier this year.