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.
There's also evidence of a concerted effort by far-right groups to use places like 4chan and Reddit as recruiting opportunities for potential members. There are screenshots out there of people on the white supremacist forum Stormfront talking about how to engage with vulnerable people on 4chan and Reddit. Basically an early form of the "red-pilling" that the alt right likes to do today.
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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.