Comment by ComputerGuru | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ComputerGuru | Hacker News Reader

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(Update, posted here: http://bit.ly/l1Lvh)

What funny side is that?

I have never taken one of the attacks, defamations, etc. by people online personally nor felt in the least inclined to put an end to it all, but 4Chan strikes a nerve - what they do is pure, raw evil.

I know I'm doing them a favor by posting this, that these are the very feelings they intend to elicit by their actions, but honestly, enough is enough. This is the 2nd time I am so appalled by their behavior, and one of the few times I am ashamed of the internet's privacy and the power of its denizens to do evil.

The last time (http://bit.ly/qcWDC) was when 4Chan attacked an epilepsy forum frequented by people susceptible to photosensitive seizures, causing a dozen epilepsy attacks by uploading rapidly-moving images and flashing colors to the forum, triggering a dozen attack.

Willfully bringing about seizures in handicapped people and exposing children as young as 6 years old to wholly-explicit films of adult sex are E.V.I.L. .... and more importantly, punishable by law.

I hope someone wises up in the legal community and takes action against this site. Like I said, I know this is the sort of self-righteous anger that 4Chan is looking forward to receiving after these attacks, but there's a line and they crossed it a long time ago.

So, do tell, where's the funny side in this?

This is not evil. This is a bunch of kids sitting behind their collective computers having a giggle with their mates.

As you observed, the Internet completely disconnects them from the reality of their actions. I'd wager that -- generally speaking -- 4channers don't run around flashing their technicolour LCDs at epileptics or showing porn to their mate's six year old. They're a little power-drunk on sweet, sweet anonymity juice.

The porn thing isn't a huge deal in my personal opinion. Of course, I say this without being a parent. So I don't know, perhaps I'd feel differently if that were the case. What I do know is that you and I are different people with different opinions and apparently different senses of humor, and hey -- that's cool. Sorry you found my comments about seeing the funny side to be so outrageous, I meant no offense.

I'd prefer a cultural change in 4chan rather than a legal smackdown. You can shut down a site, but the 4channers will still be around. This, in turn, will only lead to Internet censorship for the rest of us.

And it really would be shit if the Internet's dying words were "Oh, but think of the children." -- but imagine the good 4chan could do if this sort of energy were channeled elsewhere? Maybe I'm just being excessively optimistic. :)

4channers

These actions come from the 4chan channel /b/. Their users call themselves "/b/tards".

Pure, raw evil? Get a grip.

It's not E.V.I.L. It's mean, and nasty. But E.V.I.L. to me resembles means more on the lines of the rape, torture, murder variety.

The reason the law shouldn't get involved in cases like this is the damage done to citizens in enforcing the law is higher than the result of letting it go free. Any parent who lets their kids under 13 browse around youtube unsupervised is responsible for the result of what the kid sees.

How exactly can you put causing epilepsy attacks and exposing children to porn on the same level? I may be liberal, but to be honest I am more offended by your remark then about what 4chan did.

So which one do you think is more severe?

Causing mental and physical pain and suffering with the possibility of death to people, including children; or causing mental pain and suffering to children?

When I first found a porn movie on TV one night as a kid, my father watched about 5 minutes with me and went to bed. There was remarkably little mental pain and suffering :D. Not all cultures are so scared by sex.

I was going to try to explain but seeing you use phrases like "pure, raw evil" to describe a couple of internet pranks makes me wonder if it's even possible.

The epilepsy thing was going too far, I agree, and they haven't done anything like that since. But I don't see why this one is so bad, in fact when I saw the headline I grinned and thought "good old 4Chan, creating drama for the rest of us .."

When I think "pure, raw evil" I think of nazi concentration camps and pleasure killers, etc. I cannot even begin to put these pranks into the same category. I don't see any reason whatsoever why it should be illegal. I just don't understand your reaction at all, basically. What is the problem?

I don't see how you can call it a prank.

Personally, I feel that singling out handicapped people on the web and posting images specifically tailored to bring about possible-fatal seizures in them is the very behavior of pleasure killers.

At least many of the Nazi soldiers that participated in the holocaust didn't personally agree with their orders, despite what they did. But make no mistake about it, every single Anonymous member that posted on YouTube and the epilepsy forums did so of their own volition and should be tried for it.

The posts to the epilepsy forum could easily be tried as attempted manslaughter. And the posts to YouTube, on an individual basis, are almost guaranteed to cover a number of lesser charges, such as distribution of sexual material to minors, lewd acts, etc.

I said I also disagreed with the epilepsy event. That went too far. But this is learning, is it not? They went too far, they learned from it, they haven't done it again. Why involve the law? You would never find them anyway.

There were no lasting ill effects from the epilepsy forum vandalism. The Wired article you link to mentions "day-long migraine", someone who locked up for "about 10 seconds", etc. I'm not trying to downplay the stupidity of it, not at all. I'm just saying that throwing around phrases like "attempted manslaughter" is a huge exaggeration. It was a stupid, ill-conceived prank that had unanticipated consequences. If they'd done it again after that, then you can start using words like malicious or maelevolent, but they haven't.

I don't have any problem with the YouTube prank at all. Who cares if some kids see some naked people? I'd almost prefer them watching porn than the fricking Jonas Brothers. And good luck convicting anyone, they'd just claim is was art or something, and I kind of agree.

This: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Rose_Bowl_Hoax

is a prank that's actually funny and clever. Most of the 4chan things aren't particularly clever or entertaining, and things like targeting people with an illness, or children, are just lame, and not funny. Things that make for entertaining pranks are focusing on the powerful, the famous, and especially those who are full of themselves.

Honestly, I found that prank (précis: college A sabotages college B's materials to mistakenly spell college A's name at a football game) to be quite profoundly un-funny, reminiscent of those awful "kids at camp" movies where the "hero" kids would do something to make the "enemy" kids all fall into the water, or something.

I guess my idea of funny pranks would be something like The Chaser (Australian TV Show), not sure what the US equivalent would be.

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