Christopher Poole (“moot”) launched 4chan on October 1, 2003, initially as an English-language imageboard inspired by Japanese boards. At launch, the site’s only board was /b/ (“Anime/Random”), which quickly became its busiest and most influential space. The default “Anonymous” posting style helped set early norms around collective identity over individual reputation.
As 4chan activity grew, posters increasingly treated “Anonymous” not just as a missing username, but as a shared label for whoever was speaking in a thread. This helped create the idea of a flexible “hivemind” where anyone could join in and speak as part of the crowd. Over time, this practice became central to how /b/ coordinated jokes, pranks, and later collective actions.
In 2004, an administrator enabled a “Forced_Anon” setting that displayed posts as “Anonymous,” strengthening the sense that the board spoke with a single, shifting voice. This change made it harder to build personal status and easier to act as a coordinated crowd. The result was a stronger culture of in-group language and rapid, swarm-like collaboration.
Encyclopedia Dramatica (ED) launched on December 10, 2004, using a parody “encyclopedia” format to document internet drama and conflicts. ED later became closely linked with trolling culture and is frequently described as an archive of online harassment styles and in-jokes. It provided a semi-permanent record that contrasted with 4chan’s fast-disappearing threads.
A precursor to rickrolling grew out of 4chan’s “duckroll/duckrolling” bait-and-switch prank, tied to an in-site word filter that turned “egg” into “duck.” Links that promised something interesting would instead redirect to a joke “duckroll” image, helping normalize misdirection as a playful (and sometimes hostile) interaction style. This pattern became a model for later, larger meme-pranks.
By mid-2006, 4chan users were using the term “lolcat” for humorous cat images with stylized captions. The recurring “Caturday” practice—posting lolcats on Saturdays—helped turn a repeating in-joke into a predictable community ritual. These posts became a bridge from /b/’s internal humor to broader internet meme culture.
On July 6, 2006, users from 4chan’s /b/ organized a coordinated “raid” on Habbo Hotel, blocking access to popular rooms and repeating spam phrases like “Pool’s closed.” The raid demonstrated how /b/ could quickly mobilize large numbers of participants with simple instructions and shared costumes. It also helped spread the idea of Anonymous as an actor that could “show up” anywhere online.
On May 15, 2007, a 4chan user linked the “Never Gonna Give You Up” video as a fake Grand Theft Auto IV trailer, helping launch rickrolling as a major bait-and-switch prank. The meme reused the “duckroll” pattern: a disguised link that delivers an unexpected joke target. As it spread beyond 4chan, it became a more mainstream example of how /b/’s playful deception could travel widely.
On January 15, 2008, Gawker mirrored a leaked Scientology video featuring Tom Cruise, after earlier copies were removed from YouTube. The Church of Scientology’s copyright complaints were widely read by internet users as an attempt to suppress criticism. The dispute became the immediate spark that moved parts of Anonymous from prank raids toward a more overt “anti-censorship” framing.
On January 21, 2008, Anonymous released a “Message to Scientology” video on YouTube, publicly framing its actions as resistance to censorship. Early tactics included disruptive online actions (such as DDoS attacks) and harassment meant to pressure Scientology organizations. This moment made “Anonymous” legible to journalists and the public as something more than a running joke on /b/.
By late January 2008, Anonymous organizers pushed Chanology toward legal, nonviolent protests, supported by “call to action” messaging and distributed planning. On February 10, 2008, thousands protested at Scientology locations in many cities, often using masks to avoid identification. This helped establish a durable Anonymous visual style and marked a turning point from online subculture into offline movement tactics.
In the years following Chanology, widely cited summaries increasingly described Anonymous as originating on 4chan in 2003, with /b/ as a key early hub for raids and shared identity. This retroactive “origin story” mattered because it tied later hacktivism to earlier /b/ norms: anonymity, improvisation, and rapid collective action. It also helped define /b/ as a major seedbed for internet-wide memes and mobilization styles.
In September 2010, Operation Payback began as a coordinated campaign of DDoS attacks aimed at organizations seen as anti-piracy and pro-copyright enforcement. Planning and instructions circulated across multiple online spaces (including imageboards and IRC), showing a broader, more networked Anonymous ecosystem than early /b/ raids. This period signaled that the culture formed on /b/ had scaled into recurring, cross-platform political and legal conflict.
4chan's /b/ and the Formation of Anonymous Culture (2003–2010)