Introduction . . . before the story starts

By Doreen Yuan 

Welcome back to school everyone! This is Doreen. Over summer vacation, I learned about urban legends that were created by mysterious profiles on 2Channel. I want to share it with you here. But before I do, let me explain what 2Channel is.

2Channel (2ch)

It is an online Japanese textboard (a simpler version of a forum).

Management

The website’s scale and management style is unique. It currently has more than 1,000 active boards. They are categories such as “Social News,” “Computers,” “Cooking,” etc. These categories make it the most comprehensive forum in Japan. Each board usually has hundreds of active threads. Each thread contains up to 1,000 anonymous comments.

Software

2ch operates on forum software that was considered innovative at the time of its founding (1999). It represented a major departure from the bulletin-board systems of the 1980s. Everything can be done anonymously. A post in a thread will “bump” the thread, making active posts high on the overall thread list. Each thread is limited to a maximum of 1,000 postings, and a new thread must be opened by some anonymous user (self-elected) to continue discussion. This prevents the “rotting” of old threads and keeps active, fascinating topics refreshed. It also saves bandwidth, which is a major concern on a forum as large as 2ch. Old threads are moved to an archive where people can still view them until they are eventually deleted.

Anonymous Posting

One of the most remarkable features of 2ch is the complete freedom of anonymous posting. This is quite different from most English internet forums that require some form of registration. They usually require email validation to further confirm personal identity. On 2ch, the name field is available but rarely used. If you enter a real name, you will be considered a novice, an administrator, or someone trying to become an internet celebrity. 

The urban legend below is based on the premise of using the comment section of 2Channel.

The Mysterious Personal Profiles

as presented by Doreen Yuan

Meet the Characters:

Profile photo:

Online ID: No longer human

Sex: secret

Age: secret

Address: Japan-Yokohama

Character: cracks jokes, frivolous, outgoing and active.

What’s up: The real things are apt to be deviant.

Profile photo:

Online ID: Carry

Sex: /

Age: /

Address: /

Character: /

What ‘s up: /

Now, begin:

Join my Urban Legend. Make a mysterious profile yourself and become part of my story…. Below are some rules you need to know before I start to tell you my Urban Legend in the next post (check the comments).

1. The comment section is part of the story. Pay attention to it.

2. Anonymous users in the comment section are part of the story. Pay attention to them.

3. The characters named No longer human and Carry, who add comments, are part of the story.

4. Readers can leave messages in the comment section but should not intentionally destroy or try to confuse the coherence of the story.

5. Readers can respond to any anonymous character interaction in the comment section–that response may change and contribute to the story.

6. Do not use inappropriate language.

7. The roles and anonymity in the comment section are created by the primary story author himself.

8. The time of all messages is based on the time of writing.

9. Have fun, and enjoy it.

Editor: Luke Langlois