Web War I: 4chan Goes Down in War Against Tumblr

Nov. 14, 2010

By Jason Rearden info

Jason Rearden is a writer living in New York, NY.

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As of 5:34 PM EST, 4chan is down, and we can only assume this is the first major disaster in Web War I (WWI) – a war 4 chan’s anarchic /b/ messageboard declared on the microblogging/sharing platform Tumblr early last week.

You’d really expect Tumblr to be down, rather than 4chan. Just 30 minutes before 4chan went down, /b/ (supposedly) launched the final phase of its battle with Tumblr.

The fact that 4chan has gone down so early in WWI is surely going to frustrate Anon’s efforts at /b/ in regrouping and devising some kind of retaliation plan. Further, the inability to gather and strategize on /b/ could lead to drastic consequences tomorrow, when Tumblr plans to launch its first assault on what very well be could be a weakened and completely unprepared 4chan.

Very surprised to see 4chan go down this early in the game. At this point information on 4chan’s fall is sparse, and we can only hope to learn the truth after the smoke has cleared.

WWI is shaping up to be an exciting and surreal event. Who knows what will remain of the internet in the aftermath? Only time will tell, and we can all only pray that deaths and casualties remain at a minimum. Our hearts and prayers go out to all involved.

*Update* 4chan is back up, and the mood seems resigned and deflated (6:35 p.m. EST).

*Update 2* 4chan is down again. Tumblr remains up and running with quick load times (6:40 p.m. EST).

*Update 3* 4chan has been restored. (7:00 p.m. EST) TC mark


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  • http://mattlanger.com langer

    Ooh, Web War I–I like this! How much farther can this analogy extend? Will Twitter and Facebook be drawn in on opposing sides by entangling alliances? What is the Triple Entente of the Web 2.0 era?

  • Anonymous

    LOL TUMBLERIAN SCUM! I CAN SEE YOUR PROPAGANDA NETWORK HAS EXTENDED FARTHER INTO THE WEB. WE ARE WINNING, AND WE WILL WIN.

    DEATH TO HIPSTER TUMBLERIAN CANCER SCUM!

    VIVA 4CHAN
    VIVA ANONYMOUS

  • RickyMartin

    SHIT FOUR CHAN IS DOWN AGAIN GOD DAMN TUMBLR IS KILLING IT

  • fun for one

    feels like tumblr might be more effective because of the ability to strategize based on actual interaction with humans as opposed to 4chan interaction with their hands [via] compulsive masturbation

  • jordanobscura

    Team Anon.

  • anon

    both sides had problems and chances are is that 4chan was attacking itself.

  • Brandon

    HOW-UN-4CHAN-ATE

    LOLS. Best.

  • http://twitter.com/_justvibing @_justvibing

    lol
    feel like the 4chan vs. tumblr articles
    are a real swing & miss bro

  • http://twitter.com/billApomerans Bill A Pomerans

    kind of like these articles… it's like sports commentary, but more exciting

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