What made Veeky Forums appealing to you when you first started browsing...

What made Veeky Forums appealing to you when you first started browsing? I can understand the appeal of Tumblr and the current trends that pushes for "redistribution of sociopolitical power" (think redistribution of wealth, but with sociopolitical power). I understand the appeal of communism, of socialism and of any movement that claims to be fighting social constraints, prejudice by propping constraints of their own and spreading prejudice amongst their own people.

What I can't exactly identify is the appeal that Veeky Forums has. It's not like I or many of the people I know enjoy Veeky Forums. I'm afraid that we are here forever, soullessly shuffling about post to post looking for quality content - a slight hit if dopamine to your brain.

What's the appeal to Veeky Forums?

You can say nigger

I'm just here to vent my frustrations anonymously, I rarely even read other posts

The dry dark humor mostly.

Threads like this:

Pretty much this

No, you have
porn + lolz + free speech + fights + news

>sociopolitical power
The anglo-Marxist atmosphere is only the undercurrent to what's this leading to. Let's go back.
UK under Blair was wanting this war and we did drag other countries into it and instead of it being a simple 6months blast in the sand it turned into a 10+ year clusterfuck. The US took all the blame even though Bush did not really want to go in.

Iraq has crumbled to the terrorists because we killed a dictator which hammered everyone who was a threat to his power.

Afghan was never a threat but with Iraq being open to terrorists and the west fucking about it gave them a reason to go in and fuck shit up.
Libya and Syria was a consequence of the arab spring in which 'democracy' spread across the land and instead of democracy they got terrorists in which the UK and French bombed for 'freedom' while the US gave weapons to ISIS because they thought the 'enemy of my enemy is my friend' when it was the enemy the whole time.
With Libya gone to the terrorists and the middle east being fucked with no leaders or dictators to keep things in line people ran and with Libya next to Europe that is where they went because why move to Turkey or some other shithole.

With Europe being under the thumb of Merkel and Germanys Nazi past the power to do good and help people actually ended up hurting more people on both sides and changing countries for the worse. Add in that the populations of these countries seem to want more immigrants and celebrate it means that for months terrorists and criminal scum were welcomed because no one knows what a background check is or how to work a fence.

Only now are things possibly changing, Brexit has shown it is not racist to say no to more immigration even though liberals keep screaming 'racist'. France keeps getting attacked and the right is rising, several easteran countries of the EU have put up fences and have had enough.
If anything left wing goverments and the rise of social media are to blame at the end of the day i believe.

You see in the end the left and the right get's twisted and Veeky Forums is ever absorbing their opponents.

anime

Anonimity here is embraced and never questioned. You just get in and start shitposting. You listen to other peoples opinion who are similar to you in their tastes of humor and memes. Its pretty comfy in here, anonimity and individuality glorified.

*... and you don't need to.

To develop a thicker skin, honestly. You see some of the worst shit on here, but sometimes it's still hilarious.

And obviously to anonymously shitpost about history and literature with both the educated and the pseuds.

And this

Where are these educated people?

like 8 or 9 years ago I only got on /b/ because the memes were dank and I didn't really have friends.
now i only get on Veeky Forums for the reccs and discussions. and to talk shit to newfags.

anonymity is the appeal.
this discussion has been had on every board a hundred times a year.

I like Veeky Forums because it's like a sharktank that chews away bullshit. I have a tumblr and I HATE the way some people rationalize their stupidity. Tumblr is like a bunch of teens feeling their way around a dark room, yelling little nuggets of wisdom to each other as they attempt to navigate their environment
>friendly reminder to-!
>please don't use words like-!
>remember to ask someone's pronouns!
>this is so important!
>destroy the idea that-!
It's like a goddamn daycare over there

Around 2009 I was on cheezburger reading the latest memes. That was when the anonymous guy was pretty big. Googled Veeky Forums and made the mistake of going onto /b/ and immediately saw a rekt thread and I felt scarred for life and left.
But I came back for the porn of /s/ and then later discovered /v/. Fast forward to today and now I'm a twink loving faggot on Veeky Forums and sometimes /mu/

you will literally never see an academic discussion during the summer.

if you're wondering why, you're part of the problem.

Memes on /pol/. They are idiots, but their meme game is top.
Reliable place to discover things to read here. It's honestly the only place I know that isn't ran over by plebs. Even the fantasy general used to be a decent place, until the reddit invasion.

unapologetic and true to human nature without all the niceties and hypocrisy that political correctness brings. Though it sounds extremely edgy, it is true that Veeky Forums prefers (traditionally) to rather be a lone wolf than a sheep following the herd. Veeky Forums tends to move away from slave mentality though some boards share this trait more than others.
It used to be better though, Veeky Forums is becoming more of an echo chamber than it ever was. But that is probably due to the 'culture war' that we're currently invested in.

the first part of my post leads me to believe that you need to go back.

I was madly obsessed with Neutral Milk Hotel and thought I was the only one, then I found /mu/. Now I mostly lurk Veeky Forums for new recs and shill Knausgård.

I had more-or-less unrestricted access to the internet since I was ~10 years old and an interest in anime/cartoons, video games, and comic books, so it was inevitable I'd eventually discover this site. As I found myself on ytmnd and various video game forums filled with /b/ crossposters, I'd become acclimated to this site's memes and culture by 12/13, though it took me a few years to venture here on my own, largely out of a paranoia that the FBI was keeping tabs on all Veeky Forums users. In retrospect that paranoia likely served me well- I was way too impressionable a 12 year old to be on /b/ regularly.

It was actually the mass amounts of freely-available copywrited material that encourages me to finally take the plunge, around when I was 15. An e-friend showed me /rs/ and I was impressed with the amount of comics and albums. From there I quickly ventured to /co/ and /mu/ and the rest is history.

What appealed to me about this place then what still keeps me here: the commitment to open culture/file-sharing, the black humor/memes in general (even if I find the latter increasingly less amusing), the contrarianism (I think it's supremely valuable to question prevailing narratives, and we have tons of that here), its status as a platform for unrestricted expression, the ability to discuss my interests with people who share them. I fucking love this place and everyone on it.

23 now btw

we love you too, pal

the (You)s you get. thats what we are all here for.

faggot

Anonymity, dark humor, open culture, constant communication (not usually high standard I admit)

I've honestly expanded my cultural horizons more browsing Veeky Forums /mu/ /tv/ more than on the real world. The good discussions are rare but they happen you get quite a lot out of them.

Place was really unusual. Stayed for the interesting worldview. I got really sick of this place and quit for a long time. Since the bigger boards are horrible places filled with degenerates I started browsing the smaller boards.

I have no friends and being anonymous is the only way I can have something close to a social interaction.

You all would be disgusted if you knew me in real life.

What makes you so disgusting?

: -)

Most people on Veeky Forums have rotten and disgusting personalities. I wouldn't want to meet any of you fags to be honest.

It's the only place where I am really free to be myself. I don't need to be polite if I don't want to, I don't need to police what I say out of fear of being ostracized. In fact, I may even find another person who shares my fucked up opinion. This is like the only place outside of my own mind where I can let my id run wild.

Also
This. I am incredibly uninteresting and unlikeable. No one would wanna be friends with me irl. Veeky Forums is the only place where my opinion has ever been taken seriously.

the Veeky Forums sticky and the TED talk desu. Also no moderation, I truly hate self-described internet emperors

Mid autumn at 10am EST sitting at your laptop with a coffee in a goodreads or share/recommendation thread is truly a peaceful enlightening experience.

>goodreads or share/recommendation thread

absolute cancer

If not them, then this board is irredeemable.

I can resonate with this. I find myself quiet for a much longer time than I'm comfortable with irl. The only 2 times I've completely lost my shit in a classroom discussion is when this dumb bitch was praising Bernie's free college proposal and yapping on about a vague "they", "them" that wanted to keep everybody else down with college fees. I'm no fan of sophism, I believe a college education in America is inflated beyond belief especially for international students and it has been made into an enterprise. I could have agreed with her on some grounds but the sheer stupidity that seem to drip from her mouth like a retard drooling really flicked my switch.

Needless to say, people don't like me very much in class. I have one female friend irl who I can't even express my true self to. I'm just grateful that I won the lottery by marrying a by-God decent human being from Veeky Forums. We actually met on Veeky Forums.

>readers reading
>cancer

>comparing quantity of books read
>retarded socializing
>blogging

just go to facebook and the goodreads forums

Im socially autistic and this concept of anonymous posting is nice, I can get btfo and just close the tab and move on


People are still circlejerkey here but I can still state controversial opinions without getting "down voted" or banned

I learned to love this place when I stopped being so mad. Some people are irreversibly fucking stupid here and once i learned to ignore them and not take the time out of my day to reply and call them out and say why they're wrong and call them faggots, my experience got more enjoyable

Some boards though are just too insufferable like /g/ so I just don't use them. Though I forgive /g/ because their board population is mostly underage kids and once you accept that things make a little more sense

Veeky Forums is a subject im interested in and I can tolerate what subjective shittyness I do come across

I always feel bad when I realize I browse this board among spergs like you.

>The Feels
I had friends, but I was always told I acted older than I was...and I feel like my "friends" picked up on it too. I got pissed at a dude in my circle of friends for being a faggot and constantly trying to fuck with people or steal shit (We were 25 at the time).

That created a rift in the circle, and slowly I stopped getting text about the shit they were doing but would constantly see Facebook update with the pictures of the shit. Time went on and I just stopped getting texts altogether. So fuck em, Sorry if I think trying to steal shit from a Casino in Vegas is a dumb thing to do.

I'm also really quiet in person, and I think a lot of them took that for me not enjoying myself...which put them on edge. Who knows.

I'd say the usual way is that you come to /b/ for the memes and dark humour, also porn (as mentioned above). Then you grow up and graduate from /b/ and find your niche on any of the other boards. It's probably the only acceptable way, you have to wade through the sea of shit before you can settle down on the other boards.

>I was always told I acted older than I was...
That's what people tell me
My mother say l behave like an old man, but I think she happens to have a childish man. Without wanting to sound pretentious, she isn't educated beyond elementary school, and for some reason I find the way she thinks similar to younger people back in highschool.

>I'm also really quiet in person, and I think a lot of them took that for me not enjoying myself
Yeah, I have this exact problem. However, it is obvious that people try to talk to me and mix me in with the ongoing conversation, but seemingly I'm just not good at holding up a conversation.

The odd thing is however, that when there's a certain established subject of conversation I (can) do quite well. I mostly have trouble being arbitrary at things I suppose, which creates conversation most of the time.

This wasn't an invitation for you fags to let your feelings out. Get over to /r9k/ if you want to talk about being a sperg.

The anonimity strips the bullshit of normal social interaction. Idendified posters on normal forums knowingly or unknowingly are ascribed a certain respect or deferrence in their posts, even if it's rubbish. Here each post is treated individualually, each judged on its own merits, there is no call for consistency or anything else we use to pepper our actions and reactions

being anonymous and the anarchic nature it brings, i think people can be more honest with each other when the need for politeness is removed, i know i can be at least

also cool recommendations on music/books/movies, though you might stumble upon things that turns out to be absolute absolute garbage (everything everything/house of leaves/detachment), you mostly get something that's good

and news and videos and images from happenings are instantaneous

the dangers of toxic mindsets can be underestimated though, i was a big robot which i think damaged me more than anything, growing up with internet is weird, but maybe growing up has always been weird, life is strange etc.

t.25 year old boy

Sorry bro, my bad.

I originally came on Veeky Forums so I could call people like you a faggot.

Toxic mindsets come with Internet itself, I guess. You could probably join a gardening forum and end up as a khmer rouge of tulip growing.

>>retarded socializing
>I'm autistic so everyone else has to be
>pushing yourself to read more is a bad thing

you are the cancer

Who would have thought that the socially retarded sperg is also an anime fan? Seriously surprised me there, mate.

yeah, extremes are more exciting and easier to be swept away by

*SIIIIIIGGHH* idk guys maybe it's because I never got on well with my father. maybe I'm looking for literary father figures to fill that void. to teach me valuable lessons to take on life, to be a man among men, sharp and healthy and productive and capable.
I've never been in love but I find myself reading about it often and I always wonder if maybe I'm missing something that the author is trying to make me understand because I simply lack the faculty; I've never felt the emotions that they're trying to appeal to, something that would make the prose "click" and really speak to me.
Maybe I'm full of shit in the first place. I've never been academically inclined like my friends are or like my parents wanted me to be and I want to prove that just because I never earned an engineering degree that I'm still intelligent, that i can pull my weight in a discussion, that my opinions matter. or maybe that I'm just not stupid.
hug me bby

Annoying ass kids on other internet pages referencing Veeky Forums with contempt. I thought, something these kids don't like must be good.

And this made me stay

I started using the site because of anonymity. Other forums tend to turn into shitfests because everyone has a name and a reputation to defend. On this site, you are a grey blob without a name, race, age, sex, etc. until you bring that shit up for attention. It's kind of nice.

Kind of the same. I like that people here have the same problems. For example
>Be around 18 senior year of high school
>Been friends with these 3/6 of these guys since I was old enough to make friends
>All they want to do is smoke weed since we tried it in freshman year
>Me and this one kid's parents are really fucked up, like they do too much drugs and don't take care of us, so i'm not really enjoying all the weed
>They don't stop, but I have no one else to hang out with. I keep hanging out with them, because we still have fun.
>Eventually just start fighting over stuff
>Doing sketchy things to each other
>Stop caring
>Stop getting texts... things like that

>6 years later and still haven't made any strong friendships
People grow apart

It's kind of sunny sometimes.

I meant funny.

Is that seriously still a thing on Veeky Forums? I thought the whole "LOL You have anime pictures on your computer faggot" thing stopped being used a few years ago, since it wasn't even ironically funny or insulting.

Learn something new everyday.

What?

Pictures of cats talking poorly.

Calm yourself, my cow loving friend. I think it's pretty cool to be an anime pro.

btfo scrub

This is what I live for!

I can feel the same forces in my current friend group. Every summer I come home, I find I have less and less in common with them.
They're content with their menial jobs, playing pokemon, and smoking weed.

I started on /b/ which I mostly liked for the humor. Veeky Forums has this unique thing where it's easy to get on the inside of inside jokes, and then you feel like you're part of a community when you start to understand the memes which get posted over and over. I jumped from board to board as my interests changed, but there's a tight sense of community wherever you go.

Veeky Forums is actually lower than average on the "sense of community" thing, but I guess now I mostly use Veeky Forums for honest arguments/discussions. Egos don't get in the way as much, here.

first post always best post

This. I consider /b/ the birth canal of Veeky Forums

I used to have good friends. The high school came around and It was a bad environment, nothing gained there. Then I got into the military and I was among the popular functional ones there. Right after that. Nothing. No friends, just distant relation contacts who all disappeared one after another. One of them even commited suicide a couple of days before last Christmas eve.

Do you guys plan to graduate Veeky Forums someday or do you feel like you're gonna be here forever?

>What's the appeal to Veeky Forums?
It fosters great sincerity/irony.

Where would I go?

What else is there? I don't really see a point in joining a forum where you have to come up with a clever username and be careful what you say because anyone can look up your old post and hold some shit against you that you said years ago. And I don't want to be nice just because people expect me to. Fuck, I'm usually nice enough as it is on Veeky Forums, I don't need a place with rules that tell me what to say and how to say it.

Guess the question is only relevant to people who think they waste their time on here.

I'm here till it gets shut down. Traditional forums are dying out and the ones still around suffer from problems already outlined itt, I dislike reddit's interface, and other imageboards are too slow.

Relatively fast-paced discussion plus anonymity. Too bad Veeky Forums is awful nowadays.

Yeah I've been gradually using it less and less as my interests change. I used to be huge into anime and vidya, then music and fashion, and finally literature. Veeky Forums is great as a gateway to hobbies but after that it's kinda useless shit being regurgitated daily. I don't go on /a/ or /mu/ for recs, nor do I go on Veeky Forums for inspo.

Any time on the internet is wasted time. But at least this place is funnier than the rest.

i leik pancake astronaughts thats why

Nah. During busy periods, I find myself gone for weeks at a time. But whenever I have a few days off I find myself back here.

Veeky Forums is an ugly and beautiful place.

>Any time on the internet is wasted time.

Yes, like watching lectures, downloading ebooks etc, they all are wasted as fuck.

I think he meant, graduating into rl, a happy rl.

Yes I think I will. :)

The internet is the greatest tool for mankind if you can use it, infinite knowledge is there for you for free.

The internet is a tool. All libraries in the world combined are no match for the internet. A sheer endless amount of information for every subject you can imagine. Even the best tool can become useless in the hands of a failure.

The internet is not a waste of time only because you use it only as a gateway to the bamberian dunkey milking illustration company.

I'm aware of the advantages and possibilities that the internet has to offer. But let's be honest, just very few people actually use these possibilities fully and don't let themselves get distractedby porn, memes and other bullshit. Most people even only visit a very small amount of websites on a regular basis.

An average public library offer more information than you could possibly remember. What good is access to information if you can't use it? Because it's just too much? Never mind blatant misinformation.

Yes but I can't get any information on a whim in the library.

"You're here forever"

I go months without coming here, but sometimes I'm bored and I check it once, soon enough the habit of checking the board daily is back.
I only browse lit.

With the internet you not only have endless information you also have the means called search engines to search information generally and specifically. I know, an absolute mad combination if you think about it.

Misinformation can be easily avoided trough checking multiple sources which is no problem at all on the internet.

The internet single handedly killed elitism. In the past only very privileged people could even become great as information was just limited to those kind of people. Nowadays even some third world shitter can experience mastery just because the information is avaiable for everyone.

In the information age it's so easy to get distracted but as you mature you get less and less distracted and follow your goal to achieve mastery. I myself needed to redo 2 years in highschool and was a NEET for another 2 years. I couldn't even get access to advanced schools because of my bad grades. I live in germany and here they take this kind of shit very serious.

There was no hope for me. My grades too bad for a half decent job and too bad to go to advanced schools. In a single year I learned all the information that is worth 3 years in advanced schools on the internet. I took a non-student exam and graduated the advanced school that in a single year instead of 3 which gave me access to decent jobs and more importantly, it allowed me access to university.

Hell with the internet you have endless possibilities if you put in the work.

>he doesn't hang out in the library all day like a homeless person

Again, I see the advantages and of course, the internet can be a useful tool. But no offense, your story isn't a very good example. You could've gotten all the information you needed from a library and yiou wouldn't have spent more money on it than you pay for your internet access. Of course you would've had to leave your house but that's about it.
Trotzdem Glückwunsch und viel Glück für die Zukunft, user!

I tried going to 4+Veeky Forums once, but that place is fucking shit. So I just came back here.

The point is not only the availability of information. The quality, the speed, the format and no arbitrary physical obstacles make it just a much superior platform to learn. Instead of asking the library whore where I can find certain books, find the book, open the book up, notice that the book is unclear or badly written in general, get frustrated, search for another book, notice that the library doesn't offer decent resources for certain subject etc.

In the internet I can be extremely selective. Picking up the best resources which tons of other people have checked and recommended. On the fly even checking videos or websites that gamify the entire boring learning experience into something enjoyable. I have total control and complete organization over all my subjects. If I feel down I can find something to motivate me. I can easily find people which I can share my problems with, which will help me quickly out. I completely direct the learning pace.

Ponies.

>Egos don't get in the way as much, here.

I could discuss sports and talk trash about other teams and their fans without being banned.

Kindness forced by authority is cruelty in disguise. Here, you can take people at face value. Also, people share my mindset here more than anywhere else (which is saying something, as hardly anyone here shares my mindset). And it produces content at a very high rate, so it's hard to get bored.

I'm a cuckold and this is the only place on the internet where I feel I'm with good company.

1. You can say whatever you like - which includes a lot of pointless edge like , but also meaningful opinions - with no consequence or filter

2. You lot are really good at getting your hands on information, whether that's pirated media, weird porn, leaked news about something, or just super-obscure interests and hobbies

3. Memes are fun, as is shitposting so long as it's kept below a certain level

4. There's a certain "freakshow" aspect of morbid fascination that comes when looking at a thread full of neonazis, guys who wank onto Nintendo figurines, or basically anything from /x/ and /d/.

5. Posting requires zero effort anyway

The only downside is if you let yourself get too affected by it or assimilate the robot/poltard culture, it seems some people really get fucked in the head.

In the end I think it boils down to a shared cynicism. A cynic circlejerk.

Same, this site is like crack cocaine. I wasn't here for a full year then the summer came and... now it's all I do again.
inb4 summerfag, have been here for literally a decade

I liked the dark humour, then I liked the culture-jamming, then I liked the idea that hey, we could really do some actual good with this burgeoning movement by fucking with scientology, then I liked pissing off the moralfags while getting lucky with cumdumpsters, now I just like the nostalgia for the culture-jamming and the whole concept of remaining anonymous and having some freedom of speech.

Genuine equality and freedom.