1) I have no clout and almost no friends on this site, but consistently the most liked things I post here relate to my experience going from someone that lurked 4chan and was present at the beginning of GamerGate to... well, me. Not sure how long this'll be but:
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2) It was so freaking easy to get sucked into it in hindsight. 4chan is an edgy teen's paradise. You can say literally anything you want on there with no repurcussions. Everyone's on an equal level of discourse there, namely: shitflinging of the highest calibur