Futaba Channel

This article is about the Japanese imageboard known as 2chan. For the textboard known as 2ch, see 2channel.

Futaba Channel
ふたば☆ちゃんねる

Type of site	Textboard
Available in	Japanese
Revenue	Advertisements
URL	www.2chan.net
Commercial	No
Registration	None available
Launched	30 August 2001 (2001-08-30)
Current status	Active

Futaba Channel (Japanese: ふたば(双葉)☆ちゃんねる, Hepburn: Futaba Channeru, "Double Leaf Channel", "Two Leaf Channel"), or Futaba for short, also sometimes called 2chan (not to be confused with 2channel), is an imageboard in Japan. A popular Japanese website, it deals with a wide variety of topics, from daily personal problems to junk food, sports, ramen, and otaku and underground culture.

Origin

Futaba Channel was set up on August 30, 2001, as a refuge for 2channel users when 2channel was in danger of shutting down. It started as a textboard but eventually added imageboards based on the Gazoubbs software. The English-language imageboard 4chan website was based on Futaba.

Concept

Futaba Channel consists of about 60 imageboards (three of which are oekaki boards) and about 40 textboards, with topics ranging from daily personal problems to junk food, sports, ramen, and pornography. There is also a place to upload general non-image files. Futaba is powered by a custom script based on GazouBBS. The Futaba script is open source and is used to run many Japanese and English imageboards.

Culture

Futaba has spawned a number of visual gags and characters; the OS-tans would be one such meme that has spread to western internet culture. Some of the characters that appear on Futaba Channel have entered the real world in the form of various real-life goods, such as figures, dolls or images printed on pillows. Such items are mainly produced by Japanese dōjin artists and groups.

Non-Japanese Internet users sometimes refer to Futaba Channel as 2chan, due to the address of the site. It is frequently unclear whether this is intended to mean Futaba Channel or 2channel, and sometimes it even refers to both, as if they were a single website. To eliminate confusion, the names Futaba and 2channel are often used.

Futaba☆Channel features

del Function

A function to report a post that violates the rules and to request deletion, which has been added to each board of Futaba ☆ channel since September 27, 2008. A hyperlink with the text "del" will be created in the upper right of the thread, and clicking on it will open the "Form for deletion request" page the contents are a bribe picture, a child pornographic image, personal information, slander, intimidation, double throw, harassment etc.

In addition, a function has been added since July 2013 when a specific IDless board has a deletion request exceeding the threshold, the ID will be displayed forcibly.

Thread isolation

On some boards, when the del number of a thread accumulates more than a certain number, they disappear from the normal catalog and are "isolated". In order to view the isolated thread, you need to enter the address directly.

In the past, the thread was moved to a special board called "隔離" (Isolation) and could be viewed, but the board is now gone. Therefore, it can not be seen without knowing the URL of the isolated thread as described above.

See also

• 4chan
• 2channel
• Shift JIS art

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Futaba Channel English navigator at Blue Three (last updated 2014)