Mob-justice, 4chan style. Lawton’s local station gets its biggest story ever, with second place going to Dry Skin Bringing You Down?.
More here (make sure to check out the user-submitted photos on the bottom). Here’s some detective work on reddit (haven’t slummed through 4chan to find their work).
No Mr. Bond, I expect you to walk.
Malwebolence (NYTimes on 4chan)
[Mitchell Henderson] took a .22-caliber rifle down from a shelf in his parents’ bedroom closet and shot himself in the head. The next morning, Mitchell’s school assembled in the gym to begin mourning. His classmates created a virtual memorial on MySpace and garlanded it with remembrances. One wrote that Mitchell was “an hero to take that shot, to leave us all behind. God do we wish we could take it back… . ”
… Something about Mitchell Henderson struck the denizens of /b/ as funny. They were especially amused by a reference on his MySpace page to a lost iPod. Mitchell Henderson, /b/ decided, had killed himself over a lost iPod. The “an hero” meme was born. Within hours, the anonymous multitudes were wrapping the tragedy of Mitchell’s death in absurdity.
Someone hacked Henderson’s MySpace page and gave him the face of a zombie. Someone placed an iPod on Henderson’s grave, took a picture and posted it to /b/. Henderson’s face was appended to dancing iPods, spinning iPods, hardcore porn scenes. A dramatic re-enactment of Henderson’s demise appeared on YouTube, complete with shattered iPod. The phone began ringing at Mitchell’s parents’ home. “It sounded like kids,” remembers Mitchell’s father, Mark Henderson, a 44-year-old I.T. executive. “They’d say, ‘Hi, this is Mitchell, I’m at the cemetery.’ ‘Hi, I’ve got Mitchell’s iPod.’ ‘Hi, I’m Mitchell’s ghost, the front door is locked. Can you come down and let me in?’ ” He sighed. “It really got to my wife.” The calls continued for a year and a half.
(via waxy)
WSJ on 4chan: Modest Web Site Is Behind a Bevy of Memes
Over the last few years, 4chan.org has become one of the most talked-about sites when it comes to launching new memes …
… Each page on 4chan features photos and text. One user will post an image of something to start a discussion on one of the more than 40 different subject areas spanning origami and automobiles. Other users follow up with responses or requests for more images.
4chan is the primordial soup of the Internet. The site is … an experience. The level of discourse there makes YouTube comments look like a doctoral thesis. If you’re really curious, I recommend ImageChan, which distills out some of the more popular items. (via waxy).
