Imageboard
An imageboard is a type of Internet forum that revolves around the posting of images, often alongside related text and discussion. The first imageboards were created in Japan as an extension of the textboard concept. These sites later inspired the creation of a number of English-language imageboards, such as 4chan.
Characteristics
Imageboards, similar to bulletin board systems, are used for discussions of a variety of topics. The primary focus of imageboards, however, is directed away from text posts, and is instead placed on picture posts. The two share many of the same structures, including separate forums for separate topics, as well as similar audiences. Imageboards are much more transitory with content—on some boards, the thread deletion time can be as little as 10 minutes. In Japan, where imageboards are more common, topics will vary widely, ranging from trains to current news. The most popular English language imageboard, 4chan, similarly has a large variety of topics.Imageboards are also different from online galleries in that most of the works posted are not made by the poster, but instead are taken from other online sources: galleries, other imageboards, and edited pictures.
Tripcodes
Most imageboards and 2channel-style discussion boards allow anonymous posting and use a system of tripcodes instead of registration. A tripcode is the hashed result of a password that allows one's identity to be recognized without storing any data about users. Entering a particular password will let one "sign" one's posts with the tripcode generated from that password, while trying to take another user's tripcode and compute their password from it is computationally difficult. For those who want a custom tripcode, however, there are custom tripcode generators available, such as Meriken's Tripcode Engine and MTY_CL. In general, anonymity is considered to be one of the advantages of an imageboard, and some boards have from time to time removed the ability to post with a name altogether.Software
There are two primary types of imageboard software packages in widespread use: linearly directed imageboards modeled closely after Futaba Channel, and nonlinear imageboards modeled after Danbooru.Futaba Channel clones
There are currently several Futaba-based imageboard software packages in widespread use: Futallaby, Wakaba, Kusaba X.Futallaby is a PHP script based on the Futaba script from Futaba Channel. Although the Futallaby source is still freely available at 1chan, it is no longer in development, and the download page recommends using Wakaba instead, stating that "Wakaba can do everything Futallaby does and so much more." Futallaby started as a translation of Futaba, later retooled to support XHTML and customizable CSS styles. It is mostly notable for being the first open source English imageboard script.
Wakaba is a Perl imageboard script with a SQL backend to store thread information. It is designed to be more efficient and cleanly written than other scripts that are available, while preserving the same kind of functionality. Wakaba is one of the most popular western imageboard software scripts, used most notably by 420chan and iichan. Because of its focus on bare-bones functionality, Wakaba lacks many of the modern amenities provided by 4chan's Yotsuba, and newer imageboard scripts. A few users have attempted to remedy this by forking the original project and adding in features they consider beneficial. Two FOSS examples of this are frankusr's Wakaba fork, and the user experience focused Glaukaba.
Taimaba is 420chan's continuation of Wakaba, overhauling it with many modern features and a public API. It is a hybrid Perl and PHP platform, as compared to Wakaba's static html output. This fork remains in use today.
Kusaba was a modular imageboard software written in PHP, which used MySQL. The creator has discontinued the project, however, and recommends TinyIB instead.
Kusaba X is a continuation of Kusaba. Like Kusaba, Kusaba X is written in PHP, and is designed with modularity in mind. It requires a MySQL or SQLite database to run. Kusaba and its derivatives were at one time some of the most popular imageboard solutions. Kusaba X has since fallen out of active development, and has not been updated since July 2011.
Tinyboard is a PHP based imageboard script with a MySQL backend. It was eventually discontinued and forked into vichan, which itself was forked into infinity and later infinity was forked into OpenIB. Tinyboard notably feature extensibility with JavaScript and the infinity and OpenIB forks include user-submitted board creation.
Lynxchan is an imageboard based on JavaScript and Node.js. It requires a MongoDB database to run.
sukiyaki A futaba-style imageboard script that doesn't require a database.It is written on PHP
shittyboard is a small imageboard script that doesn't require a database and provides unique captcha, that can filter out not only bots, but also people, who don't know anything about the topic and don't want to educate themselves. It is best suited for low-traffic use-cases, and it comes pre-configured, which makes installing this script super easy. Works perfectly with older web-browsers. It is written on
PHP
Danbooru-style boards
Usually referred to as a "". Unlike Futaba-inspired imageboard software packages, Danbooru and derivatives aim for a non-hierarchical semantic structure in which users are able to post content and add tags, annotations, translations, artist commentary, and comments.There exist a number of different Danbooru-style imageboards, both those with shared source code and those that are not released for others to use. The two main Danbooru derivatives are Gelbooru and MyImouto.
| Shared | Software | Programmed in | License | Notes |
| Ruby on Rails | Uses PostgreSQL. | |||
| PHP | Uses MySQL by default, can also use PostgreSQL. | |||
| PHP | Uses MySQL. Built to replace Danbooru because author considered Ruby unsuitable. | |||
| Python | Uses PostgreSQL. | |||
| Ruby on Rails | Uses PostgreSQL. | |||
| PHP | Uses MySQL. PHP port of Moebooru. Uses a custom Ruby-on-Rails-like framework. | |||
| PHP | Uses PostgreSQL. | |||
| PHP | Uses MySQL. Modified and re-designed port of MyImouto for the . Some code is specialised for the Sequenzia Project and AC Research. | |||
| Elixir | Uses PostgreSQL, Elasticsearch and the Phoenix Framework. Successor to booru-on-rails. | |||
| Ruby on Rails | Uses PostgreSQL, used to use MongoDB. Has been superseded by and is no longer actively developed as of December 2019. | |||
| PHP | Uses MySQL. Gelbooru 0.1.x is open source but 0.2.x currently is not. | |||
| Octabooru | PHP | |||
| Metabooru | Python |
Imageboards
420chan
An English-language imageboard based on cannabis culture which was created on 20 April 2005 by Aubrey Cottle. The name is a reference to the larger 4chan and the code term 420 of the cannabis subculture. Its boards include various drug-specific boards, as well as a board featuring a chatbot named Netjester.4chan
4chan is an English-language imageboard based on the Japanese imageboard Futaba Channel. This imageboard is based primarily upon the posting of pictures and their discussion. The Guardian describes it as "at once brilliant, ridiculous and alarming."The site and its userbase have received attention from the media for a number of reasons, including attacks against Hal Turner on his Internet shows, distributed denial-of-service attacks against eBaum's World, taking part in Project Chanology, and multiple cases of anti-animal abuse reports.
Many Internet memes have originated there, including lolcats, rickrolling and Pedobear.
8chan
8chan was a primarily English-language imageboard, although it has sub-boards dedicated to other languages. Just like 4chan, 8chan is based on posting pictures and discussion anonymously, but unlike 4chan, 8chan lets its users decide what they want to discuss by allowing any user to create their own board dedicated to any topic, a concept first made popular by news bulletin boards like Reddit. 8chan also claims to have a strong dedication to freedom of speech and allows all content—so long as the discussion and board creation abides by United States law. However, local moderators enforce the rules of their own boards and may delete posts as they see fit. It is currently partnered with the Japanese textboard 2channel.Futaba Channel
Futaba Channel, or "Futaba" for short, is a popular, anonymous BBS and imageboard system based in Japan. Its boards usually do not distinguish between not safe for work and clean content, but there is a strict barrier between two-dimensional and three-dimensional pictures that is heavily enforced and debated.Hispachan
Hispachan was launched in November 2012 as a global imageboard for all Spanish-speaking countries. Vice Magazine describes it as "a site for completely anonymous Spanish-language discussion that has proven popular among hackers since its launch in 2012".In January 2017 a shooting in a school in Monterrey was previously announced on Hispachan.
In June 2019 Vice Magazine accused Hispachan of being a "collaborative misogyny" website.
Diochan
Founded in late 2007 after a long chat on IRC among a few Italian anons from 4chan who wanted to make their presence more organised, Diochan is the largest Italian imageboard. It is still active as of July 2020.The name "Diochan" is a portmanteau of the words Dio and chan, meant as a play on a regional variant of one of the most popular blasphemous expressions in Italian.