>>3996070
If anything these threads are an anomaly on the board.
Imagedump boards like /cm/ have never been popular (although they used to be much more active back then, /cm/ used to have 1200 posts per day on average back in 2007, while nowadays the average is 200 ppd), and outside of threads for FOTM media most users prefer to post images in silence. These shota threads, in contrast, became a 24/7 general in 2017 (shota threads still existed before that, but they were made with less frequency) when its users lost the fear of discussing topics while posting images. The chatter in these threads attracted more and more users until they eventually became the most active area on the board. Other places with a notable text/image ratio are the Genshin general (it's full of schizos tho) and the Hazbin/Helluva general (which technically originated on /co/ and its users migrated here and /trash/). Other imagedump boards also have their own "anchor threads" that are way more active than the rest of the board, like the general yuri discussion thread on /u/, the waifu thread on /c/, the BL discussion thread on /y/ and the analgen thread on /d/.
