>>508602993 (OP)summary for tl;dr from claude
What the article argues:
The New Yorker piece traces 4chan's evolution from an influential force to a marginalized relic. The author's main thesis is that 4chan has been "outflanked to the right" - other platforms now serve its function, making it less relevant.
The author's perspective:
The writer has a personal, nuanced view having encountered 4chan in high school around 2003. They describe it as where they "learned that the internet could be bad" - recognizing both its toxicity and its genuine cultural influence. The pale yellow background still gives them "a slight frisson."
Key observations:
Cultural DNA: The author argues 4chan fundamentally shaped how we communicate online - the "real-time one-upmanship," memes, "owns," and clapbacks that now dominate X, TikTok, etc. As they put it, 4chan demonstrated "the internet existed fundamentally in a Hobbesian state of nature."
Mainstream absorption: Even the White House now posts in ways that resemble 4chan's "nihilistic combination of implicit violence and absurdist humor." The author notes that "Even our President and our Vice-President are posters."
Competition: 4chan's niche has been filled by Truth Social, Parler, X under Musk, and others that now host the same "edgelord content" that was once 4chan's specialty.
Migration to private spaces: Real extremism has moved to encrypted platforms like Discord, Telegram, and private group chats among influential figures.
The hack as metaphor: The April 2025 hack that temporarily shut down 4chan serves as a symbol of its diminished status - embarrassing rather than devastating.
Final assessment: While 4chan might disappear, its "sensibility endures in a grungy corner of our brains, a shitposting thread that can never be erased."
This is the author's interpretation of 4chan's legacy and current irrelevance, written with the perspective of someone who witnessed its rise firsthand.