Out for the count

Happy belated birthday, 4chan! The breeding ground of both the Web's funniest memes and most soul-shredding mischief turned 11 yesterday -- which is, incidentally, the maturity level of your average /b/ user. Today's a good day to revisit (a) the Daily Dot's 10-year retrospective on the site and (b) my recent explainer for "newfags" -- 4chan's charming, and typically 4chan-ian, terminology for new users. Maybe we don't wanna revisit this, after all. Without further ado: the links!

1. "If 'feeding the trolls' provokes or encourages them in the short term ... I don’t really give a fuck." Emily Gould -- author, blogger and ill-fated Jimmy Kimmel guest -- was one of the earliest high-profile victims of Ed Champion, the horrific troll who met a very public downfall this week. Gould is glad he's out for the count. But she argues that if the good of the Internet ever want to triumph, they're going to have to fight back a bit more.

2. Why Facebook can't stop policing our identities. Facebook rolled back its hyper-controversial "real names" policy yesterday after vocal protest from the LGBT community. But even if Facebook seems to be playing nice on this one, its isn't loosening its controls on who you're allowed to be on Facebook, and how you express that to your friends.

3. Jane Goodall on Internet animals. Really, that says it all.

This amazing cinemagraph is by Julien Douvier, whose full portfolio you can see here.

Postscripts: Book it. Wag it. Plz don't tag it. Maps of modern cities drawn like Tolkien and graves for modern objects like Apple's iPod. How this guy makes music from YouTube. Why the Food Network stopped being about food. Dog-years are bullshit and Internet friends are the best. I might reproduce just to do something like this.

Until tomorrow!
@caitlindewey

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