Nearly a week after a major hack forced it offline, the notorious imageboard 4chan remains inaccessible, and there's a growing feeling that it's going to stay that way—and that maybe it's not so bad.
Founded in 2003, 4chan is—or was—something of a waypoint for a particular part of online subculture: Basic, unrefined, unmoderated, and almost entirely anonymous, which is what made it so notorious. Vice called it "the internet’s favorite hotspot of moral bankruptcy" in its report on the hack, and that seems about right: There are certainly worse places to go in the digital world, but none that are so singularly famous for it.
