The Committee to Nuke Elysium

Today, with 2.5 million posts a day and about 800 active boards split into thousands of threads, 2-channel is the biggest BBS in the world. And while the posts on 2-channel are often nothing more than ramblings of the average Joe, its scope is so widespread and its threads so influential that companies and authorities monitor it closely.

Dentsu, the world’s biggest ad agency, has a “buzz research” division that monitors 2-channel constantly to see what people are talking about, and there are several consultancies that advise companies on managing their online reps.

Even government officials are stepping into 2-channel forums to solve crime. After a bus hijacking and murder was discussed in 2000, police started monitoring the boards for leads and tips. So many arrests were made in the following months that posters stopped publicizing their desire to kill their infuriating parents or destroy their school, says Suzuki.

But like most web communities, 2-channel has its share of problems. On occasion, the 2-channel community behaves like a mob, turning on members who transgress with massive amounts of hate mail, the revelation of private information and stalkers monitoring their homes 24/7