Editing 2channel (section)

=== Early history ===
[[File:Hiroyuki Nishimura's speech in Sapporo 20050831.jpg|thumb|right|[[Hiroyuki Nishimura]] founded 2channel in 1999 while a student in Arkansas.]]

2channel was founded on 30 May 1999 in a college apartment in [[Conway, Arkansas]] on the campus of [[University of Central Arkansas]]<ref name="Katayama-Wikired-2007" /> by [[Hiroyuki Nishimura]].<ref name="Matsutani-2010">{{Cite news |last=Matsutani |first=Minoru |date=2010-04-06 |title=2channel's success rests on anonymity |url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100406i1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409055032/http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100406i1.html |archive-date=2010-04-09 |access-date=2020-05-23 |work=The Japan Times}}</ref> Success came quickly; many of Amezou's users began using it as soon as it opened.<ref name="Kaigo-2007" /> When compared with other bulletin boards, 2channel's technology wasn't much different; what led to its success was instead its being an "outlet for unfettered expression";<ref name="Katayama-Wikired-2008" /> by being hosted in the United States, 2channel was able to bypass more restrictive Japanese censorship rules, while still being accessible from Japan.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Machkovech |first=Sam |date=2015-09-21 |title=Imageboard sites 4chan, 8chan announce new ownership arrangements |url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/09/imageboard-sites-4chan-8chan-announce-new-ownership-arrangements/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211027/https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/09/imageboard-sites-4chan-8chan-announce-new-ownership-arrangements/ |archive-date=2021-10-27 |access-date=2020-05-23 |website=[[Ars Technica]] |language=en-us}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The site also enjoyed greater immunity from legal action within Japan due to the location of its servers.<ref name="Katayama-Wikired-2008" /><ref name="Chiel-2016">{{Cite web |last=Chiel |first=Ethan |date=2016-04-19 |title=Meet the man keeping 8chan, the world's most vile website, alive |url=https://splinternews.com/meet-the-man-keeping-8chan-the-worlds-most-vile-websit-1793856249 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211027/https://splinternews.com/meet-the-man-keeping-8chan-the-worlds-most-vile-websit-1793856249 |archive-date=2021-10-27 |access-date=2020-05-21 |website=[[Splinter News]] |language=en-us |quote=They figured out a loophole in Japanese censorship rules," [...] Adult material in Japan has to be censored, but...Japanese people could access content that resides outside of Japan. Bingo. The work we did in the following years was really just marketing uncensored Japanese content to users in Japan.}}{{cbignore}}</ref> By 2002, Google said that the most searched word in Japan was "2channel".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Matsumura |first=Naohiro |last2=Miura |first2=Asako |last3=Shibanai |first3=Yasufumi |last4=Ohsawa |first4=Yukio |last5=Nishida |first5=Toyoaki |date=2005-01-01 |title=The dynamism of 2channel |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225177752 |journal=AI & Society |volume=19 |pages=84–92 |doi=10.1007/s00146-004-0302-5 |s2cid=15396920 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211027/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225177752 |archive-date=2021-10-27}}{{cbignore}}</ref> By 2004, 2channel was already the largest internet forum in Japan.<ref name="Onishi-2004" />

The name "2channel" is a reference to [[Very High Frequency|VHF]] channel 2, the default setting for the [[RF modulator]]s used in earlier-generation game consoles (such as [[Nintendo]]'s [[Family Computer]]) when connecting to Japanese television sets.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tetsuya |first=Ozaki |date=2004-11-11 |title=Interview with Nishimura Hiroyuki at Kuwasawa Design School |url=http://www.realtokyo.co.jp/english/redesign/004_1.htm |url-status=dead |journal=Redesigning Tokyo |volume=4 |issue=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312073248/http://www.realtokyo.co.jp/english/redesign/004_1.htm |archive-date=2007-03-12 |access-date=2020-07-03 |via=RealTokyo}}</ref> Where Amezou was originally meant to be "channel one", 2channel was meant to be "channel two".<ref name="Tanahashi-2007" /><ref name="Barubora-2005" />{{Rp|266}} The site's iconic jar logo is a reference to deprecatory remarks some former users of Ayashii World would make about 2channel early on in the site's history, likening it to a {{Nihongo|[[spittoon]]|痰壷}}.<ref name="Gotō-2015">{{Cite journal |last=Gotō |first=Masayuki |date=2015-06-01 |script-title=ja:「2ちゃんねる」との対話——新しい世論集団の可能性と問題点 |trans-title=Conversation with "2channel," a Huge Japanese Internet Bulletin Board Service : Possibilities and Problems of a New-type Public Opinion Group <!-- If this looks like bad English to you, it's the official English title, so should not be changed. https://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/120005838893/ --> |journal=Seijō Bungei |language=ja |publisher=[[Seijo University]] Literature Department |pages=1 |issn=0286-5718 |quote=筆者がはじめて、インターネット巨大掲示板「2ちゃんねる」に触れたのは、9・11テロがまさに進行中の時だった。［⋯］この時点で、ネット検索に出てきたのが、当時から「便所の落書き」「痰壷」などと露悪的に自称していた（それゆえに筆者は接触しないようにしていた）「2ch」の書き込みだった。 [I first touched the huge internet bulletin board "2channel" when the 9/11 terror attacks were in progress. Up to then, I had no interest in 2ch as online searches only brought up results deprecating it a "spittoon" and home of "toilet graffiti".]}}</ref><ref name="Barubora-2005">{{Cite book |last=Barubora |date=2005-05-10 |publisher=[[Shōeisha]] |isbn=978-4798106571 |pages=271 |language=ja |script-title=ja:教科書には載らないニッポンのインターネットの歴史教科書 |trans-title=The history of the Japanese internet you won't find in any textbook |quote=(260) 「内部告発」板は企業の裏事情や差別問題などを扱う板で、ここが6月19日に突如消減したのだ。[...] ただ他のスレッドでもあやうい告発が続いており、例えば暴力団の資金源に関するスレッドてでは、あめぞう氏の本名など個人情報をちらつかせ脅迫するような書きさ込みもあったりと、いつ閉鎖しても不思議ではない状態にあった。¶夏ごろ(一説には6月には既にちらほら見られたそうだ)に増殖を繰り返し、設置されたほとんどの掲示板を壊減的状態に追いやった。[...] そして管理されない姿を見かねたのか、はたまた苦情が相次いどだのか、「まいたいねっと」側がか掲示板のパーミッションを落としはじめ、10月14日にメイン板の「＠広場」が停止。[The "whistleblowing board" was suddenly shut down on June 19 [1999]. [...] In a thread on the sources of money of organized crime gangs, a threat was implied against Amezou's owner, and he was doxed. It was not strange to close it. Around summer (one source says it began in June), most of the boards were in a broken state. [...] ¶ And, either due to not being able to countenance the unmaintained state of Amezou, or because the complaints were coming one after another, the host, Maitai Net, started returning 403 errors upon visits to the bulletin board. On October 14, "@Square", the main board, stopped functioning.]}}</ref>{{Rp|271}} Nishimura took this nickname and adopted it as the site's logo by 2002.<ref name="Barubora-2005" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Nishimura |first=Hiroyuki |date=2002-06-05 |title=2ちゃんねるへようこそ |trans-title=Welcome to 2channel |url=http://www.2ch.net/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020605120531/http://www.2ch.net/ |archive-date=5 June 2002 |access-date=2020-05-21 |language=ja}}</ref>

[[Jim Watkins (businessman)|Jim Watkins]], an ex-US army non-commissioned officer ([[sergeant first class]]), [[domain name registrar]], and [[dedicated hosting service]] provider, hosted 2channel since at least 2004<ref name="Tokyo District Court)" /> through various corporate identities, including Big-server.com Inc.,<ref name="ITmedia NEWS-2010">{{Cite web |date=2010-03-02 |title=2chサーバのデータセンター、「サイバーテロ」として米機関に調査依頼へ |trans-title=2ch data center requests American government investigate "cyber terrorism" against it |url=https://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/1003/02/news070.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211027/https://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/1003/02/news070.html |archive-date=2021-10-27 |access-date=2020-05-21 |website=ITmedia NEWS |language=ja}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Pacific Internet Exchange [[Limited liability company|LLC]]<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm133624 |date=2007-04-10 |last=Watkins |first=Jim |type=[[Niconico Douga]] |language=en, ja |trans-title=2channel server update |minutes=14:13 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211027/https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm133624 |archive-date=2021-10-27 |quote=''Ni'' channel will be right here and the next one over. Alright, now we have two facilities, and this is the new facility. This whole area here, about tennis court-sized, is Pacific Internet Exchange, our area. We're going to do it in sections, that's why we moved from the other side where it's all...many different companies. This is our section. |script-title=ja:2ちゃんねるのサーバ事情 前編}}{{cbignore}}</ref> and N. T. Technology Inc.<ref name="Harwell-2019">{{Cite news |last=Harwell |first=Drew |last2=McLaughlin |first2=Timothy |date=2019-09-12 |title=From helicopter repairman to leader of the Internet's 'darkest reaches': The life and times of 8chan owner Jim Watkins |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/09/12/helicopter-repairman-leader-internets-darkest-reaches-life-times-chan-owner-jim-watkins/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190913014840/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/09/12/helicopter-repairman-leader-internets-darkest-reaches-life-times-chan-owner-jim-watkins/ |archive-date=2019-09-13 |access-date=2020-05-21 |work=Washington Post |language=en}}</ref><ref name="CNET-2013" /> Before 2channel, Watkins' company primarily specialized in using servers and domains in the United States to serve [[Censorship in Japan|uncensored]] [[Pornography in Japan|pornographic]] content to users in Japan.<ref name="Chiel-2016" /><ref name="Harwell-2019" />