Has there ever been an explanation to the logic behind using "sage" exclusively in the URL field and being able to exclude oneself from a public ID code simply by filling out the URL field (with "sage" or otherwise)? One aspect I can find (possibly related to Japanese culture) is that if someone wanted to sage a thread in a negative way, they would prefer doing it under complete anonymity, so they wouldn't use the URL field for any intended purposes anyway. I don't quite see how this carries over onto Western boards though.
Any ideas?
Another theory is that because the URL field is so sparsely used in the first place, it makes an elegant (though illogical) solution to include various miscellaneous posting options such as sage and text formatting. But what if a person would want to include both a URL and one of these options at the same time? Therein lies a dilemma.
Actually, it's something Shiichan developed (had something to do with moderator status there) and Kareha overtook that behaviour in a similiar way in its early stages of development. It was sorta kept.
I remember that I was suggesting back then to keep it and develop it further so that what you assumed it >>1 would hold true: That you could hide your ID but only if you decided not to bump it (by using sage), so that bumping posts always had ID attached and troublesome people would be easier to identify (I believe that troublesome people usually rather bump the threads instead of sageing them).
Well, it kinda went on from there and became more complex than that. Kinda funny is that a few months ago I realized that on 2channel, very similiar behaviours exist for some select boards (though most have either forced ID or no ID at all).
"sage" being negative is only ever the case on image boards, and they hardly ever have IDs enabled.
Kareha has the option to use no IDs, to use ID when the email field is empty, or always use ID. It's been suggested to change the no-ID-on-email to no-ID-on-sage, which might or might not make a bit more sense.
> It's been suggested to change the no-ID-on-email to no-ID-on-sage
How about an option to non-ID-on-string in which "string" could be defined by the admin (which could be "sage" or anything else, for comedy value or possible future uses of Link field).
>"sage" being negative is only ever the case on image boards, and they hardly ever have IDs enabled.
Only because threads on popular Futaba-type sites last for a day at most before they're gone (for disk space reasons with regard to uploaded images); that's probably why 4chan has a Perma-age function in the first place. However, a board the size of 2ch would also need some type of pruning system in place, because threads (both good ones and bad) would quickly accumulate into the thousands. I find that the oldest threads on 2ch boards only date back as far as about mid-2004, so the rest must have either been deleted or archived.
Now I look at threads as if they were in three separate tiers: current, permasaged, and deleted/archived. For archival, I'm thinking all cases should be manually marked by a mod/admin, and/or be performed by some automated algorithm using the criteria suggested in http://wakaba.c3.cx/sup/kareha.pl/1108953525/1,9 (postcount, thread filesize/total comment size, rate of posting, lasthit, and max size of the archive itself). An automated permasaging system could also make use these additional conditions, instead of just marking a thread after an arbitrary postcount is reached.
But going back to the original topic, (1) why was the URL field designated exclusively to the sage/textart/whatever functions, and (2) why should a poster be able to exempt himself from being identified with an ID code simply by saging a thread?
> that's probably why 4chan has a Perma-age function in the first place.
You mean the option to "sticky" threads? I always found that a pretty awkward feature with which mods impose content on the users and it also goes against the general philosophy of imgboards in which threads are not really supposed to last for long. But much more than that, I find it really annoying to have one or as much as five threads constantly at the top - yknow why I sage most of the time? Because I don't want to annoy others by bumping a thread up with useless or boring replies - which most stickies on 4chan consist of.
> I find that the oldest threads on 2ch boards only date back as far as about mid-2004, so the rest must have either been deleted or archived.
They get archived. I haven't figured out yet how this works, but some are publically accessible but for the majority you have to buy an account ($30/year) to access them.
> why should a poster be able to exempt himself from being identified with an ID code simply by saging a thread?
Let's propose that question in a different way: If IDs are not supposed to be forced on a board (for which several good reasons exist but I haven't seen too many western boards out there who do this) why should a user be exempt from taking advantage of this option?
The only reason that came to my mind was: by forcing him to not bump a thread with his replies - replies which, taken into consideration that he wanted to make them without ID code enabled - are more likely silly, boring, annoying or flames or whatever.
>>7
I always viewed ID codes as an automated way to maintain a persistent identity within a thread/board/site without the use of manual tripcodes (so as to prevent confusion between different Anonymous posters). Looking back at it now, I guess the wisest thing to do would be to give the poster the option whether or not to use his ID code in any case, not just for saging -- which is kinda what Kareha does now anyway (barring the fact that you need to use the URL field for "Heaven"). But if an admin wishes, he should have the option of toggling a FORCED_ID mode.
I also totally agree on the point of stickied threads. Maybe if the 4chan crew payed more attention to having a successful discussion BBS site like world4ch, they'd be able to make a clear distinction between image (Futaba) and discussion (2ch) boards and not have some ugly mutant hybrid like what Futallaby is now.
> Maybe if the 4chan crew payed more attention to having a successful discussion BBS site like world4ch
People aren't going to start posting discussions there when they'll get more posts in /b/.
> I always found that a pretty awkward feature with which mods impose content on the users and it also goes against the general philosophy of imgboards in which threads are not really supposed to last for long.
That's true, but even more than that it bugs me because it means moderators can arbitarily make some threads more valuable than others. Moderators shouldn't guide the discussion, and moderators shouldn't be a tier of posters above everyone else. They should be janitors. The regular people on the board should control the conversation.
>>9
/b/ in its current format should've been obliterated long ago.
We should get rid of the board with the highest post rate?
>>9
I wasn't aware people were going to discuss science, books, programming, or even politics in /b/.
/b/ is good for idiotic one-liners. Calling that a place for discussion is laughable.
>>14
But /b/ is 4chan's most popular board. And IIRC, world4ch is an extension of 4chan, not the other way around.
I also want to say that Snacks is a self-important kid who should get an own website for his radio show or whatever.
I also see people announce radio shows on FutabaChannel's dat+img all the fucking time, they just start new threads when the old ones expire.
Jeeez.
> I wasn't aware people were going to discuss science, books, programming, or even politics in /b/.
To be fair, there's some pretty good discussions in /b/ sometimes. You just have to be lucky for the right people being around at the right time.
But Mr VacBob's point wasn't about how cool /b/ is for having serious discussions but how it is the most popular board with a pretty awesome posting rate. You get instant feedback. For people on 4chan, that's a little more important than having a serious discussion that just gets 1 reply every other day, if at all.
>>9
It doesn't really help when half of the boards are down for a week either