It replaced /n/'s previous topic of animals and nature, which was moved to the /an/ board. The first of these was /n/, which was added on 8 April 2006. Prior to the creation of /pol/, there were two boards intended for discussing news that had been added and removed from the site. However, 4chan's /pol/ board has become increasingly 'synonymous with 4chan as a whole', according to New Media & Society.

These include Kohlchan, 8chan (later 8kun), 16chan, Shitchan, and Endchan, with some less popular '/pol/' themed boards accessible through the Tor network on sites such as 9chan and Neinchan. While 4chan's /pol/ board is the most popular board under the '/pol/' name, versions on other websites have existed. According to Mic, 'On a place like /pol/, there's no clear delineation between sincerity, irony and cynicism.' First Monday commented that 'The creation of character-based archetypes is common on /pol/ and makes this online space semi-performative and semi-authentic.' Many have questioned the sincerity of users on /pol/ as possible trolls. Much of the content on /pol/ relies heavily on Internet memes to further spread ideas. Threads have a limited lifespan, effectively prioritizing newer content. However, these unique IDs will only tend to remain attached to a user per a single thread, as they are not persistent between multiple threads. Įach post also has a unique ID attached, which is likewise associated with the user's IP address. However, these are not common per amount of posts-the 'Nazi' meme flag was the most commonly used meme flag in a 2020 analysis, while posts with an American geographic location were about 57 times more common (and appeared the most of any flag).

Alternatively, users may select a 'meme flag' (also referred to as a 'troll flag'), corresponding to various political identifiers. A national flag corresponding to the user's geographic location (based on their IP address, which could be manipulated using a proxy server) may be displayed. Outside of traditional news sources, users also commonly rely on alternative media such as YouTube commentary as a source of news. A 2020 report categorized about 36% of news sources frequently posted to the board by American users as ' junk news', a category that includes sources considered to be propaganda, sensationalist, or conspiracy theory content.

Screenshot of the front (catalog) page of /pol/ in December 2019, with each discussion thread indicated by an imageĬommon /pol/ content involves discussion of history, far-right ideologies, hatred of black people, and current news.

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