that was my experience until i became more familiar with imageboards in general. reading all the happenings and shit on encyclopedia dramatica as a young teen blew my mind.

>grow up being influenced by propaganda
>surprised pikachu face when reality is a lot different
Whoa..

Millennial here, been here since 2009. Posted here heavily from 2010 to 2017. Checked in now and then, but literally came back after being gone for two years yesterday.

My understanding of the timeline is this:
2004 - 2005: tiny site for a few weebs
2006 - 2007: expands, meme culture develops
2008 - 2014: rapid expansion, each board develops a different culture and demographic. Anonymous is broadly libertarian, and maybe even left-leaning, and becomes associated with hacking projects.
2015-1016: Many anons are into the Trump campaign usually because they think it's funny. The Neo-Nazi forum Stormfront appreciates the racist humor of /b/, and users start using /b/ heavily. 4chan re-establishes its politically incorrect /pol/ board as a containment board, in order to crack down on racism across the site. /pol/ quickly overtakes /b/ as the most popular board.
2017 - 2018: Racism on /pol/ escalates, mass shooters post manifestos and people post terrorist threats that they act on IRL, 4chan moderates better, and alternatives like 8ch and Gab become popular for extremists.
2019 - 2021: Racism on 4chan becomes so extreme that most normal people leave, and /pol/ becomes more conspiracy-brained, schizo-posting bizarre and idiotic theories
2022-2024: 4chan starts dying
2025: things normalize. /pol/ is still racist, but the other boards sort of go back to normal because the schizobrains basically killed themselves off

>>82872012
been here since 2012. sounds about right. 4chan was never a group of bad guys, but a few bad apples spoiled its reputation. After 4chan banded together to combine its collective autism to catch a few profilic criminals, the reputation improved and now 4chan is seen as the chaotic neutral side of the internet. One day it could be trolling right wing boomers into thinking the OK gesture is a hate symbol, the other day it could be tricking leftists women to post their nudes and shave their heads as a sign of impowerment. 4chan is truly special. It can do anything, Woe be the fool that gives 4chan a reason to stop fighting amongst itself because they made themselves a target

>>82871852
Thats clearly a disappointed Pepe and not surprised Pikachu