Chinese BBSes

September 27, 2010 2:29 AM

The BBS scene in China. Here, here and here.
posted by lipsum (12 comments total)

The middle link is a bit interesting, if incredibly dated and not exactly breaking news (we do human-flesh-search-engine stuff here some times) and a link to Quora and a dissertation equals a very soon-to-be-quashed post.

No narrative, nothing tying the elements together, and two nearly useless links do not a good post make.
posted by disillusioned at 2:45 AM on September 27, 2010

These people obviously never heard about 4chan...
posted by marcocampos at 3:37 AM on September 27, 2010

disillusioned, I find the linked-to articles very interesting. (Even if I did wince upon hearing about the kitten.)

4chan may be big, but it's not a billion people big.
posted by JHarris at 3:47 AM on September 27, 2010

Of course, neither is the BBS community in China. Argh, could have stated that more cleanly. It's still likely a larger community than 4chan.
posted by JHarris at 3:48 AM on September 27, 2010

However, the "MIT Only" bit on the paper in the last link is obnoxious. Thanks a lot guys. Am I done talking yet? ...perhaps.
posted by JHarris at 3:50 AM on September 27, 2010

Somewhat previously.
posted by availablelight at 5:00 AM on September 27, 2010

围观楼主
posted by Abiezer at 5:22 AM on September 27, 2010

For those who don't read Chinese, Chinasmack is a blog that translates interesting forum posts and selected netizen comments. Lots of trashy gossip as well as important news. Plus a glossary (some NSFW terms) if you can read Chinese but don't know common Internet slang.
posted by acidic at 5:28 AM on September 27, 2010

What sort of software are these "BBS" forums using, is there a link to an example one we can look at?
posted by stbalbach at 8:47 AM on September 27, 2010

Nice one on the glossary link, acidic.
posted by rmmcclay at 9:09 AM on September 27, 2010

So forgive me for being late to the party, but aren't these BBSs (there, I avoided the grocer's apostrophe) just Chinese shorthand for a community internet forum? I was getting all starry-eyed with the idea of the resurgence of FidoNet.

I guess there's nothing technically new, but a nation of a billion with a very different culture and set of expectations getting online to chat surely makes for some interesting emergent behavior.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 11:12 AM on September 27, 2010

路过！
posted by msittig at 9:00 PM on September 27, 2010