Epic Win for Anonymous: How 4chan's Army Conquered the Web 1st Edition

by Cole Stryker (Author)

53 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-1590207109

ISBN-10: 9781590207109

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4chan is the "Anti-Facebook," a site that radically encourages anonymity. It spawned the hacktivist group Anonymous, which famously defended WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange by bringing down MasterCard's and Visa's Web sites.

Created by a 15-year-old wunderkind in 2003, it is the creative force behind "the Web's most infectious memes and catchphrases" (Wired). Today it has over 12 million monthly users, with enormous social influence to match.

Epic Win is the first book to tell 4chan's story. Longtime blogger and 4chan expert Cole Stryker writes with a voice that is engrossingly informative and approachable. Whether examining the 4chan- provoked Jessi Slaughter saga and how cyber-bullying is part of our new reality, or explaining how Sarah Palin's email account was leaked, Epic Win for Anonymous proves 4chan's transformative cultural impact, and how it has influenced--and will continue to influence-- society at large.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Other than a portrait of the headline- grabbing hacktivist group (who are planning to take down Facebook this November), Stryker also gives a frank assessment of 4chan founder Chris 'Moot' Poole who's now preoccupied with his new meme factory Canvas." — New York Tech Blog

"A primer on why the Internet works the way it does today, thanks in large part to 4chan. That includes, but isn't limited to, the emergence of Anonymous." — Salon.com

"Sharp, witty, and well-researched" — The Rumpus

"One of the few accounts--along with Julian Dibbell's work--of 4chan by someone who gets it. ... It's pretty good for amateur cultural history, and it illustrates the centrality of the lulz to the internet. So if you find yourself confused by the activities of 4chan, or, if you're frustrated by the mainstream media's utter failure to comprehend Anonymous, then Stryker's book provides a good primer. And, like 4chan itself, the book is a good reminder of how culture on the internet actually works, as opposed to the way various marketers and social media moguls keep telling us it does." — MetaViews.ca

"Author Cole Stryker has risked online life and limb to explore /b/ and plumb the depths of 4Chan in his new book Epic Win For Anonymous: How 4Chan's Army Conquered the Web. Though the book focuses on the history of Internet culture and the rise of online memes much more than the recent ascension of politically active hacker groups, Stryker succeeds in providing a coherent, comprehensible introduction to Internet creativity" — ArtInfo.com

"A recommended pick for computer and social issues holdings alike." — Midwest Book Review

About the Author

Cole Stryker is a freelance writer and media consultant based in New York City. He is the author of Epic Win for Anonymous, the first book to tell the story of the genesis of the Internet-based protest groups and creative memes currently changing our world. Stryker has been interviewed about his writing by The New York Times, Reuters, New York Observer, Salon, and The Rumpus.

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: The Overlook Press; 1 edition (September 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9781590207109
ISBN-13: 978-1590207109
ASIN: 1590207106
Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 1.1 x 8.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 53 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,604,156 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1320 in Books > Computers & Technology > Security & Encryption > Privacy & Online Safety
- #1686 in Books > Computers & Technology > Internet & Social Media > Hacking
- #7667 in Books > Computers & Technology > Networking & Cloud Computing > Internet, Groupware, & Telecommunications

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interesting

March 14, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

It was interesting and I have to do at least twenty words to get this review accepted, sorry about that.

One person found this helpful

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Brian Gagnon

Good Overview

June 29, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Good background and overview on this world. Thought the detail of the various websites was helpful. Been curious about anon for a while and enjoyed this eye-opening look.

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Steve Knowland

The title is misleading

September 28, 2011

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

From a book titled Epic Win for Anonymous, I found very little in this book about Anonymous. Most of this book is about meme generation, which may nor may not involve Anon and may or may not involved 4chan. The book discusses various social sites like Fark (I'm a Farker), Reddit (I'm a redditor), Digg, ICHC, ED, LiveJournal and so on and probably spends about as much time on those sites combined as it does on 4chan. Anonymous itself rates really about a chapter or two and all of there more famous exploits are crammed into those chapters.

If you are looking for a history of Internet memes and 4chan culture, you might enjoy this book. If you are looking for a more in-depth discussion of Anonymous, this book is not an epic win.

10 people found this helpful

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A. Cramb

Very informative, for both n00bs and longtime lurkers

January 18, 2012

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I've lurked on /b/ for years, so I thought I was very familiar with the subject matter of this book. I was surprised at how much I learned about the site, its history, and the greater context in which it exists. Along the path to explaining 4chan's powerful and news making "hacktivism", the author gives indispensable background on the history of 4chan and how it became the idea-creation powerhouse it is today.

At the same time, the book covers much more than just 4chan. 4chan is a useful case study, but the themes discussed in this book are applicable to the greater phenomenon of internet culture. The author discusses many of the other sites where this type of cultural sharing is occurring, putting the actions of Anonymous into the context of internet activism as a whole.

If you're still wondering what 4chan is, the chapter "4chan in a day" is the best introduction to it that I have ever seen. Instead of trying to describe 4chan (the fact that it is almost impossible to describe it is a big part of what makes 4chan awesome), he lets it speak for itself, conveying actual content from "just another day on 4chan." This chapter has come in handy several times already when friends and relatives have asked what 4chan is.

I think this book is perfect for people who have been part of "the internet" for years, but it's also perfectly accessible to those who are just starting to notice things "from the internet", or news reports about "Anonymous", and want to learn what it means and where it is coming from. If you are part of the latter group, after reading this book you'll find yourself being able to join in with everyone else who is ROFL-ing every time they see a news report about 4chan and Anonymous.

4 people found this helpful

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Funzo

Cool Story Bro

October 25, 2011

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book was very interesting and satisfying. I too sometimes go online and wonder what everybody is talking about but I knew what most of them meant. He just showed me the small gaps that I missed knowing about the anons but I knew about 80% of what was on the book. I got this book off of his AMA on reddit and it seemed interesting. It is a good, fun, and hilarious read. I recommend it for everybody. It is a good book for those who wants to know more about the internet or so.

3 people found this helpful

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Chris Edwards

I dunno

September 23, 2011

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I liked it. I learned a lot about the internet, which I hear is going to be pretty big someday.

8 people found this helpful

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Clare O'Beara

Epic win for Anonymous

July 5, 2017

Format: Hardcover

The author works as an online journalist and he decides to break Rules 1 and 2 and talk about what goes on at 4chan. I have to think that the title is an attempt at placating the denizens, or to grab attention. First he proceeds through a list of the boards and explains that mostly they are for images, with additions, prank alterations and captions. Such as Japanese anime cartoons, cats, autopsy slides, gross diseases and cartoon sex between men. We are later assured that child porn may crop up but is swiftly removed and reported. /b/ is called the random topic board and many people, /b/tards, contribute anonymously. Insults are commonplace as is strong language and seemingly abusive talk. But if everyone including the poster is being called a bad name, how bad is it really?

Then we get a potted history of the boards, from 2chan a Japanese anime board which inspired 15 year old Christopher Poole, calling himself moot, to start his own board called 4chan because he didn't speak Japanese. He invited everyone to join in and there would be no rules. Later he started an art site called Canvas.

We are told that many memes, cultural gimmicks, get started on 4chan as bright or bored people kid around with images and captions in spare time. Here the author makes the mistake of thinking that everyone uses the social media he does. Reddit, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, whatever, no, I don't use any of them. So much of what he was saying, however nicely explained, was wasted on me. He makes one brief reference to AOL boards in the early days, detailing that those days were slow and expensive due to dial-up modems at home, pay subscription and pay for time. I used CompuServe from mid-nineties and there is no mention. We had similarly separate chat boards with mods.

We get a mention that women are sometimes insulted or instructed to show images of themselves stripping on 4chan. If they do more fool them. This is a laddish chattery abuse-slinging culture. More recently than publication, a young woman was doxxed after stripping with, as requested, a bottle of her medication, all the lads needed to find out who she was. Her images were sent to her family and friends. Some /b/tards had spoken against doing this, but with no consequences to the doers, they proceeded.

At the end we get a look at how some members working together formed Anonymous and carried out DDoS attacks, mixed with other attacks, on Scientology and other groups they disliked. They managed to hack into a major security company. To read what I consider a better look at this hacking see 'This Machine Kills Secrets: How WikiLeakers, Hacktivists, and Cypherpunks Are Freeing the World's Information' by Andy Greenberg. However Greenberg, another journalist, did not appear to have been able to get anyone in Anonymous to talk to him whereas Stryker being already on 4chan got quotes from members of both. Neither man tells us that some women took part in the protests against Scientology.

Pages 286 - 304 contain references and an index. I counted 16 names which I could be sure were female.
This is an unbiased review.
Postscript: I review this book on 5th July, and on 6th July I get a phishing e-mail allegedly from Blockchain saying in the headline that my access to a Bitcoin purse has been blocked.

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Samantha C.

Epic Win for ME, Actually

March 8, 2018

Format: Hardcover

Epic win for me- I found this book. Thought provoking, interesting read. Highly recommend to anyone who can color inside the lines.

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