My friend fears Anonymous...

[Legendsmith]

Fear anonymous, don't fear the cancer.
What's the cancer?
The cancer is anyone below 18 on 4chan (and a few other sites). (There are rare exceptions, occasionally there are under 18s on 4chan who are not cancer, but they are very, very rare). These people you do not fear, as they are no real threat. These are the people who are most vocal about their apparent anonymity. These are the people who have the facebook (etc) profiles stating how anonomous they are, these are the people forcing memes, posting things like "If X then Y is a meme!!"
Who you should really fear is the real anonymous, (the hacker group and the non-newfag /b/ inhabitants) as well as the non-newfag inhabitants of YTMND, Encyclopaedia Dramatica, myg0t and BanTown. These people are to be feared.
They can incite the cancer to attack as well, as evident in some of the later Habbo raids by anon, when organised by real anons, the newfag legions can be a powerful tool.

 

[Doctor Glocktor]

4chan is the single most deadly force on the internet. Your friend should watch his back.

 

[StBishop]

somehow got info on you and were you live, so i wouldn't fear them to much, the internet is easy to turn off.

Which they can get, quite easily. You'd be surprised how easy it is to link a username to a facebook to an address and so forth. The people that think they are 100% secure are the people who should probably be the most cautious.

Why are you so pro-4chan?

You don't need to respect something to respect it's power.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

I'm going out for a meal tonight to celebrate my 16th Birthday, and I am taking two friends. One of them goes on the internet frequently, and after making one Youtube video insulting 4chan, he was attacked by anonymous.

Ever since he has been afraid. He always thinks that people are trying to get him, and when he saw a Scientology Protest in Birmingham once, he almost cried.

I need some advice for him. I started going on 4Chan shortly after this incident and found it was the worst place ever (Mainly /b/).My original plan was to show him that they just responded to criticism, but no such luck. My plan made things worse.

Calumon: The friend is not me or Jack. We need some advice for him...

Should we also fear Anonymous?

Spoiler: Anonymous

Anonymous is what is known as the most cruel group of individuals in existence. Mainly on things like the Chan websites, they describe themselves as the owners of the internet. Why? Because of all the destruction they have wrought on people.

To describe what they did, let me explain.

They first did the small things, Passive aggressive comments on the video and his channel. No biggy.

The hate mail came next. Again no biggy.

Then came the hackings, the photo's which never existed. Somehow, even though he has never put a picture of himself online, someone found one, and they released it with the words.

"We Know you."

Later came the phone calls, the calls at the door and once a package came with a guy fawkes mask inside that appeared to have been bled upon.

He still gets something every now and again a year on. A reminder of what he did.

Insulted the most dangerous people on the Web.

And by the way, he has abandoned both Youtube account and e-mail and somehow, they have still found him. The words "You cannot hide from Anonymous." Is often sent to him.

Isn't this illegal?! Seriously harassment and threats are punishable by law no? No one is anonymous on the internet. No one. Get the police involved. Lets see how tough they are against the law. I have no idea WHY he hasnt called the police.

 

[El Poncho]

It's the first few rules for gods sake!

1. Do not talk about /b/
2. Do NOT talk about /b/
3. We are anonymous
4. Anonymous is legion
5.Anonymous never forgives
6.Anonymous can be a horrible senseless,uncaring monster
7. Anonymous is still able to deliver

Spoiler

I guess the only thing you can do is tell him to man up, who cares if they know you, they can't actually do anything to you. They have photoshopped pictures, who cares? They are out there now, not everyone will have seen them or know who you are, they might, but all they do is send you mail every now and then.

 

[JEBWrench]

Anonymous got featured on Fox News.

That should tell you something right there.

 

[Wicky_42]

I love how when it is Islamic fundamentalists sending threats over mild criticism of something they hold important, us free-speech typed get all worked up and protest by taking things further, yet when it's a criticism of a group on the internet everyone's like "turn the other cheek" and "you shouldn't have messed with them!".

I guess it's official - 4chan holds more respect than God. What are we coming to...

Anonymous don't bomb people. We do not like being bombed. They usually single out their enemies rather than go for an all-encompasser.

Plus, I'd say one of the main reasons is that Anonymous, being anonymous, is harder to reach than Islamic fundamentalists.

But as pointed out before, they have driven vulnerable people to suicide and can cause real-world damage to your life through incriminating you, destroying your credit rating and getting you fired. They are also known to disable websites for periods. Those are all still attacks. It's still a form of terrorism.

The people here going with the 'don't mess with them' stance are EXACTLY the same as people who back down in the face of terrorist threats. No matter how you look at it, anonymous is known for its terror tactics. Just because they're harder to find doesn't make their attacks against freedoms of speech any more forgiveable.

 

[JEBWrench]

But as pointed out before, they have driven vulnerable people to suicide and can cause real-world damage to your life through incriminating you, destroying your credit rating and getting you fired. They are also known to disable websites for periods. Those are all still attacks. It's still a form of terrorism.

Anyone who killed themselves over prank phone calls (which is in actuality the worst that Anonymous have ever done) had some issues to begin with.

 

[TheSeventhLoneWolf]

Well. Anonymous is just a bunch of normal people who don't act like themselves for the sole reason: Because they can.

Some do it to have fun, some people troll, some people feed trolls but not all of them. Most just watch.

 

[yoyo13rom]

I never heard of these pieces of shit! And that in my book makes them not worth 2 pieces of shit or worrying about them.
My advice? If your friend is an atheist then tell him this: there is no reason to get all worked up about some scummbags threatening you, because in the end you'll be dead and you'll forget everything about them, and all their actions will be nullified. + There's no point in being sad/scared about stuff, because in the end you'll forget everything, and nothing will matter.
If he's not that much of an atheist(I know I ain't), then go like this:
"What can they do to you? They're just some deadbeats with no life, that feel powerful when terrorising people. They're just some stupid kids that play Wow and have no life. I could pitty them for envying you for your wonderful life. + No one can hurt you(only the FBI/CIA if they turn evil). These are definitely with the feds. Why? Because they waste their life on 4 chan or other stuff like that."

The internet, while not entirely srs bsns, can get into some nasty shit when Anon is involved. Don't mess with them.

Anonymous is a bunch of small nerds that wish they were big, to put it bluntly. They try to scare and threaten people through the internet because if they did it in real life, they'd get the shit kicked out of them (or stabbed, or shot, etc). Don't fear them, just pity them.

you're confusing /b/tards with Internet Tough Guys. They can co-mingle, but the two are completely different subspecies.

What can these dudes really do? I mean I never cared for "no action and all words" kind of people.
They could flush out personal data(let's say they're that desperate to seem tough), and what more? Can they *gasp* kill/physically harm you? No!
And let's say their that bad, and powerful like a Mafia. Would you think they'd stud themselves at such a low level just to scare an internet teen? Let's be serious.

Douche bags will be douche bags, so really one should not care for a no-name entity.
Darn, these so called bullies made my angry!

 

[JokerCrowe]

My view on Anonymous is: stay away from them and they stay away from you. I don't fear them, but I'm not going to insult them. The internet is a big place, and they're just bullies in one part of it. As for advice to your friend; if he really fears Anonymous, tell him to take a break from the internet. You can live without it (unless you, like me, sold your soul to the Escapist) tell him to take a vacation. it's almost summer (in the northern hemisphere anyway) tell him to take a holiday. Eventually Anonymous will get bored. They do not forgive and they do not forget, but they do get bored, and they do move on. So should your friend.

 

[JEBWrench]

What can these dudes really do? I mean I never cared for "no action and all words" kind of people.

They make prank phone calls!

People died!

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

The people here going with the 'don't mess with them' stance are EXACTLY the same as people who back down in the face of terrorist threats. No matter how you look at it, anonymous is known for its terror tactics. Just because they're harder to find doesn't make their attacks against freedoms of speech any more forgiveable.

The main core of Anonymous makes more attacks against anti-freedom of speech acts, such as with the Australian government.

That being said, its ambiguity (as their statement says, the members have massively differing views) makes it a little harder to pin the blame on than "Bomb the west" fundamentalists.

What can these dudes really do? I mean I never cared for "no action and all words" kind of people.

They make prank phone calls!

People died!

Erm, oh dear?

I'd say a shitload of other factors must've gone into that to make anyone kill themselves over a poxy prank phone call.

 

[Jack and Calumon]

Anonymous got featured on Fox News.

That should tell you something right there.

Yeah... I said FOX would dissect them and do good stuff to help people like this.

GOD THEY ARE USELESS!

Calumon: Being from England... we'd never watched a FOX report... We are thankful.

 

[yoyo13rom]

What can these dudes really do? I mean I never cared for "no action and all words" kind of people.

They make prank phone calls!

People died!

People always die, it's our nature. + I don't wish they call me, because they'll have an huge bill afterwords.

 

[T-004]

If your friend continues acting like a lolcow then they will milk him like one.

Also he shouldn't be so afraid irl, well unless they have his home address in which case he should expect many pizzas if he manages to rile them up enough.

 

[Deadlock Radium]

I sometimes go to /b/ for the funny memes, but nothing else, and insulting them, not a good idea it seems.

Advice I can give to your friend is that he gets some help, maybe a psychaitrist and then slowly ease him into the internet and what things are wise and un-wise to do on the internet.

 

[Nopenahnuhuh]

Heed my warning.

Do not anger Anonymous, do not speak of /b/ and unless you've got the stomach for it, avoid 4chan or any other chan site in the percievable future altogether.

 

[JEBWrench]

Shit, did anyone post the correct answer here yet?

Buy a dog.