So whats the deal with Anonymous?

[Nerdstar]

Anonymous is an ad-hoc ?group? of internet users who occasionally act in concert, a demonstration of the mass organizing powers of the Internet. Often known for trolling, Anonymous has no formal structure, and survives by feeding on lulz. Also, ?Anon? is often used as the third person singular of Anonymous.

4chan is believed to be the primary Anonymous hangout, and Anon?s suspected place of birth. Since user registration is never required on 4chan, all users who do not identify themselves are known simply as ?Anonymous.? It is important to note, however, that Anonymous is not synonymous with 4chan. 4chan is simply a favorite venue of Anonymous. there goals are as varied as them and can range from simple theft of your credit card info, gennreal trolling to just about anything,

and whats more they could be THIS VERY THREAD, THEY COULD BE ANYONE OF US! THEY COULD BE,YOU THEY COULD BE ME, THEY COULD EVEN BE-

 

[HassEsser]

Anonymous is a collective of users on the internet that choose remain anonymous. The most accessible way of doing so is by browsing 4chan, but not all anonymous "members" have to be 4chan users. Any hacker or random user of the internet could be considered "anonymous" if they felt like it.

So let's get this very clear:
anonymous =/= hacker
anonymous =/= 4chan user
anonymous =/= people who breached Sony
anonymous = anonymous internet user (who might also happen to be a hacker, 4chan user or PSN intruder)

 

[Aetera]

WARNING. Potential tl;dr. I'm an English major. I don't know how to write concisely. I'm sorry. >_>

Anonymous is simply a giant, faceless, amorphous blob of hive-minds. There's no organization or leadership to it. The largest concentration of Anon is on 4chan. Someone will post something, and if enough people grab hold of the idea it will generate enough momentum to proceed. Anonymous is never unanimous. Some things just attract the attention of enough Anons to make it happen. Some things don't.

The only constant goal of Anon[footnote]other than the fierce, constant fight for free speech, since the freedom of speech and information is the most basic foundation of Anonymous itself, and thus is something that virtually every Anon can agree on[/footnote] is the search for lulz. The veteran, more experienced Anons, contrary to the misunderstanding newcomers that haven't yet learned their way around, don't do things because they're right or because they're wrong. They do things only if there is a potential for lulz. Many a deluded fool has posted about someone they don't like on Facebook that they wanted the rest of Anon to target, only to be greeted with cries of "not your personal army!" and gleeful Anons finding the OP's own facebook to have fun with.

Basically? Completely chaotic neutral.
One day: Fighting for free speech and open dialogue during the Iranian election protests.
The next: Flooding an epilepsy support forum with flashing GIFs.

...

Yeah, no one is going to read this. tl;dr. I know.

 

[FalloutJack]

do they have some kind of connection to 4chan?

do they actulaly have some kind of goal? or are they just hackers being douchbags?

I found that urban dictionary wasnt too fond of them...

No no no... They aren't 4chan. The Dollars are weaponized 4chan.

They are...a multitude. Some actually believe the internet vigilante biz. Others are complete and utter twats. Their group of faceless people did not have distinction, but unless somebody knows different, there's alot of rumbling in the ranks.

 

[TheRealCJ]

Bunch of nerds on the internet.

so what does that make us?

Different bunch of nerds on the internet.

are we the good kind?

is there a good kind?

 

[Vault101]

Bunch of nerds on the internet.

so what does that make us?

Different bunch of nerds on the internet.

are we the good kind?

is there a good kind?

the Glourious PC gaming master race

 

[presidentjlh]

Just a label for anyone that trolls under the banner of 4chan.

They are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

 

[TheRealCJ]

Bunch of nerds on the internet.

so what does that make us?

Different bunch of nerds on the internet.

are we the good kind?

is there a good kind?

the Glourious PC gaming master race

Nerds on the internet.

 

[WorldFree55]

Bunch of nerds on the internet.

so what does that make us?

Different bunch of nerds on the internet.

are we the good kind?

is there a good kind?

the Glourious PC gaming master race

Nerds on the internet.

but wouldn't either of those things make Anonymous the good kind of nerds as well?

 

[TheRealCJ]

Bunch of nerds on the internet.

so what does that make us?

Different bunch of nerds on the internet.

are we the good kind?

is there a good kind?

the Glourious PC gaming master race

Nerds on the internet.

but wouldn't either of those things make Anonymous the good kind of nerds as well?

good and bad are entirely subjective.

we're all just nerds

 

[uc.asc]

The easiest way to describe anonymous is 'hard to describe'

This is mostly due to the nature of the organization/disorganization, which consists of: Everybody who wants to call them self anonymous, and usually be dicks (for the glorious cause of luls); anonops, which fights the good fight through questionable means; or both. There's a lot of overlap between the two, and it's further confused because some people with anonops don't want themselves to be distinguished from the more general usage.


(disorganization is an awesome word for describing a non-organized group, though this meaning apparently hasn't made it to the dictionary)

 

[tahrey]

The clue is in the name.
All sort of hacktivist groups, or just plain tossbags who like associating themselves with the cachet, claim to be anon.

Actually, anyone can be. Just join up to a cause without revealing your identity; in the original case, the homebase was the chans (primarily, but not exclusively 4chan /b/ forum) because they allowed fully anonymous posting. No username was required to make or reply to a discussion or image thread, and because of the speed that things moved on that forum, even if logs were kept, they were of little use because threads tended to get auto-wiped because of either size or age after maybe a couple of days tops. One imagines the server logs rapidly went the same way. Any subpoena for them would be met with a "sorry, but we ran out of space, and everything older than a week has already been erased".

It was also supposed to be a bit like fight club. You don't talk about it outside of /b/. You certainly don't claim membership. Even though I only ever really lurked when on such sites (i've given up going; massive time-sinks for little payback...), I've still had to chew out a younger friend who thought they were so hip and edgy by going on about /b/ and anonymous all the time... Really, anyone who doesn't "get it" and checks out what you're talking about will think you're either sick, or a douchebag; anyone who DOES, almost certainly already knows about it, and knows about The Rules... and therefore thinks you're a DB.

They are faceless, legion, and entirely random. Not anyone's private army. If they take a stance against something, it's either because they have collectively been offended by said thing (e.g. Scientology), hating on it has become a meme, or just think it's amusing to do so. All three things tend to blur into each other. For the lulz, as it were.

Also, plausible deniability, and being able to evade vicitimisation by potentially corrupt authorities, is a very powerful tool in the fight for justice and democracy. You don't have to hide forever, and it can be damaging if you want to still remain anon when things reach a legistlative rather than protest stage, but in the early days it can be a very sensible idea.

 

[Vault101]

Bunch of nerds on the internet.

so what does that make us?

Different bunch of nerds on the internet.

are we the good kind?

is there a good kind?

the Glourious PC gaming master race

Nerds on the internet.

but wouldn't either of those things make Anonymous the good kind of nerds as well?

good and bad are entirely subjective.

we're all just nerds

whats wrong with being a nerd?

 

[Floggo]

Scratch and kick.

 

[Demonicdan]

Will probably collapse upon itself and we will never know about it.

What about that infighting they had a couple of weeks ago when one of their 'leaders' left and started his own group?

 

[Smooth Operator]

Easiest way to put it, they are rebels without a cause.
So they just pull some pranks for the lulz.

 

[TheRealCJ]

Bunch of nerds on the internet.

so what does that make us?

Different bunch of nerds on the internet.

are we the good kind?

is there a good kind?

the Glourious PC gaming master race

Nerds on the internet.

but wouldn't either of those things make Anonymous the good kind of nerds as well?

good and bad are entirely subjective.

we're all just nerds

whats wrong with being a nerd?

Nothing at all.

But I made a stance in my first post, and I'm not one to back down from an idea even in the face of all evidence.

(P.S. I'ma jok!)