Wikipedia

Draft:K (imageboard)

/k/ – Weapons
Screenshot of the catalogue of the /k/ board as of 8 June 2026
Type of site
4chan imageboard
Available inEnglish
OwnerHiroyuki Nishimura
FounderChristopher "moot" Poole[1]
URLhttps://4chan.org/k/
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
LaunchedAugust 4, 2008; 17 years ago (2008-08-04)
Current statusOnline

/k/, short for Weapons, is an anonymous imageboard on 4chan for discussing weapons and military technology, among other related topics. Created in 4 August 2008, the board has influenced internet culture through a series of Internet memes


Background

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4chan was launched on 1 October 2003 by Christopher Poole, a then-15-year-old student from New York City using the online handle "moot".[2] At its founding, the site only hosted one board: b (Anime/Random).[3] It was advertised as an English-language counterpart to Futaba Channel and a place for Western fans to discuss anime and manga.[4][5]

On 4 August 2008 three new imageboards were added; /o/ (for discussing cars and other vehicles), /sm/ (dedicated to shotacon) and /k/, whose purpose was described as "For the posting and admiration of various killing instruments. Guns, knives, planks with nails in them, and so on. Note: Military machinery and related is allowed."[6]

History and culture

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Around 2010 and 2011, the board was being politically radicalized and racism was widespread, to the point of the n-word was automatically banned.[7] By 2013, a part of its userbase overlapped with pol's, such as the white supremacists and trolls.[8] Later on in October 2015, a rule excluding political discussions (including those related to gun control) was added to the board. However, racist remarks are still commonplace.[9][10] The politics of the userbase have also been described as libertarian.[11]

[12]

The userbase is much smaller that other boards such as /b/ or /pol/. In 28 October 2020, for example, 11,399 posts were made on /k/ while 191,337 posts were published in /pol/.[10] On July 8, 2021, the board averaged around eight posts a minute.[13]

The userbase is commonly refered as kommandos (from commando)[11]

It has fostered a subculture within 4chan with its own memes and jargon, reflective of the userbase's sense of humour, such as the idea that /k/ is a "magical place".[10] Its memes

Activity on the board is mostly centered on discussing and sharing pictures of weapons (often bragging about their possesion), firearm aquisition, use and modification, weapon usage in in foreign wars, as well as gear and tactical advice.[10][13] /k/ also hosts discussions on women in the army, Military uniforms, Knifes, [14]

The Russian bolt-action rifle Mosin-Nagant (ofter refered as "Moist Nugget") is a weapon prominently featured on the website.[14] In one instance, during a meet and greet at AnimeWeekend on October 2013, "moot" himself signed the Mosin-Nagant of a user.[15]

/k/ has also led to the creation of related blogs, interactive maps and online stores selling products that directly appeal to the userbase.[13] An anual meet-up event called "Nuggetfest" was eventually created, its 2016 iteration being located in Blacksburg, Virginia, with activities such as hiking, target shooting, camping out and cooking around a campfire. The list of atendees, most in their 20s, is varied in both occupation and personal attributes; On the latter, the list included women, christians, atheists, hispanics, asians and members of the LGBTQ community. Of the former, the list included mechanics, therapists, lawyers, radio show hosts, Department of Defense employees and tailors. According to its organizer Travis Geil, the event was more about challenging stereotypes.[14]

In a Vice article, an anonymous /k/ user described the board with the following words:

/k/ is a bunch of young dudes or dudettes who like the same shit. We all shitpost. We all hate each other, but we like the same things. I guess that’s what it is. People who all have this mindset that’s different from the norm.[13]

A data scraping and digital ethnography study that took place between March and June of 2020, realised by UK's CREST (Centre for Research and Evidence of Security Threats), researched on the influence of the board's memes and visual culture on violent discourse. The results of this study indicates that young users are initially attracted by the memes and visual culture, before gradually becoming radicalized and adopting extreme ideologues, which are made more "palatable" by this culture. This study also remarks the decentralized nature of this process, not being systematically organized by any single group or movement.[16]

The same study also comments on the malleability of the memes featured on the website (and 4chan as a whole), taking different meanings according to the context. Some of the most popular images and memes used n the website are violent and dehumanizing in nature, such as the Happy Merchant. 4chan's board culture also foments an us vs them mentality that enhances the adoption of extreme worldviews and the glorification of violence, in particular against minorities such as black people, jews or LGBTQ people.[16]

Incidents

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Since its founding, /k/ has been indirectly involved in several violent incidents.

Boogaloo movement

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/k/, alongside /pol/, is one of the websites from which the Boogaloo subculture (later on becoming a movement) emerged, the term "bogaloo" appearing in the former as early as in 2012.

From 4chan, the movement moved and formed in other forms of social media such as Reddit, Instagram, Facebook, Discord, Twitter, YouTube, Telegram, Gab or Pinterest[11]

Killing of Jamar Clark

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On November 15, 2015, two police officers fatally shot Jamar Clark, a 24-year-old African-American man, in Minneapolis.[17] In response, protests took place for several days in the city.[18] On November 23, four men opened fire at the protesters after being chased.[19] This group was connected to both /k/ and /pol/ imageboards.[20][21][22] One of them, Julio Suarez, a 33 year old Us marine corps veteran recognized meeting one of the perpetrators through /k/. Suarez then organized a /k/ meet-up

2022 Buffalo shooting

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On 14 May 2022, Payton Gendron did a mass shooting at a Tops Friendly Markets supermarket in the East Side neighborhood of Buffalo, New York.[23][24] Ten people, all of whom were black, were murdered, and three people were injured.[25][26][27] Gendron had been radicalized by social media and 4chan, and used /k/ to learn about and adquire firearms.[28]

See also

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  • /b/ – Imageboard or online forum on 4chan
  • /pol/ – Political discussion board on 4chan
  • /mlp/ – My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic discussion board on 4chan
  • /mu/ – Music discussion board on 4chan
  • /v/ (imageboard) – Videogames discussion board on 4chan

References

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  1. ↑ Lagorio-Chafkin, Christine (2 October 2018). We Are the Nerds: The Birth and Tumultuous Life of REDDIT, the Internet's Culture Laboratory. Little, Brown Book Group. p. 323. ISBN 978-0-349-41635-9. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  2. ↑ Brophy-Warren, Jamin (July 9, 2008). "Modest Web Site Is Behind a Bevy of Memes". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on August 29, 2008. Retrieved July 24, 2008.
  3. ↑ Alfonso III, Fernando (2 March 2020). "Now 10 years old, 4chan is the most important site you never visit". www.dailydot.com. The Daily Dot, LLC. Archived from the original on 29 April 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  4. ↑ "FAQ – What is 4chan?". 4chan. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  5. ↑ O'Brien, Danny (May 2, 2008). "Tuning into innovation outside the confines of English-speaking web". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on July 3, 2015. Retrieved January 17, 2009.
  6. ↑ "BIG UPDATE". 4chan.org. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  7. ↑ Anonymous 2015, p. 25.
  8. ↑ Anonymous 2015, p. 32.
  9. ↑ Wilson, Robert Evans, Jason (27 May 2020). "The Boogaloo Movement Is Not What You Think". bellingcat. Retrieved 8 June 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. 1 2 3 4 Crawford, Blyth (2020). "/K/ and the Visual Culture of Weapons Boards". crestresearch.ac.uk. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  11. 1 2 3 Argentino, Marc-André (8 June 2020). "Digital Platforms and Extremism 2: Electric Boogaloo". GNET. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  12. ↑ Miller, Cassie (5 June 2020). "The 'Boogaloo' Started as a Racist Meme". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Owen, Tess (8 July 2021). "Meet 4chan's 'Kommandos,' the Armed Meme Lords Driving Gun Culture". VICE. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  14. 1 2 3 III, Fernando Alfonso (25 June 2016). "Target Shooting And Knife Swapping: Inside 4Chan's Most Interesting Meetup". Forbes. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  15. ↑ Anonymous 2015, p. 34, 89.
  16. 1 2 Crawford, Blyth; Keen, Florence; Suarez de-Tangi, Guillermo (December 2020). "Memetic Irony and the Promotion of Violence within Chan Cultures" (PDF). Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats. pp. 5–6. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
  17. ↑ Sepic, Matt; Cox, Peter (November 17, 2015). "Autopsy: Gunshot to head killed Jamar Clark in Mpls. police shooting". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  18. ↑ "Minneapolis NAACP chief demands release of video of Minnesota shooting". Yahoo News. Reuters. November 19, 2015. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
  19. ↑ Zamora, Karen. "3 men in custody, 1 released in Minneapolis 4th Precinct protest shooting". Star Tribune. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  20. ↑ McKay, Tom (28 November 2015). "4chan Tentatively Linked to Shooting at Black Lives Matter Rally in Minneapolis". Mic. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  21. ↑ Feldman, Brian (25 November 2015). "Inside /pol/, the 4chan Politics Board Shouted Out in Minneapolis Gun Video". Intelligencer. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  22. ↑ Cush, Andy (24 November 2015). "Video Shows 4chan White Supremacists Bringing Gun to Minneapolis Protest Days Before Shooting". Gawker. Archived from the original on 29 November 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  23. ↑ Morales, Mark; Levenson, Eric; Sgueglia, Kristina (November 28, 2022). "Buffalo grocery store mass shooter pleads guilty to terrorism and murder charges in racist attack". CNN. Archived from the original on April 4, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  24. ↑ Kriner, Mathew; Barbarossa, Erica; Bernardo, Isabella (July 2022). "The Buffalo Terrorist Attack: Situating Lone Actor Violence into the Militant Accelerationism Landscape". Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Archived from the original on February 11, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  25. ↑ Morrison, Aaron (May 21, 2022). "Buffalo shooting victim laid to rest; city marks 1 week". AP News. Archived from the original on November 24, 2023. Retrieved June 16, 2024.
  26. ↑ Michel, Lou; Tsujimoto, Ben; Becker, Maki (May 14, 2022). "Ten killed in mass shooting at Jefferson Avenue supermarket; shooter in custody". Buffalo News. Archived from the original on May 14, 2022. Retrieved May 14, 2022.
  27. ↑ Thompson, Carolyn; Balsamo, Michael; Collins, Dave (May 14, 2022). "At least 10 dead in mass shooting at Buffalo supermarket". Associated Press. Archived from the original on May 14, 2022. Retrieved May 14, 2022.
  28. ↑ Tahmasbi et al. 2025, p. 1.

Sources

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