An imageboard (also chan, which itself is short for channel) is a type of Internet forum that revolves around the posting of images. The first imageboards were created in Japan, and many English-language imageboards today are centered around Japanese culture.

Characteristics of imageboards

Imageboards, similar to bulletin boards, are used for discussion of a variety of topics. The primary focus of imageboards, however, is directed away from text posts, and is instead placed on picture posts. The two share many of the same structures, including separate forums for separate topics, as well as similar audiences. Imageboards are much more transitory with content—on some boards (especially highly-trafficked ones), the thread deletion time can be as little as 10 minutes. The most popular English-language imageboards tend to revolve around Japanese culture such as CG artwork of anime. In Japan, where imageboards are more common, topics vary widely, ranging from trains to current news.

Imageboards are also different from online galleries in that most of the works posted are not made by the poster, but instead are taken from other online sources: galleries, other imageboards, and edited pictures.

Most imageboards and 2channel-style discussion boards allow (and encourage) anonymous posting and use a system of tripcodes instead of registration. Anonymity is considered to be one of the advantages of an imageboard. Some boards have from time to time removed the ability to post with a name altogether (known as 'forced anonymous/anonymity').

If a user wants to reply to a thread but not bump it, they can put the word sage (Japanese: 下げ) in the e-mail field. "Ageing" can refer to either bumping a post or putting the word age (Japanese: 上げ) into the e-mail field. It is considered polite to sage when replying to your own thread, but this is rarely done. On Western imageboards, "sageing" is often seen as a sign of disapproval, as threads with multiple sages are more likely to be deleted automatically as they fall down the board.

In Japan, the imageboard is a much larger cultural symbol, with one guess putting the total number of posts for Futaba's five /b/ boards (four of which are no longer linked to by the main site) at over 56,000,000 and rising.

Software

There are currently three imageboard software packages in widespread use: Futallaby,Futallaby image board script Kusaba, Wakaba.wakaba.c3.cx<

Futallaby is a PHP script based on the Futaba script from Futaba Channel. Although Futallaby is still in use at 1chan, and the Futallaby source is still freely available, it is no longer in development, and the download page recommends using Wakaba instead, stating that "Wakaba can do everything Futallaby does and so much more." Futallaby started as a translation of Futaba, later retooled to support XHTML and customizable CSS styles. It is mostly notable for being the first English imageboard script.