Anonymous: An Exploration (working title)

As may have been evidenced my my third and final trailer, my part of our documentary is centered around Anonymous. Naturally, I'm asking the obvious questions: Who are they? Is there a certain demographic that can be linked to the phenomenon of Anonymous (age, gender, ethnicity, etc.)? What is the appeal of each particular "group"? Why do they do the things they do? (As "Anonymous" covers more than just /b/ and Chanology, this is probably a more complicated question than it seems on the surface.) However, I intend to dig a little deeper than this in my exploration of what it is to "identify" with Anonymous. There will be other questions all the time, new and unexpected ones, and ones I probably should have seen coming.

There's a language to it, involving a complex amalgamation of 1337, memes, acronyms and in-jokes that the rest of us just don't get - and while there are commonalities between the various sites that are home to those who call themselves "Anonymous", there are certain words and phrases that are more heavily identified with one group or another. What's "in" lingo for Project Chanology might be out of step with /b/, and what's popular there might not be noteworthy at SomethingAwful. And even more covert and deep-core language might tell us the difference between a poster who is "obviously" joking, with one who means what they say - while the medium of text makes sarcasm and playful humor harder to recognize, like any other culture, there are probably subtle signals not obvious to an outsider which tells a member of the group how serious the "speaker" is. This is one of those more complex questions I'm hoping to find an answer to.

So far, I've spent several months just lurking on /b/ and whyweprotest.net; I've yet to find the opportune moment to post on /b/, and have had only the most casual, superficial conversations with a few people at whyweprotest.net, just following the attack on their site some months ago. I'll be looking into some of the other sites mentioned, as well as others I can find that have some affiliation with Anonymous. (It must be understood that I use words like "identify with" and "affilation" quite loosely; the "flock of birds" analogy that has been used to describe Anonymous is an apt one, and it is really only the similarity of their behavior that links various anonymous posters under the larger "group" Anonymous.) And while, as Encyclopedia Dramatica notes, /b/ is often called "the asshole of the Internet," I've found some rare and surprising moments where people actually seemed supportive and caring of the OP (original poster). People would present their problem, and solutions would be offered - many of which seemed serious, though some would be dismissive, derrogatory, or even seem completely hateful. In one of the most recent examples, a male poster bemoaned the fate of his relationship, when his girlfriend broke up with him, claiming she needed space; she lived with him, and yet had not returned home in several days. His post was replied to with varying but well-intentioned advice in most cases ("tell her how you feel" and general advice to "work on yourself for you, not for her"), peppered with posts belittling the OP and his situation for his lack of masculinity, and even the occasional, hatefully dismissive post (one read: She's a bitch. You're a faggot. Both of you die in a fire").

There are also games that are played with the posted images and links: the Boxxy vid was attached to a "you rage, you lose" thread game, in which posters were challenged to watch her without "wanting to tear their hair out or injure small animals" (as was noted in the Boxxy Story blog); one recent one posted a picture of a girl sitting in the floor, fully clothed, with a keyboard on her lap and the challenge "fall in love, you lose." Some seemed willing to lose this game - others said they lost to other girls, posting their pictures (and here, Boxxy made a reappearance in more than one reply), while still more made rude sexual remarks, said the girl needed to "gb2kitchen" (get back to the kitchen), or even ridiculed her for the age of the keyboard. It is posts like these that seem to showcase the more playful side of /b/, and even the seemingly nasty posts can be taken as joking, or at least simply disinterested.

There's a certain paranoia to certain groups within Anonymous that seems playful, as well - such as within Project Chanology and its affiliated sites, in which every poster is considered to be OSA (from Scientology's "Office of Special Affairs") or a "scilon" (a person who is either a member of Scientology or otherwise sympathizes witih them). While the paranoia could be understood, considering the very real fear protesters often have at having their identities discovered by the Church of Scientology and the harassment that will allegedly follow, it still seems to be said in a half-joking manner, a whacky way of letting new people know that it's not very smart to trust anyone - especially not on the Internet.

A further exploration of other chans and different sites associated with Chanology, /b/, SomethingAwful, and sites that are similar to these will be necessary to paint a more accurate picture of Anonymous; descriptions of these sites and a detailed study of them will be included in future posts.