Anonymous

Co-existence has created a fucking monster.

For far too long Encyclopedia Dramatica has gone without proper information regarding the Anonymous collective, mainly due to the fact that, for years, such a write-up was completely unnecessary. These were the ages when Anonymous was simply the army of /b/, an anarchistic troll force with a slight touch of moralfaggotry that progressively grew stronger. Today, the masses know Anonymous as "a hacktivist collective" that, through means of packets (read: LOIC), protesting, and web defacement work to defend and preserve such ideologies as free speech, freedom of the press, etc. At the same time, news stories occasionally float up detailing 4chan campaigns to bring grief to grieving families, or send pop stars to communist nations. Any reader looking to inquire knowledge on such people, and with a solid lack of e-culture knowledge, would now be asking themselves questions that can broadly be placed under the what, who, and why categories.

To better answer these, this article has thus been rewritten so that the Jews at Know Your Meme are no longer the only entity with "credible information" regarding the elevation and accomplishment (for better or worse, depending on point of view) of Anonymous.

What?

For the reader's convenience

The easiest of these puzzles to solve would be "what is Anonymous".

Anonymous is simply a loose coalition of anybody who chooses to be Anonymous.

A brief history of Anonymous

Anonymous
Because none of us are as cruel as all of us.

Anon 2.0- Now with gradients!

The word "Anonymous" originated from the *chan scene, which most readers probably know by now. Anonymous simply was anyone choosing to post as Anon on any given imageboard (as there were multiple "big" ones back in the day).

4chan was founded on October 3, 2003 and for its first few years was yet another e-base for all things weeaboo (and was almost completely destroyed by the GNAA in its early years). Here the first incarnation of Anonymous rose, among the endless posting of Desu and Mai Waifu. The GNAA and YTMND influences brought in a troll spirit to the boards of 4chan, primarily /b/ who began such early "invasions" and trolls such as cyberman and numerous conquests of (at the time) similar web venture Gaia Online.

Such actions became a favorite past-time of /b/, leading to bigger and better trolls to the likeness of Pools Closed and Harry Potter. No better man could explain this era of Anon than Phil Shuman in the infamous HACKERS ON STEROIDS news report (protip: that "former hacker" is Alex Wuori):

One classic series of raids of this time being those on white nationalist turned informant Hal Turner. It was then that the moral side of Anonymous and 4chan began to flourish, taking pride in subtly attacking a man for his racist values as oppose to doing it strictly for the lulz.

More troll targets and trolls came and went, including Tom Green and Girl Talk, Wikifur, and Grawp. However in the year 2008, in the midst of the SOHH defacement and Epilepsy Forums invasion, Project Chanology began. Such was the birth of the "mainstream anonymous", who worked for good and media attention via protests and firing their LOIC at seemingly random targets.

Skip ahead to 2010 and the birth of AnonOps, Anonymous is now known by the masses as a force for moral justice through destructive means (and carrying around those stupid Guy Fawkes masks).

Who

There are many distinct flavors of anons, all of which can be found below.

The Newfag

Moar info: newfag.

The Newfag

Hangouts	/b/, KYM, Cheezburger Network
Past-times	Raids, Memes, Cancer

The newfag has newly discovered the presence of e-culture. They are dumbfounded by such discoveries, and thus can turn in any given direction, but for the time being are known for their abuse of meme-spam and breakings of Rules 1 and 2.

The Oldfag

Moar info: oldfag.

The Oldfag

Hangouts	/v/, 420chan, 7chan
Past-times	Reminiscing

The Oldfag was once a newfag, and likely either a moral or /i/ fag, but now has found more productive ways of spending their time than epic times oti. Probably hangs out on /v/, 7chan, or other forgotten imageboards discussing how cool /b/ was 2-3 (give or take) years ago.

The /i/nsurgent

Moar info: i.

/i/ is dead

The /i/nsurgent

Hangouts	/i/, partyvan.info
Past-times	Raids, Spam, Ordering Pizza

The /i/nsurgent has one purpose: to cause as much grief as possible. Developed from overzealous raid-newfags, they eventually picked up enough CSIII knowledge to control a botnet or preform a simple crapflood. Although /i/ is dead, the /i/nsurgent brand lives on, always willing to completely demolish random furries or youtube vloggers who stand in the way of Anon's e-domination.

The Moralfag

Moar info: moralfag.

The Moralfag

Hangouts	AnonOps, Whatistheplan
Past-times	Occupying, shouting memes at people, protesting

The Moralfag is the more media-friendly side of the Anonymous legion. Encouraged by self-gratifying pats on the back, the moralfag army continues to operate much like evolved-newfags, only semi-organized. For more information, refer to this image:

Assorted Channers

Moar info: chan.

The *channer

Hangouts	/a/, /cg/ /mu/, all other non-notable boards
Past-times	Posting

While far less notable, The *channer remains an important part of the Anonymous backbone. They are, much like Anon himself, one and many, driven without a purpose (other than fapping to hentai on a daily basis) they continuously spend day after day driving the force of the imageboard scene.

Why?

Legion comes in many flavors.

Depending on who one asks, they will get one of two answers regarding the motives of Anonymous. These being either "I did it for the lulz" or some bullshit about securing a future for generations to come free from oppressive government rule.

Because Anon has no face or name, his actions cannot truly be justified nor understood.

Quotes

William Tecumseh Sherman, the spiritual forefather of Anonymous.

Anonymous is a choice.

We hold the power.

Anonymous did Yellow Van.

The Internet's true face.

Early Anonymous

How to tell a "real Anonymous" from raidfags. The former believes he's just like his favorite animu villain.

How a typical anonymous fantasizes himself.

	“	Don't think. If you think, never say. If you say, never write it down. If you write it, don't sign. If you think it, say it, write it and sign it, don't be surprised by what happens to you.	„

	“	Anonymous is one of our generations greatest men, do not insult his benevolence. Whenever one of us strays to the 4chan, it is Anonymous that cleanses our ranks of cancer. We should be worshiping him...in fact, cult time!	„
	—Some protest-fag. Huur

	“	She obviously doesn't know you are a /b/tard then. How would she feel if she knew you were like the rest of us? Yelling AIDS and FUCK for no reason in public places, pretending to hate hardcore music when you know it's all you listen to (fuck you uglyfags) and the fact that at some point, you have considered what it would be like to fuck a horse, or another man (no wimmenz, etc).	„
	—Anon, in regards to another anon's "gf".

	“	So Anonymous are on the case? Then I will sleep peaceably in my bed knowing rough men stand ready to do violence on my behalf.	„
	—George Orwell

	“	Despite all the verbal masturbation anonymous produce, they are really not scary or evil. Anonymous is a Panopticon in reverse. A group where everyone is invisible and appears to speak from the center. Anonymous collectively contains every belief, creed, cultural status, sexuality, fetish, hobby, job, likes, dislikes, (insert any quality), etc. They have collectively experienced every act of violence and kindness. They know every language, probably even the dead ones. They know everything that can be known, and can perpetrate any act a person can. However, because they dwell in a reverse-panopticon, the individual anonymous who "yell" the loudest, most often, or most provocatively will be heard and remembered the most. This is why the anonymous seems so cruel and disgusting. But for every grotesque abomination that posts anonymously, there are probably 100 more who are decent human beings that are just too lazy to post, or are indifferent to the topic at hand.	„
	—Anonymous

	“	Anonymous is difficult to define ‚Äî less an organized group than a loose affiliation of certain websites. When enough of these users decide to take action against something or someone, they will do so in the name of Anonymous. The group has no leaders, no set agenda and has a tendency to focus on soft targets for its own amusement.	„
	—MSN News, Here

	“	A bunch of quirky middle-class kids.	„
	—The Times

	“	Yes, I am a Scientologist. Anonymous is harassing us and making us look bad in the media, and after all this criminal activity, all you can say is LULZ?	„
	—Mary, a butthurt Scifag commenter on evolvedrational.com.

	“	Write a wise saying and your name will live forever.	„
	—Anonymous

	“	They are hackers on steroids, treating the Web like a real-life video game, sacking Web sites, creating chaos and disrupting innocent people's lives.	„
	— Fox 11 News; Moar liek Faux Jews, amirite?

	“	Anonymous was a woman.	„
	—Virginia Woolf

	“	I've been to three protests, and Anonymous really is the nicest bunch of people you can imagine.	„
	—David, York

	“	Cyberbullies are now meeting in secret and planning their attacks.	„
	—Fox 11 News

	“	This is no different than other forms of organized crime.	„
	—Ron Astor

	“	DESPICABLE, SLIMY, SCUMMY	„
	—Bill O'Reilly

	“	THE VOICE OF NONE IS STRONGER THAN THE VOICE OF ONE.	„
	—Anonymous

	“	ANONYMOUS IS THE CREATOR...THE CREATOR OF LIFE, DEATH, AND NEVER-ENDING HUMILIATION...ANONYMOUS IS KEY, THE ALL MIGHTY, THE HOLY SON...ANONYMOUS IS L.O.L'S...ANONYMOUS IS THE UNEXPECTED EXPECTED. ANONYMOUS IS GOD!!! NOT I, BUT WE ARE ANONYMOUS.	„
	—ANONYMOUS

	“	Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many."	„
	—The Bible, Mark 5:9

	“	Everywhere you look is Anonymous. You may not see them yet. Look closer. There we are. Anonymous is that person that you hardly notice at all. Anonymous is low-key, so low-key it looks suspicious. Anonymous is a nobody.	„
	—The Church of Anon

	“	"Anonymous is feared by man and machine alike. It represents mans ultimate mastery of the machine in order to generate and propogate lulz. It will be the final downfall of Scientology and the final defence against Skynet."	„
	—Anonymous

	“	"Anonymous" is the name assigned to a poster who does not enter text in to the [Name] field. Anonymous is not a single person, but rather, represents the collective whole of 4chan. He is a god amongst men. Anonymous invented the Moon, assassinated former President David Palmer, and is also harder than the hardest metal known to man: diamond. His power level is rumored to be over nine thousand. He currently resides with his auntie and uncle in a town called Bel-Air (however, he is West Philadelphia born and raised). He does not forgive.	„
	—4chan FAQ