4chan Chronicle/Breaking Point
On 4chan, a massive announcement is made titled “NEWS POST: The Next Chapter, aka moot’s retirement” is made, where moot announces he will permanently retire from 4chan’s main administrator position. He declared that his last two years of activity on the site were made with the idea of 4chan surviving him in mind. He gives some data and info regarding the site and declares that it’s economically sound enough to give power over the site to someone else. moot’s successors are three of his most trusted senior mods: the main coder and server administrator (Mr. VacBob), the moderator manager (RapeApe), and an unknown third staff member would take the reins of the site from then on. He also indicates that he will probably return to the site as an Admin Emeritus. His favourite boards, /b/ and /a/ get music embedded on them, and /a/ in particular is renamed to “It /a/ll comes to nothing.” Finally, he announces that he plans a final livestreamed Q/A session on Friday afternoon. On Friday 23, a special board, /qa/ - Questions & Answers was made for people to ask questions for moot’s livestream. The stream lasts 8 hours all the way into Saturday. When the Q/A session finished and moot said his final farewells, the mods put the board on archive. For weeks, the entire site mourns the loss of their leader.
The reasons for moot’s departure are several. Since August, he has been on a non-stop onslaught of stress, having to deal with massive events like the Fappening and GamerGate happening at the same time, dealing with Jlaw’s lawyers in real life, and dealing with GG trolls on the site. On top of that, he has been having, as per the #janiteam leaks, serious disagreements with the staff. Chief among them was forbidding the staff from modposting, which was unanimously disapproved of. His constant disagreements with the staff forced him to realize he became far too impersonal and behind closed doors when giving orders. The final straw probably came with the wave of resignations on January 16, when moot informed the staff they now had to sign a legal non-disclosure agreement. It should be noted that the plan was not just to quit as an administrator but also as a CEO, leaving the site entirely. The site would pass into the hands of the aforementioned senior mods who banded together in the form of a society, giving ownership of 4chan to it. It still remains to be seen whether or not moot’s departure will lead to changes in the way the moderation works. Judging by the leaks, it’s a possibility.