Slides for a talk given at "Media and Proximity", a conference held at the "Locating Media" Graduate School in Siegen, Germany, April 22/23 2010. Its main point is to apply Turner's concepts of liminality / liminoidity (the former applies e.g. to early agrarian, the latter to post-industrial society and in general societies where 'leisure time' is not governed by collective rhythms, but a matter of individual option) and their consequences for social forms and patterns of behaviour (e.g. in liminality, the play with the material of culture, a violation of rules is obligatory, producing often excentric phenomena typical for rites of passage).

1. “ Post your Desktop!” Negotiating proximity and distance in an anonymous environment on imageboard 4chan.org Jana Herwig, M.A. Dept. of Theatre, Film & Media Studies University of Vienna http://tinyurl.com/herwig

14. Web statistics of 4chan.org 4chan.org orf.at t-online.de Unique Users Per Month 8.2 million 4.7 million 458 million Pages loaded (impressions) 600 million 270 million 4.4 billion Average time spent on site 19 minutes 9.5 minutes n/a Average Page loads 30 pages 6.7 pages 9.7 pages Source: C. Poole, NYT Interview Source: Oewa.at, 03/2010 Source: ivwonline.de 03/2010

15. Web statistics of 4chan.org All content on 4chan.org is user-generated content: 800,000 new posts are created every day 4chan.org orf.at t-online.de Unique Users Per Month 8.2 million 4.7 million 458 million Pages loaded (impressions) 600 million 270 million 4.4 billion Average time spent on site 19 minutes 9.5 minutes n/a Average Page loads 30 pages 6.7 pages 9.7 pages Source: C. Poole, NYT Interview Source: Oewa.at, 03/2010 Source: ivwonline.de 03/2010

16. Role within internet culture

17. Role within internet culture

18. Role within internet culture

19. Role within internet culture

27. Anonymous: ITT, take this blank map in Mspaint and draw the borders to the best fo your memory, no kooking at maps/google earth or other posts in the thead. Also tell where you‘re from

28. Anonymous: from france

29. Anonymous: from france Anonymous: you forgot to put „faggots“ in french territory you racist cunt

30. Anonymous: from france Anonymous: you forgot to put „faggots“ in french territory you racist cunt Anonymous: why don't you go fuck yourself you filthy piece of crap. faggots us? lol your women want our cocks because they know you can't please them

31. Anonymous: Easy. I‘m from the US

32. Anonymous: Easy. I‘m from the US Anonymous:

33. Anonymous: American

34. Anonymous: How am I the first?

35. Anonymous: How am I the first? Anonymous: You placed Vichy France wrong.

36. Anonymous: How am I the first? Anonymous: You placed Vichy France wrong. Anonymous: Hey be glad I included it at all.

37. Anonymous: Britfag here.

38. Anonymous: MURKA MURKA FUCK YEAH

39. Anonymous: MURKA MURKA FUCK YEAH Anonymous: Ignorant cunt

40. Anonymous:

41. Anonymous: I don‘t even

42. Anonymous: I don‘t even Anonymous: Finlandia, you say?

43. Anonymous: I don‘t even Anonymous: Finlandia, you say? Anonymous: Now in glorious Nazi glory (I don‘t even know if the German is correctly written)

44. Anonymous: I don‘t even Anonymous: Finlandia, you say? Anonymous: Now in glorious Nazi glory (I don‘t even know if the German is correctly written) Anonymous: Shit, wrong one.

45. Anonymous: I don‘t even Anonymous: Finlandia, you say? Anonymous: Now in glorious Nazi glory (I don‘t even know if the German is correctly written) Anonymous: Shit, wrong one. Anonymous: actually this looks like a map of the roman empire:|

46. Anonymous: Post your start menu

47. Anonymous: Post your start menu

48. Anonymous: Post your start menu Anonymous: Is it yours, or some randome pic?

49. Anonymous: Post your start menu Anonymous: Is it yours, or some randome pic? Anonymous: OP here. It‘s from a computer at my job.

50. Anonymous: Post your start menu Anonymous: Is it yours, or some randome pic? Anonymous: OP here. It‘s from a computer at my job. Anonymous: Is it your computer at your job? If so, try CDisplayEX instead of Cdisplay

51. Anonymous: Post your start menu Anonymous: Is it yours, or some randome pic? Anonymous: OP here. It‘s from a computer at my job. Anonymous: Is it your computer at your job? If so, try CDisplayEX instead of Cdisplay Anonymous: >Is it your computer at your job? Lol, yeah... Derp >try CDisplayEX I‘ll look into it

52. Mr. !WAHZOOo2zo :

53. Mr. !WAHZOOo2zo : Anonymous: nice theme

54. Mr. !WAHZOOo2zo : Anonymous: nice theme Anonymous: Whats the name of that visual style?

55. Mr. !WAHZOOo2zo : Anonymous: nice theme Anonymous: Whats the name of that visual style? Mr. !WAHZOOo2zo : I‘m a little late but it‘s SLANXP for 7

56. Mr. !WAHZOOo2zo : Anonymous: nice theme Anonymous: Whats the name of that visual style? Mr. !WAHZOOo2zo : I‘m a little late but it‘s SLANXP for 7 Anonymous: Holy shit an Aero thema that actually changes something besides Colors. Fuck yes nor more rounded corners and unnecessarily large window borders. Thanks.

57. Anonymous:    Newfags Can‘t triforce

58. Anonymous:    Newfags Can‘t triforce Anonymous: Vegan Folded Seven

59. Anonymous:    Newfags Can‘t triforce Anonymous: Vegan Folded Seven Anonymous: Lol what‘s a triforce?

60. Anonymous:    Newfags Can‘t triforce Anonymous: Vegan Folded Seven Anonymous: Lol what‘s a triforce? Anonymous:   

61. Anonymous:    Newfags Can‘t triforce Anonymous: Vegan Folded Seven Anonymous: Lol what‘s a triforce? Anonymous:    Anonymous:   

62. Anonymous: It‘s Caturday. Poast YOUR cats. I don‘t want to see a picture of you, any pussies you think are cute, some random picture you found on the internet. I want your cat.

64. Anonymous: /b/ Show me your ink!

69. Anonymous: So, I have a crush on a friend of mine, but she‘s been out of town/state for almost a year. We‘ve been keeling in touch, but just a bit you know? [...] So I‘m complaining to /b/. I‘m sure if this thread doesn‘t die immediately it will be filled with demands that I [should be looking for] an hero, and people caling me either a pathetic loser or a faggot, but I felt like venting to someone.

70. Anonymous: So, I have a crush on a friend of mine, but she‘s been out of town/state for almost a year. We‘ve been keeling in touch, but just a bit you know? [...] So I‘m complaining to /b/. I‘m sure if this thread doesn‘t die immediately it will be filled with demands that I [should be looking for] an hero, and people caling me either a pathetic loser or a faggot, but I felt like venting to someone. Anonymous: yeah, you should kill yourself