Nameless Rumia's Wiki

I'm tired of the internet!

User Tools

Site Tools

amezou

Table of Contents

Amezou

Amezou Link (あめぞうリンク),1) often called Amezou (あめぞう), was a Japanese website, founded by “Amezou” (あめぞう) on August 5, 1997, that was mainly known for housing a bulletin board from September 6, 1998 to December 30, 1999. They would notably inspire 2channel.

History

In the beginning, “Amezou” was a high school teacher who appreciated bulletin boards, so he made this link collection at Amezou Link on August 5, 1997.2) Upon moving, he set up MiniBBS on March 19, 1998, then Ayashii World shut down and Amezou switches to ResBBS on September 6, 1998, which ends up popularizing 'thread float' bulletin boards.3) By October 28, 1998, it was featured on Internet Watch.4)

They quickly became the center of the Japanese internet by 1999, so their server problems slowly began and Hiroyuki Nishimura peddles 2channel as a 'second channel' on May 30, 1999.5) Around this point, they struggled to discuss the Toshiba Complainer case, then the 'whistleblowing' board closed on June 19, 1999 with 'free speech' idealists blaming the Kyoto City Bus threads.6)7)

At some point, the rules were changed to forbid libel, presumably to avoid any potential lawsuits, and the website never recovered since the servers kept dying and it would get swamped with vandalism. “Amezou” seemingly vanishes around October 1999 or November 1999, as it got out of hand, and then the website died around December 30, 1999. Some refuges were made shortly after, with or without the name.

Notes

  • “Amezou” (あめぞう) is simply named after the fact that the founder liked the 'rain' (雨, ame).8)
  • Their slogan roughly translates to “Not the Daihonei Happyou” (大本営以外の発表). This was meant to be a jab at how the media tends to prioritize the interests of its advertisers or sponsors, thus skewing government-related coverage, so the general idea is that the media is no better than actual Daihonei Happyou propaganda9) and fact-checking using the internet should be encouraged.10)
  • One of the users was “Neo-NEET Takeuchi” (ネオニート竹内) who later started the Taihou Daigaku Byouin no Kyouki visual novel series. He was apparently in the 'Amezor' (あめざーねっと) lineage.

See also

  • 1ch.TV - Amezou was involved, but he didn't really play a big part and vanished.
  • Amezou on 2channel's Wiki
  • Amezou on Pixiv Encyclopedia
  • Amezou on Niconico Encyclopedia
  • Amezou on Japanese Wikipedia - This one includes 'presumed successors' in its history.
1) , 4)
"ウォッチャーが選ぶ今日のサイト" (October 28, 1998). Internet Watch.
2) , 10)
"オンラインジャーナリズム最前線". Toru Takeda.
3)
The 'thread float' (スレッドフロート) is a term used to describe a type of bulletin board where the popular threads 'float' (i.e. get 'bumped') to the top of the board, compared to older Japanese bulletin boards which resembled a 'reverse chronological' stream of posts.
5)
"あめぞう２チャンネル＜勝手に" (May 30, 1999). Amezou.
6)
"あめぞう内部告発がつぶされたのは？" (July 1, 1999). FC2.
7)
Despite the name, the 'Kyoto City Bus' threads focused on the burakumin and reverse discrimination, recalling the Buraku Liberation League's controversial Yoka High School incident where the staff were held hostage, which even drew criticism from the Japanese Communist Party (read more). After that, these threads devolved into basic 'political corruption' rumors.
8)
"旧あめぞう掲示板運営についてお詫び" (October 2, 2001). 1ch.tv.
9)
During World War II, the Imperial General Headquarters used the Daihonei Happyou to disseminate propaganda, but their announcements stopped being accurate after Japan lost the Battle of Midway, so the Daihonei Happyou became synonymous with 'dubious statements' from the authorities.
amezou.txt · Last modified: by namelessrumia