Kropyvach (Кропивач) is a popular Ukrainian bulletin board that was set up anonymously on January 26, 2016. They were considered one of the big four with Anarch, Fainach, and Hyperchan, but it managed to stand out with its nationalist anti-Russian policy around September 2017.

After the fall of Sich on October 19, 2015 and its generally accepted death on January 6, 2016, somebody established Kropyvach at a temporary domain on January 26, 2016, though they used an unusual script. They eventually moved to “kropyva.ch”, then changed the script to Vichan around June 19, 2016. Most of its early history simply involved cross-website raids until the “Black September 2017” incident.

In September 2017, the moderators began enforcing one-day bans for using the Russian language in text and image form on /b/ to prevent Kropyvach from becoming another Russian microboard. This somehow captured the attention of the Ukrainian imageboard scene, putting Kropyvach over Hyperchan and Fainach. Kropyvach did eventually die for a week in early 2018, but later found stability.

Soon enough, they saw the revival of the “Hunger Games” threads, word of Kropyvach spread to Ukrainian Facebook, and they roughly peaked in Spring 2020 as they claim victory in a PixelPlanet war. However, it eventually fell into a slump as Nichan had a flashy revival as Kropyvach was preoccupied with vague internal drama to end 2021, then the war escalated and all non-Ukrainian IPs were later blocked.

• “Kropyvach” is named after the flowering plant, “Kropyva” (Кропива) or Nettle, referencing its use as an ingredient in Ukrainian cuisine (e.g. Borscht) and medicine (e.g. Nettle soup).
  • For those curious, “Kropyva” would be read as “Krapiva” (Крапива) in the Russian language, which would technically result in the pleasant-sounding “Krapivach” (Крапивач) instead.
• “Zeleni kreatyvy” (Зелені креативи, lit. “Green creativity”) is a Ukrainian term for the “unripe”¹⁾ ideas that tend to emerge when a new community begins, but typically doesn't catch on. In the scope of Kropyvach, they ended up importing Pepe the Frog from 4chan and adopted him as their centerpiece.

• Kropyvach - The front page of Kropyvach.
  • @kropyvach on Twitter - The official Twitter account. It's mostly a feed.
• Entsyklopediia Dramatyka - Kropyvach's self-hosted “Encyclopedia Dramatica” wiki.
  • Kropyvach on Entsyklopediia Dramatyka
• Kropyvach on Faina Memoriia