Shitaraba

Shitaraba Keijiban (したらば掲示板, lit. “Shitaraba Bulletin Board”) is the name of a Japanese bulletin board website that lets people create and manage their own boards. The service initially launched on March 4, 2000, and has changed owners numerous times.

History

On March 4, 2000, Hiroyuki Nishimura and the company, “Tokyo Access” (東京アクセス), launches Rental Keijiban JBBS (レンタル掲示板JBBS) but it later ended up on the chopping block during 2channel's evacuation crisis. As a result, it was sold to “Shitaraba Communications” (したらばコミュニケーションズ) on December 1, 2001 where it would be renamed to JBBS@Shitaraba (JBBS@したらば).

The company partnered with “Media Clip” (メディアクリップ) in 2003 and they would later be acquired by "Livedoor" (ライブドア) on June 14, 2004.¹⁾ The website was put in read-only mode during the whole transfer to Livedoor, but some data got lost. Regardless, they reopened in October 2004 and it was renamed to Livedoor Shitaraba Keijiban (livedoorしたらば掲示板) on December 15, 2004.

There were some upgrades in 2009, then the website was sold off to “Seesaa” (シーサー) on May 15, 2013 and was renamed to Shitaraba Keijiban (したらば掲示板).²⁾³⁾ After five years, it was sold once again to “Aegate” (エーゲート) on December 3, 2018,⁴⁾ the owners of Bakusai which is a news-focused bulletin board that works like an anonymous forum. Unlike previous transfers, they haven't changed the name.

Notes

“Shitaraba” (したらば, lit. “to do”) was chosen as the name since it was intended to be a place where fellow internet users give advice and suggestions while seeking new points of communication.⁵⁾
Non-Japanese IPs are unable to make boards or post. This is likely due to spammers, considering that posters can't post links under normal circumstances and follow an unspoken h removal rule.