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4chan's "/b/" is 4chan's "random" board... By far their most popular, they have also been known to invade certain websites, Wikipedia included. Oftentimes "/b/tards", as they call themselves, start up threads where people post the name of an article, and if the post number ends in a certain predetermined number called a "GET", commonly, but not limited to 50, the /b/tards go and vandalize the article en-mass.
Here are some general guidelines when dealing with threads like these...
- Telltale signs that /b/ is attacking include a page, or a number of pages that are suddenly receiving a heavy amount of vandalism from multiple IP addresses. One of the best signs is if a large proportion of the edits add some of the following things to the page that is being attacked: "4chan", "/b/", "moot", "ebaumsworld", "epic lulz", "over 9000", "pedobear", "great justice", and racial slurs targeting African Americans or Jewish people.
- Report the thread. Invasion threads are against 4chan policy, and threads like these are included in that criteria. To report the thread, checkmark the box that is in the very first post of the thread. Then go to the bottom of the page, click "Report" in the lower right-hand side of the page, and click submit in the dialog that comes up (You need to enable popups in your browser). This will alert the moderators to the thread.
- Do not provoke them. Although I've done this at one time or another, you should resist the urge to reply to the thread in a manner that asks them to stop... This is essentially akin to trying to put out a forest fire with a garden hose connected to a gasoline pump, because it can get them even more riled up, and cause them to move to multiple threads to try and evade detection.
- Revert, block, ignore. WP:RBI is essential when dealing with this situation. Reverting, blocking, and ignoring them denies them the recognition and the attention that they want. They will then get bored and move onto other things.
- Semi-protect the articles they raid immediately. The large mass of vandals cannot all be feasibly blocked due to the sheer number of them, sometimes ranging 20-30 different IP addresses all vandalizing the article at once. The only way to stop the raid is to semi-protect the article(s) which they are attacking, then the IP addresses should all be blocked so they cannot attack a new target. The only situation where the abuse filter can be feasibly used is if they are all adding the exact same things, which happens when a certain banned user creates an attack thread to target an administrator, or even a non-administrator.