Fags of 4chan

The suffix -fag probably started as a bad attempt at an insult somewhere back in the dark days of history. Soon it became so widespread and applicable to any form of belief, subculture, activity and so on, that it became obsolete. Today, the suffix -fag is just a slangism that carries no fixed positive or negative connotation by itself, and is used to describe someone simply as belonging to a certain group of people. As far as meaning is concerned, it could be replaced by something like "-person" (newfag -> new person). Whether a certain *-fag is used as an insult or not is instead derived from: a) the context of the discussion, especially the person using the word and; b) the part preceding the suffix and not the suffix itself. It can even be used as a sign of affection.

It has been noted that due to the suffix of -fag on 4chan can be as demeaning or endearing as the word "child" is to normal people. Plus implications of man-sex.

For example, a person from Europe might refer to himself as a Eurofag, with a neutral tone, simply indicating that he hails from Europe. "Yeah, I'm a Eurofag, so I can't (and don't want to) watch American football on my TV."

A different (probably non-European) person might use it as an insult. In this case it is the "euro-" part that serves as the carrier of all known negative stereotypes and connotations about Europeans, by the insulting person's cultural viewpoint (e.g., "Shut up Eurofag, go suck some Muslim cock.")

A third usage is almost the same as the first example, but with a more positive connotation. "Eurofags make the best music."

Board Fags

Namefag

Someone who attributes a name to their posts on 4chan. Namefagging is generally considered a terrible thing, which can and will lead to a 300+ post debate about the merits and disadvantages of identity on imageboards. Basically, don't do it unless you need to be distinguished from other anons.

Tripfag

Might be called "namefags+." Tripcodes are like little keys, to show people that the other guy posting as BobsUrUnkle isn't really you. Much like namefagging, you should avoid this unless using it to establish identity for a certain project (such as Weaver when running RubyQuest). No other purpose is acceptable.

Newfag

A poster who has allegedly arrived at the current board or topic later than the person using the term. See also: newfag summer, a mostly imaginary menace people blame on dumb users.

Oldfag

Basically the opposite of a newfag. This term is commonly used to describe how many years said person has surfed 4chan. Many /b/tards measure their e-peens with it:

Oldfag1: I am an oldfag, I have been on 4chan for 2 years.

Oldfag2: Newfag! I'm a real oldfag. Been here 2 years 6 months!

Oldfag3: You both are newfags, 2 years 7 months

Oldfag4: I've been here since 2004, you newfags shut your infant mouths

OldNewfags 1,2,3: Okay.jpg

OP

The OP of any thread is automatically considered one or more of these.

Anonymous

The anti-fag. On /tg/, people generally adopt a name or tripcode when it is germane and abandon it the rest of the time, so any given Anonymous is impossible to tell from any other. Other boards use usercodes that allow people to identify a user from others even if they don't put anything in the name field, but /tg/ does not.

Creator Fags

Drawfag

A person who doodles images of varying relevance, sometimes with a surprising degree of skill. See the main article.

Writefag

Any person on a message board who likes creating stories. There's a wiki page for it, and a category for their work.

Wikifag

Someone who spends all day obsessively editing a wiki. It's you, you are that fag.

Bad Fags

Samefag

A fag who will post the same thing twice, or agree with himself posing as another, so that other people will think that there's more than one idiot in favor of a certain thing.

Touhoufag

Touhoufags are fans of the Touhou video game series, which you can ask /jp/ about. You can recognize them by the image of little girls in frilly dresses they add to each message they post, sometimes weirdly relevant to the context of the thread. "Touhoufag" is a specific user on /tg/. He was banned for a long time by Nazi Mod, but returned around the release of D&D Next. An army of Touhoufags (possibly including that one) are making D&D 4th edition power cards using Touhou fanart ripped from Danbooru.

Avatarfag

A softer form of identification on threads, in which an anon uploads various images of the same character along each of their posts. Avatarfags are not usually hated with as much unadulterated vehemence of their Namefag and Tripfag brethren, but they are still mocked by the superior anons, usually with implications that the neckbeard responsible has a crush on his avatar. Avatarfagging was discouraged in the earlier days of 4chan for its unnecessary impact on server load (uploading images unrelated to the discussion just for the sake of having an identity), and is still on the books as a rule you can be banned for violating.

Moralfag

A poster who is so disappointed at other posters' lack of tegridy. Be it Tracy Hickman sperging out at the Book of Vile Darkness having vile darkness in it, or Sean Reynolds casting righteous dudgeon against White Male Terrorists importuning females at conventions; the moralfag is better than you, and you should bow to him.

(whatever)fag

Any one person related in any way, shape or form to the (whatever) in the title. You can put anything there, seriously. E.g.: "Eurofag," "Amerifag," "Mathfag," "4fag," "straightfag," "WoWfag," "FagFagFaggityFag-Fag". The term for a "Japanfag" is Weeaboo. Common types of fags who are seen frequenting /tg/ are:

• 40kfags
• heresyfags
• Britfags (Teaboos, also Britbongs)
• Ausfags

Fag

WARNING: Only suitable for Britfag consumption.

Homosexual. Sometimes used as a generic insult, though usually with little effect. Can be referred to as a Fagfag or Gayfag. Faggot is also an archaic term for a bundle of sticks, specifically the pile of sticks that witches were burned over for being homosexual, most likely where 'fag' as colloquial language for a cigarette or a bassoon came from. This is also were the term "Flaming" came from. It is consequently hilarious to read The Lord of the Rings whenever they talk about "throwing faggots [the bundle of stick kind] onto the fire". As well as for meatballs. Not so archaic, though. As noted, amongst Britfags the word "fag" unqualified will usually mean "a cigarette" ... so neither burning a fag, nor bumming one, should be a cause of concern if discussed in a British accent, other than the fact that smoking is a form of faggotry on its own.

Fag is also the term given to younger boys at British boarding schools who act as a sort of batman for older students - batman as in “soldier servant” (British boarding schools historically being factories for sending young, upper class toffs to Sandhurst), rather than Batman the caped crusader. It’s worth mentioning that said boarding schools were also rife with (mostly non-consensual) buggery as well as all manner of traumatic sexual abuse - rich people are fucked up.

It's noteworthy that the Italian term for the archaic faggot is 'fascina', which share its origins with 'Fascism' (deriving from 'fascio' (meaning group/league) in Italian, which derives from latin 'fascis' (the bunch of sticks)), the common root being that one Aesop fable about first breaking individual twigs over your leg and then trying and failing the same with a bundle of 'em to demonstrate the power of banding together as a group. So, it could be 'Faggotism' in English...