4chan Chanology Era
(Jan 2008 - Jan 2009)
On January 2008, a well-known video of Tom Cruise going crazy on a Scientology training video was censored on Youtube by the Church of Scientology. A raid thread was immediately posted on 4chan's /b/, detailing the other illegal and immoral acts that the group has pulled off. With near-unanimous support, this thread began a massive operation by Anonymous to rid the world of the scourge of Scientology once and for all, through DDoS and protest. The coming events came to be known as Project Chanology, resulting in major victories over Scientologists, the use of large IRL protests, and mass media coverage due to these protests.
As time went on, the initial enthusiasm for the raid wore off, and participants of Project Chanology realized that 4chan was not the best place for organized assault. These people temporarily left 4chan for seperate sites, like 711chan, various IRC channels, and Why We Protest. The split established Anonymous as a powerful force for "hacktivism", independent of 4chan.
Strong social changes within Chanology after an influx of non-4chan immigrants causes Anonymous to take an unfamiliar face, as a force for good rather than the embodiment of evil.
(elaborate more on 4chan itself?)
?? - A thread is posted to 4chan's /b/ about Scientology and it's censorship of a major Tom Cruise recruitment video posted on Youtube. Project Chanology begins.