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Kuz syndrome
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, we did it ourselves. - Lao Tzu
Kuz Syndrome (Imageboard Necrophilia) is a mental disorder that usually affects people dissatisfied with the moderation policies of a major imageboard, or those mourning the death of one, making them feel compelled to create their own shitchan instances. It can also manifest in pretty much anyone who decides to create an imageboard.
Causes of the disease
There are three common causes:
- Launching a board out of desire to be like kuz/moot (most common).
- Launching a board to replace a dead one.
- Launching a board for those who disagree with the popular one
- Launching a board as a testing ground for one’s skills.
- Launching a board for some niche community.
Symptoms
They vary depending on age and intelligence of the subject affected:
- They constantly change the layout of their shitchan, adding completely meaningless and useless features. Hideous design, unreadable text from clashing colors, awkward placement of page elements - all this rarely bothers the admin.
- Because of this, the board often turns into a testing ground for the admin’s "skills." Anything that can be changed, will be. The board’s usability suffers, scaring off users, but the admin justifies it internally by comparing themselves to famous figures (Moot, Kuz, Soot, etc.).
- The admin sees the board and its users as a content farm and may seriously demand people "make content." They refuse to admit that content created for the sole purpose of content is doomed.
- The admin attempts (and often fails) to create a cult of his own personality.
In severe cases, the admin spawns multiple shitchans at once - the fate of which is predictable.
Jannies
A separate group worth noting is the moderators who spontaneously appear around the admin. The admin’s orbiters, once given janitorial positions, quickly form a small closed clique, often making telegram group chats or actual discord servers, in which they congregate and engage in cordtroonery. The owner looks the other way and enables his lackeys, if not directly participates in their faggotry.
The Spectrum
The main problem for any newly launched *chan is activity. Subjects affected are separated based on different ways of how they aim to increase it:
- Brandcuck - believes he’ll succeed if his board imitates another anonymous forum, carefully copying everything from the logo and name to the design. Sometimes motivated by wanting to replace a dead imageboard, or to offer an alternative—but mostly it’s just irrational. The most common type, since brand dependency has been internalized in the imageboard zeitgeist since their inception.
- Domaincuck - subtype of the brandcuck, he geniunely thinks that buying a domain relevant in the past will somehow attract users to his shithole now. Ignores the fact that a domain only mattered when owned by the original hoster.
- Rulecuck - doesn’t believe in self-regulation online, believes in "web ethics". Usually a namefag, Discord tranny or an avatarfag.
- Unrulescuck — thinks that CP, gore, and spam are all part of "free speech." Often hosted on Tor.
Treatment
Many patients cure themselves after the very first shutdown, when enlightenment strikes and they realize they cannot bear the burden of an imageboard admin. For the more persistent cases, one should apply wipes, DDoS attacks, and abuse reports. In most cases, the patient just gets bored with running imageboards and recovers on their own.
