7chan

7chan was created in late August of 2005, and for it's first year was content to find a quiet niche amongst the early days of chans. However, it would almost be exactly one year later when all that changed. It was August 26, 2006 when the so called "/b/day" occurred, when 4chan made the decision to (amongst other things) ban raids by the community on other websites. This caused massive controversy in it's era, as of course raiding had become hugely popular in that era (the building blocks of what would become Anonymous' reputation). Many 4chan users were outraged enough to leave the site and quite a number of those immigrated to 7chan. 7chan numbers spiked and for a time 7chan was seen as a true 4chan alternative, lauded for more relaxed moderation. This would be a somewhat ironic reputation, as in it's latter years 7chan became more known for having much stricter moderation than 4chan.

During the exodus to 7chan in the summer of 2006, there was a high level of factionism and a so called civil war occurred between the two chans. Ex-4chan users now under the 7chan banner fought against their old home, DDOS'ing it amongst other things. However, as 4chan took back the reigns, the "war" sizzled out.

The exact number of people who moved to 7chan permanently from 4chan can be highly debated, the war left 7chan's name lasting long in the memories of the collective imageboard user base. 7chan, along with 711chan and 420chan, became considered for a long time to be the biggest "alternative chans".

The /i/ board
In the wake of suddenly gaining a huge host of angry ex-4chan users, 7chan had now to face the challenge of retaining them. The answer was /i/ - invasions, a board dedicated to raiding other websites and generally causing havoc. It was exactly what the ex-4chan conigentant wanted and for a time was an extremely successful board.

''For more on the history of /i/, see /i/. ''

Attention from the authorities would force /i/ to relocate to 420chan for a period, but it later returned. /i/'s illustratous run came to an end in [date].