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Frequently Asked Questions

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ccd0 edited this page Aug 5, 2019 · 114 revisions

Can I use 4chan X on imageboards other than 4chan?

There is an effort underway to make 4chan X work on imageboards based on Tinyboard or its successor software vichan. This may be extended to other imageboard scripts in the future. Only a subset of 4chan X's features are available so far. You must be using the userscript version of 4chan X, not the Chrome extension.

To enable 4chan X on another imageboard, add the site to the user @match rules. In the instructions below, replace "examplechan.com" with the site you want to add:

  • for Violentmonkey: Open the Violentmonkey settings page and find 4chan X. Click the edit button (looks like </>). Go to the "Settings" tab and enter https://examplechan.com/* in the "@match rules" field. Click save.
  • for Tampermonkey: Open the Tampermonkey settings page, go to the "Installed userscripts" tab, and find 4chan X. Click the edit button (pencil on paper). Go to the "Settings" tab and click the "Add" button below "User matches". Enter https://examplechan.com/*.
  • for Greasemonkey 4: In the Greasemonkey menu, select "4chan X", then "User script options". Add https://examplechan.com/* under "User matches".
  • for Greasemonkey 3: Go to the "User Scripts" tab of about:addons, find 4chan X, and click "Options". On the "User Settings" tab, click the "Add" button next to "Matched Pages". Enter https://examplechan.com/*.
  • If you are not auto-updating 4chan X, you can also edit the script, adding // @match https://examplechan.com/* (recommended) or // @include https://examplechan.com/* (some browsers / script engines may not support @match) after the existing // @include lines.

To know if your site is using Tinyboard or vichan, look at the bottom of the page, where it should be noted. A large list of imageboards, including the software they use, is available at:

https://github.com/ccd0/imageboards.json/

I'm having trouble with the captcha. How can I fix it?

See the Captcha FAQ page.

I uninstalled 4chan X and now Quick Reply, inline expansion, quote previewing, and other features don't work. How do I fix it?

4chan X disables the native extension, so if you uninstall 4chan X, and you want to use the functionality of the native extension, you'll need to re-enable it. To do this, click the [Settings] link in the top right corner, uncheck "Disable the native extension" in the panel that appears, and click the "Save Settings" button.

I'm seeing multiple images when I expand an image and/or getting an error message saying "Failed to disable the native extension". How do I fix it?

Some browsers (Chrome and its clones including modern Firefox) make it difficult for a userscript to reliably disable 4chan's native extension if you periodically clear your cookies. Try adding the following filter in uBlock Origin:

||s.4cdn.org/js/extension.min.*.js$important

Why is 4chan X telling me every image/video I try to post is corrupt?
Or: Why are thumbnails in the Quick Reply not showing up?
Or: Why am I getting errors when trying to edit files?
Or: Why isn't 4chan X working as a Violentmonkey script on Firefox?

Your ad blocker may be blocking blob: URIs on 4chan. You will need to add an exception to your filter lists to get all features of 4chan X to work properly. However, you should still be able to post the files regardless of the warning.

In uBlock Origin:

@@||4chan.org^*$csp=default-src 'self' * data: 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval'

In Adblock Plus:

@@|blob:$image,media,domain=4chan.org

For more info/help, see https://github.com/ccd0/4chan-x/issues/1417.

Why am I getting a connection error message and a blank index page?

17 Sep 2018: Currently ad blockers using EasyList are causing this problem due to blocking all third-party AJAX requests on 4chan. Until it is resolved, you can add this to your filter list ("My Filters" tab in uBlock Origin): @@||4cdn.org$xmlhttprequest,domain=4chan.org

This happens when 4chan X can't load the catalog JSON (a.4cdn.org/BOARD/catalog.json) for the board. Possible reasons:

  • A connection error with your network happened. Try reloading the page.
  • A temporary problem on 4chan's end. You may be able to get 4chan X to work by disabling the JSON Index option.
  • Another extension, such as NoScript or your ad blocker, blocked 4chan X from loading the catalog JSON. See below for details.
  • The web filter component of your antivirus is malfunctioning.

Why did 4chan X have a connection error while posting?

8 May 2017: If you are having connection errors when posting certain text, it is because of an extra captcha Cloudflare wants you to solve before allowing your post to go through to 4chan. It is not yet integrated correctly with 4chan yet (CORS headers are missing). To make your post go through, you will need to use the post form at the top of the page (click the "[Original Form]" link).

Either 4chan X was not able to post, or it did not receive a response from 4chan after posting. Possible reasons:

  • A connection error with sys.4chan.org or with your network happened. You should update the thread to check if your post got through before retrying, as sometimes 4chan will accept the post but fail to send a confirmation message.
  • Another extension, such as NoScript or your ad blocker, blocked 4chan X from posting. See below for details. The relevant URL is https://sys.4chan.org/BOARD/post.
  • The web filter component of your antivirus is malfunctioning.
  • The file you're trying to post has been deleted or otherwise ceased to exist.

In some cases, turning off the Show Upload Progress option may help with connection errors. If you are in Russia and have been having connection errors recently, try this.

How do I fix other extensions blocking URLs 4chan X needs to access?

If you don't know the URL that's being blocked, try bringing up the developer tools (usually with F12), navigating to the console, and looking for an error or errors starting with 4chan X failed to load:. In Chromium-based browsers, you can also look for Failed to load resource: net::ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT, but not all such errors will be related to 4chan X.

If you are using NoScript, allow the domain of the URL that was blocked.

If you are using an ad blocker, you may need to add an exception rule for the URL that was blocked.

If you don't know the extension causing the problem, temporarily disable all other extensions, and turn them on one by one until you find the extension responsible.

Why is 4chan X asking for permission to show desktop notifications?

Desktop Notifications is enabled in your 4chan X settings, but you have yet to allow it in your browser's settings. You must grant permission individually on http://boards.4chan.org and https://boards.4chan.org for 4chan X to show notifications there.

If you allow desktop notifications, 4chan X will show notifications

  • When someone replies to you
  • When the Quick Reply encounters a posting error in another tab/window

If you don't want desktop notifications, select Disable in the popup or turn off Desktop Notifications in your settings.

Why is 4chan X showing posts that were just made as being from "X hours ago"?

This is generally caused by your computer's time zone being set wrong.

Why aren't banner ads showing up?

Due to a recent history of ads on 4chan causing unwanted behavior such as redirecting to other sites, 4chan X blocks unnecessary Javascript. The efficacy of 4chan X's blocking varies from browser to browser, and the use of an ad blocker is still recommended.

If you want to unblock just the top banner ads which 4chan has always had, add or uncomment these lines in the Javascript Whitelist field at the bottom of the Advanced tab in your settings:

http://s.zkcdn.net/ados.js
https://s.zkcdn.net/ados.js
http://engine.4chan-ads.org
https://engine.4chan-ads.org

In your ad blocker, you can unblock the top banner ads by adding these exception rules to your filter list:

@@||s.zkcdn.net/ados.js$script,domain=boards.4chan.org
@@||engine.4chan-ads.org/ados$script,domain=boards.4chan.org
@@||s.zkcdn.net/Advertisers$image,domain=boards.4chan.org
@@||static.4chan-ads.org/Advertisers$image,domain=boards.4chan.org
boards.4chan.org#@#.topad
boards.4chan.org#@#[width="468"]
boards.4chan.org#@#[width="728"]

To unhide the board banners, add this to your filter list:

boards.4chan.org#@#.middlead

How do I disable the fixed header?

Uncheck Fixed Header

How do I make the full board list always expand?

Uncheck Custom Board Navigation

Why can't I move my updater and thread stats from the header?

Disable Updater and Stats in Header

Why can't I make the thread watcher stay at the top of the page?

You should update. As of v1.1.13, the watcher is now hidden until the [Watcher] shortcut is clicked. This means it won't be following you around the page, and you can bring it up only when you want. As of v1.1.16, you can also enable the Persistent Thread Watcher option if you want the old behavior.

I hate the new heart! How do I get the old watcher icon back?

.watch-thread-link { 
    background-image: url('data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhEAAQAJEAAAAAAP///9vb2////yH5BAEAAAMALAAAAAAQABAAAAIvnI+pq+D9DBAUoFkPFnbs7lFZKIJOJJ3MyraoB14jFpOcVMpzrnF3OKlZYsMWowAAOw==') !important;
    opacity: 1 !important;
}
.watch-thread-link.watched { 
    background-image: url('//static.4chan.org/image/favicon-ws.ico') !important;
}

Can I trust 4chan X?

Everyone is encouraged to review the source code of 4chan X to make sure it's not doing anything unwanted, either by malice or incompetence. If you find anything amiss, please report it.

Does 4chan X collect user data?

4chan X doesn't spy on you or sell information to third parties. The only ways that information is sent to me as a result of you using 4chan X are:

  • You visiting the 4chan X website.
  • You posting information to the bug tracker.
  • Your browser / user script manager checking for updates to 4chan X.
  • Aggregated usage statistics from Youtube's video title API.

In an earlier version of 4chan X not maintained by me, error reports were automatically sent back to the maintainer, but this was discontinued in November 2013. This version of 4chan X has an error reporting feature, but it is done manually by clicking a Report link, and you can edit the information sent.

The ancient copypasta about 4chan X being a botnet was always a troll, as you can verify by compiling 4chan X yourself.

Does 4chan X send data to any other sites?

Other than 4chan itself and other imageboards you configure it to run on, 4chan X communicates with these sites:

  • 4chan X periodically checks the sites it is configured to get archive list updates from (by default https://mayhemydg.github.io/archives.json/archives.json). You can turn this off by unchecking Auto-update in the Archives section of the Advanced settings page.

  • 4chan X automatically redirects links to dead threads to various archives, listed here. 4chan X also replaces dead links with links to archive sites, and fetches deleted posts and images from archive sites. When you report a post for illegal content, 4chan X will offer the option to report it to the archives as well. You can turn these features off by disabling the 404 Redirect, Archive Report, and Resurrect Quotes settings.

  • 4chan X automatically looks up the titles of links to YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, Streamable, SoundCloud, Clyp, and Github Gists. To disable this, turn off the Link Title option in your settings. For Youtube link titles in particular, 4chan X sends its API key in addition to the link. Google measures the Youtube link title traffic coming from 4chan X, and provides me with usage statistics, but does not identify users to me.

  • If you have Cover Preview enabled (on by default) and hover over a link to a supported service (currently YouTube and DailyMotion), 4chan X will load a preview thumbnail.

  • If you have embedding enabled and click an (embed) link, 4chan X will load content from the linked site. If you have Auto-embed turned on (it is off by default), 4chan X will do this automatically without you clicking on the (embed) links.

  • If Disable Autoplaying Sounds (on by default) is on, 4chan X will rewrite the URLs of Youtube videos that have been embedded in the page by 4chan mods or admins to keep them from autoplaying.

  • If you click the link button in the Quick Reply, 4chan X will open a dialog allowing you to enter a URL from which it will download the file to be posted. 4chan X will also open this dialog in some cases when pasting an image from another site in Firefox; if this happens, the URL to fetch the image from will be pre-filled.

  • If captchas are enabled on a board and you're not using a 4chan Pass, 4chan X will connect with Google to obtain and validate captchas. 4chan's API key for Recaptcha is sent as part of these requests. If you don't have Javascript from Google blocked, Google will run its own Javascript as part of the captcha and may collect other information, the extent of which is unknown to me since the code is obfuscated. For more info, you will have to consult Google's privacy policy. 4chan X is not a content blocker, and choosing Force Noscript Captcha does not stop Google's Javascript from running; it merely makes 4chan X's Quick Reply work if you have blocked that Javascript with another extension.

  • If you open the Tegaki controls and the Tegaki script fails to load from s.4cdn.org, then 4chan X will attempt to load it from an alternate location on rawgit.com.

  • If you enable the Captcha Solving Service setting, 4chan X will request captchas from the chosen site using your API key.

  • If you are using 4chan X on multiple sites and watch threads on another site, 4chan X will request data about the threads from the other site's API at regular intervals (if Auto Update is on) and when you manually refresh.

  • In addition to what 4chan X sends to these sites, depending on your browser privacy settings, your browser may also send various other information in the headers. This often includes a referrer header indicating which site or page you were on at the time, a user-agent header indicating the browser you're using, and various other details. To learn about what information your browser sends to websites in request headers, open the network tab of the console and inspect the various requests.

  • This should go without saying, but following any links added by 4chan X will cause your browser to request that page from the site. For links that come from linkifying URLs in posts, 4chan X adds the rel="noreferrer" attribute to prevent referrers from being sent when you click them, but some browsers, particularly old versions, may not support this directive.

  • If you use a browser sync service such as Google Chrome's, your 4chan X settings and data will be stored in the cloud in addition to on your local machine.

  • Your browser or user script manager will periodically check for and install new versions of 4chan X, unless you have disabled automatic updates or your browser / user script manager does not support them. Updates will be checked for at either from www.4chan-x.net or the Chrome store, depending on how you installed 4chan X. If you installed 4chan X from a third-party mirror, your browser may check that mirror.

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