Ayashii World
For the Heyuri bulletin board inspired by Ayashii World, see Strange World.
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Ayashii World (あやしいわーるど; Strange World), also known simply as Ayashii (あやしい) or a (ぁ), is an internet culture and series of Japanese bulletin boards that has spanned multiple decades. Originally founded by Japanese netizen Shiba (しば) on August 21st, 1996, Ayashii quickly grew into a large phenomenon consisting of many different bulletin boards that, collectively, had a large—albeit, often forgotten—influence on the budding Japanese web.
As of 2022, there are only a handful of Ayashii boards remaining that still receive daily post activity, and none of them compare to Ayashii at its peak (which is said to have been around the year 2000). Many of the remaining active boards can be traced back to Shiba's final Ayashii bulletin board, @Main Keijiban (＠メイン掲示板; @Main Bulletin Board), which existed from May 24th, 1998–September 3rd, 1998.[1]. Many users and refugees from other anonymous bulletin boards of the era gathered on Main, and after Shiba quit on September 3rd, 1998, a large number of boards would follow in its wake. Some of these boards were prominent enough to be considered "Main", although several of these claims were either disputed or jokes.
Format
During much of the Shiba era, the titles of Ayashii bulletin boards were typically in the format of "Ayashii World", followed by an @ symbol, followed by the name of the server host—similar to an email address (e.g. あやしいわーるど＠プロホス(AyashiiWorld@ProHos), which was hosted on prohosting.com). As time wore on, the part of the title that previously stated the name of the server host was often swapped out for something made up by the administrator or board residents.
Abridged history of Main Ayashii World bulletin boards (1996–2003)[1]
Early Shiba era
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1996/08/21 | @Eden (＠エデン) is created |
| 1996/12/23 | Ayashii World 97@Kenjinkai (あやしいわーるど９７＠県人会) |
| 1997/12/26 | Ayashii World 2000@Kenjinkai (あやしいわーるど２０００＠県人会) |
| 1997/03/25 | @jcat is created |
| 1997/03/30 | @Kenjinkai (＠県人会) is closed |
| 1997/03/31 | @K&T is created |
| 1997/04/01 | @jcat is closed |
| 1997/06/29 | @K&T is deleted |
| 1997/07/05 | @interactia is created |
| 1997/08 | @MuryouRental (＠無料レンタル) is created |
| 1997/09/04 | @MuryouRental is deleted |
