What is 2ch (futaba) to Japan?

Question:

4chan is either loved or hated in the US... what about the place that started it all? do normal people treat them as just retarded otakus? respect their own likes/dislikes etc.? just ignore them as trolls?

Answer:

No. Maybe 10 or even 5 years ago, people who frequented 2ch were considered as "retarded" otakus because most users really were otaku more or less. But since then 2ch has been exposed to the public through lots of media coverages, a famous one being "densha otoko", it widened the range of users. Nowadays everyone who uses the internet frequently frequents or visits the site occasionally. That means almost all Japanese people under 70 or 60 years of age. So there is more to it than just a gathering for otaku.
Some hardcore boards like "human rights board" aren't favoured due to discriminatory postings on there, but most boards including such boards as "diet" and "recipe" and "programming" aren't that abnormal.

It's just people are more friendly on 2ch than they are normally are. So half of the postings on there are "fvck off fawcking retard" or "kill yourself your worthless piessashit", but it's just people are being more friendly so don't get hurt.