Pool's Closed

2006

Date: 12 July 2006 onward · Place: Habbo Hotel virtual pool · coordinated from 4chan /b/ · Figures: anonymous /b/ raiders · Sulake, Habbo Hotel operator · Tags: Raid, Habbo 01. Suit, Afro, Block the Ladder On 12 July 2006 hundreds of /b/ users create identical Habbo Hotel avatars: dark suit, large afro, dark skin. They flood the hotel's swimming pool, line up in a wall blocking the entry ladders, and announce POOL'S CLOSED DUE TO AIDS. The raid is coordinated entirely on /b/ threads. Habbo Hotel is a children's virtual world; the raid exploits the platform's lack of moderation tools. The aesthetic (the identical avatars, the wall formation, the catchphrase) is meticulously planned. 02. The First Coordinated Image-Board Raid Form POOL'S CLOSED is the first time /b/ executes a coordinated multi-user identity-spoofing raid on a third-party platform with a memorable visual. The format gets repeated against Habbo for years and becomes the prototype for every subsequent Anonymous operation, from Project Chanology (January 2008) to the larger Operation Payback (2010). The raid is also straightforwardly racist. /b/ argues for years about whether this is the joke or merely incidental. The historical record treats both readings as evidence. "Pool's closed due to AIDS." — anonymous Habbo avatars, 12 July 2006 Sources • KnowYourMeme, Pool's Closed • Vice, 'A History of the Habbo Hotel Raids' (2014) • Encyclopedia Dramatica, Pool's Closed entry (archived)