History and Origin
Heyuri is an English-language imageboard that was founded by an individual known online as lolico in early 2019. Initially, it wasn't even an imageboard - it began as a personal project on the heyuri.cf domain meant for peer-to-peer file sharing. However, on November 24, 2019, lolico relaunched Heyuri in its current form as an imageboard, marking that date as its official "(re)launch". The early days saw rapid changes: within months, Heyuri moved to the heyuri.net domain (February 2020) and introduced new boards and features like a textboard (/ascii/) and a polling system. By May 2020, the site underwent a major overhaul ("Heyuri 2.0") with a new imageboard script (a fork of the Futaba Channel software) and appointed a second admin, kuz, to help run the growing community.

In mid-2020, Heyuri experienced its first significant drama. After a period the site calls the "golden age," tension grew between the two administrators. Leaked arguments between lolico and kuz spilled into public forums, souring the community. In July 2020, this culminated in lolico taking the site offline "indefinitely," leading many users to fear Heyuri's end. During the downtime, kuz launched a short-lived replacement site called StrawberryHeaven in September 2020. StrawberryHeaven mimicked Heyuri's style but never attracted the same activity. By early December 2020, the issues were (at least temporarily) resolved - lolico handed the heyuri.net domain to kuz, and Heyuri was triumphantly revived with promises that past conflicts were "rooted out and disposed of." Both admins claimed to have reconciled and re-opened the site with fanfare, effectively "time traveling" Heyuri's content back to its state before the shutdown.

Under kuz's stewardship in 2021, Heyuri became part of KolymaNET (kuz's broader network of websites), which led to some friction. Users felt the imageboard was being overly Kolymized - for instance, Kolyma branding and infrastructure were being imposed on Heyuri's software and design. In July 2021, kuz publicly apologized for "forcing too many 'KolymaNET' things" onto Heyuri and pledged to keep Heyuri's identity separate from his other projects. Despite these bumps, development continued. Kuz and a small team began coding a custom imageboard engine called Kokonotsuba, a fork of Futaba intended to add features and improve stability. Kokonotsuba was deployed in early 2021 and later open-sourced in January 2023, with attribution to Heyuri.

A major transition happened in April 2022. Kuz stepped down as administrator and passed the torch to a new admin, kaguya. The community widely supported this change - users believed kaguya was better suited to lead - and kaguya had already been a key contributor (bringing in a volunteer moderator named anonwaha to help). Under kaguya's leadership, Heyuri entered a period of growth and revitalization. By the one-year anniversary of the new administration (April 2023), the site's activity had more than tripled - Off-Topic board posts rose from ~18,000 to ~50,000 in that year. Kaguya actively promoted Heyuri in various communities, and several influxes of new users arrived. One notable wave came from VidLii (a retro YouTube clone) in mid-2022, where a Heyuri promotional video was featured and attracted many curious (often first-time imageboard) users. Another surge occurred around New Year's 2023 when enthusiastic fans spammed Heyuri's links across sites like 4chan, briefly quadrupling Heyuri's post volume. Throughout 2023 and 2024, Heyuri continued to expand its offerings (re-introducing boards that had been removed, and hosting special events), while remaining a comparatively small imageboard by global standards. As of early 2025, Heyuri is an active community with a dedicated userbase, but it intentionally aims for a modest scale. The admin has stated that reaching a speed akin to "4chan in 2004" (around 100-150 posts per hour) would be ideal, rather than the massive traffic of modern 4chan. In fact, by April 2024 Heyuri celebrated just 100,000 total posts on its Off-Topic board - a milestone that underscores its niche size compared to giant imageboards.

Purpose and Key Features
Heyuri's explicit purpose is to recreate the feel of the early-mid 2000s Internet imageboard culture within a modern context. The founder set three main goals for the site: "to be a true 'Futaba clone', to encourage the creation of original content, and to provide a taste of older imageboard culture." In other words, Heyuri is heavily inspired by the Japanese Futaba Channel (2chan) style and the ethos of early English imageboards like mid-2000s 4chan, but it also tries to avoid being just a shallow nostalgia act. One user explained that while Heyuri undeniably has an "old internet" nostalgic vibe, it wasn't simply emulating old 4chan - beyond being an English-language Futaba-style board with anime and internet humor focus. The community strives to create fresh original content (OC) rather than endlessly reposting the same old memes. As an admin (kuz) put it, "We are NOT an oldfag circlejerk... In our eyes it is better to create something yourself that everyone can laugh at, than rehash a joke" from 15+ years ago. This captures Heyuri's guiding philosophy: preserve the spirit of classic imageboards (both in look and tone) while fostering creativity and new humor.

Heyuri's front page interface reflects its old-school design philosophy. The site uses a simple text-heavy layout reminiscent of Futaba Channel, complete with optional frames mode and era-appropriate jokes like the "Intel Inside" slogan banner.

In terms of features, Heyuri deliberately keeps a retro aesthetic and structure. The site's interface is minimal and loosely modeled on Futaba/2chan - for example, it offers a frames view (sidebar menu with boards on the left, threads on the right) like classic Japanese imageboards. Many boards use brief one-letter or two-letter names (e.g. /a/ for Anime & Manga, /b/ for Off-Topic, etc.), and Heyuri maintains dedicated boards for niche otaku interests that harken back to a bygone era of imageboards. Some currently active boards include: /a/ (Anime/Manga), /b/ (Off-Topic "random"), /c/ (2D Cute images), /h/ (2D adult "ero" content), /l/ (2D Lolikon), /jp/ (Japanese language), /f/ (Flash animations), /o/ (Oekaki - a drawboard), and /s/ (3D Girls, for real-life Japanese gravure/idol content). This mix of boards is very similar to the boards one might find on mid-2000s 4chan or 2chan - even including a dedicated oekaki art board and a Flash board for sharing Flash animations, which have long vanished from most mainstream sites.

Beyond the imageboards, one of Heyuri's standout features is its suite of interactive scripts and games dubbed "Heyuri?CGI." In July 2023, Heyuri launched a sister site (cgi.heyuri.net) hosting a collection of classic Japanese web CGIs and textboard-style games, translated to English. This was an effort by the community to resurrect quirky novelties from the old Japanese web. For example, @Party II (an online multiplayer dungeon crawler game) was introduced in summer 2023 and quickly became popular among users. Another was Hakoniwa Islands 2, a sandbox "mini-nations" simulation where users cultivate virtual islands - it grew so intense that factions of players formed and engaged in "wars" within the game. Other mini-games like Chinsouki? (added Christmas 2023) and Yumemiru Gambler (a lottery/horse-race betting game added during a festival in late 2024) provided a unique, nostalgia-rich pastime for the community. These games and utilities (like a chat room, a dating sim parody, web shiritori word-chain, etc.) aren't typically found on bigger imageboards and set Heyuri apart as a multifaceted platform. Additionally, Heyuri has creative community features such as an Uploader for sharing files, a Museum archiving notable posts/OC, and even periodic Cytube streaming events (where users watch anime together). All these elements serve the site's purpose of being a "time capsule" of early internet culture - not just in look and slang, but in interactive experience as well.

Community Culture and Norms
One of Heyuri's defining traits is its tight-knit community culture. Because the userbase has remained relatively small and the site's rules cultivate a very specific atmosphere, Heyuri is filled with inside jokes, memes, and original creations that might seem bewildering to outsiders. For example, "Wormhole-kun" is an inside-joke name for a mysterious technical bug that randomly shuffled posts around - a glitch that frustrated the admins but became a beloved joke among users. The community has even personified the website itself: "Heyuri-tan," a cute green-haired anime maid character, serves as the unofficial mascot of Heyuri (born from an art contest in 2020). Users frequently draw lewd and non-lewd fanart of Heyuri-tan, and she represents the playful spirit of the site. Original content (OC) creation is highly encouraged - it's common to see users posting their own pixel art, drawings, animations, ASCII art (AA), and even custom Flash games. Some notable OCs have become part of site lore (for instance, a spooky walking simulator game called "Little Alice" was made by a user and spurred ongoing discussions). This creativity feeds a positive feedback loop: the more unique content and jokes the users produce, the stronger the sense of community identity gets.

Newcomers on Heyuri are encouraged to jump right in and start posting rather than overthinking things. While some imageboards emphasize "lurk moar" (observing before participating), Heyuri's culture leans more toward "lurk less, post moar" - users prefer activity and engagement over passive lurking. However, this doesn't mean newcomers are completely free from expectations. The community still values originality, humor, and fitting into the site's unique style. Those who bring in habits from modern mainstream imageboards (like Wojak posting or greentext stories) may get pushback or even a ban if they repeatedly disrupt the board culture. Long-time users generally welcome new posters as long as they contribute in a way that aligns with Heyuri's playful and creative atmosphere.

Overall, the tone on Heyuri is light-hearted, humor-centric, and somewhat otaku-nostalgic. Threads often feature absurdist humor, parody Engrish (intentionally broken English reminiscent of early Internet memes), and callbacks to classic meme culture (users still say things like "WINRAR" when someone creates original content, for example). At the same time, the community tries not to dwell purely in old memes - there's an ethos of "make new fun content for everyone to enjoy, rather than just recycling 15-year-old jokes." Users who contribute original funny posts, detailed discussions, or creative works tend to gain respect. This creates a culture where being witty or creative is the best way to earn admiration.