copypaste: Vex, it depends. in Japan, as in the names of 2ch.net and 2chan.net, these are certainly short for channel, ２ちゃんねる and 双葉ちゃんねる respectively. but English speakers who took the concept and made 4chan tended to see it as the honorific suffix -chan (ちゃん), which is incorrect Japanese, but such a common error in the West to etymologize it I don't know

copypaste: how incorrect it is

copypaste: like, "all Westerners agree with your view even if technically it's incorrect Japanese"