The Dollars: An Inside Scoop

The internet is full of strange and wonderful things, due to its ability to network people from thousands of miles away. It’s no surprise that activist groups have popped up over the years, using the internet as a communications medium. People from all over have joined forces in different causes through the net, combining their skills, knowledge and desire to help humanity. Notable examples include:

Project Chanology: The Church of Scientology, formed in the 1950s by L. Ron Hubbard, has had a form of notoriety since its inception. There have been multiple controversies revolving around monetary scams, censorship, and unethical practices within the Church.

This came to a head in January of 2008, when citizens of the internet finally became overwhelmed with anger for the Church’s lack of ethics. An anonymous video message was uploaded to the internet declaring outright war. As the year progresses, hundreds of “internet vigilantes” swarmed the Church’s websites with Denial of Service Attacks, and thousands took to the streets in cities around the world to demonstrate their beliefs. It’s estimated that there were over 6000 protestors worldwide. As a result, the Church of Scientology was put under the international media spotlight, and they had no choice but to concede defeat at the hands of this internet group.

Twitter Sets an Innocent Man Free: US Citizen James Buck, who was in Egypt during the 2008 government protests, was detained unfairly. Before his detainment, he tweeted the word “Arrested” to friends and colleagues. They were able to contact the right people, prove that Buck’s detainment was unjustified, and he was freed 24 hours later. Read more here: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/25/twitter.buck/index.html

So with that in mind, it’s time to take into consideration how else the internet can unite people. Today, I wish to give you information on one such internet activist group known as The Dollars, which has been up and coming. Based off a fictional group in a Japanese anime, it has evolved into a real life organization with hundreds of members the world over. Together, these members do what they can, finding ways to make society just a little brighter, one step at a time.

Durarara!! is a light novel, manga and anime series that was published in Japan starting back in 2004. The anime reached the United States in 2011, where it aired on Adult Swim. It’s a story about the daily lives of individuals in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. There are color gangs, urban legends, and a mysterious group known only as The Dollars.

The Dollars are formally explained in the third episode of the anime. The narrator makes note that Ikebukuro is frequented by a variety of gangs that represent themselves using a color (not unlike how street gangs in Western culture identify themselves). He goes on to say that there is another group, one with no color, that is becoming more and more known in the city. This group, known as The Dollars, communicates almost exclusively through the internet on a private message board.

It’s an interesting concept due to its anonymity in the public eye. One wouldn’t be able to tell offhand who is and isn’t a member. For example, take a look around you. Look to your friends, your coworkers, your churchgoers, the supermarket cashiers. How much do you know about them? What if they were in such a group? How would you tell? It’s like that, in a way.

As the series progresses, we learn about some unethical business practices by a pharmaceutical giant at the end of its rope. The corporation, eager to keep their activities under wraps, even resorts to attempted kidnapping of those who may jeopardize their plans.

The company attempts to kidnap a high school student named Mikado Ryugamine, who, for most of the story, seems like your average kid. However, after the attempted kidnapping, he decides to take action in a rather bold way. He turns to the Dollars as a collective, organizing a flash mob of over one thousand people that ultimately results in the complete exposure of the company’s unethical actions.

Other notable actions taken by the Dollars include fighting back against gang violence, cleaning up graffiti around the city, and rescuing a girl who’s being stalked by a violent group of people. By the end of the series, it’s apparent that the Dollars have changed the city of Ikebukuro in a highly positive way.

The image you see above is the About page on the Dollars BBS (Bulletin Board System). The BBS is one of the most popular sites pertaining to the Dollars in the real world. The BBS was up and running starting June 19, 2010; created by an admin known through the alias “Reltair.” Since its inception, it has seen a number of updates not only to make it as visually close to the original as can be, but to also make interactions with other members as efficient as possible.

The first thing you will see when you access the site is a login screen (seen at the right). It shows the Dollars logo, as well as a password entry line. In the spirit of anonymity, I will not release the password here; you must find it for yourself. When you do log in, you are taken to the main board.

As you can see, there are a variety of boards, for a variety of shared hobbies and interests. Some boards also have sub-boards, as will be pointed out later. There is also a functioning chatroom visually modeled like the one in the anime (keeping to the overall theme), a Help page, and a list of updates the site has undergone since its inception.

At the top right of every page is an RSS Feed link for that page. Click on it, and copy/paste the URL into an RSS Reader, and you will receive updates on posting activity. For example, if you click on the RSS link for the Literature board, you can use that to get up to date messages when a new thread is posted on the Literature board.

Getting Acquainted: The Dollars BBS has a board for Introductions, where you may formally introduce yourself if you wish to do so. There is also a Countries board, where you may list your location and look for other members in your area.

News, Hobbies and Random Things: Check the News board if you want to see what everyone’s talking about. Articles from all types of journalism sources are posted here daily, so there’s always an interesting and informative read. If you want to find people with similar hobbies, there are boards pertaining to Animation, Art, Film, Food, Literature, Comics, Music, Sports, and Technology.

And then, you have Random at the bottom. This is where the most general chat belongs. Anything that doesn’t fit into another board is to be put here. You can talk about anything so long as the rules are not violated.

On the BBS, there is a board underneath the Main header (on the left side of the page) titled “Missions.” This is where the magic happens, so to speak. Members are constantly adding new ideas for things to do. Ideas range from simple things (like sticky notes and letters to brighten people’s days) to more beneficial jobs (like donating rice, money or CPU power to charity groups) to truly ambitious ones (like planting 100 trees or restoring a natural habitat to its former glory). The possibilities are endless and odds are if you suggest something, someone else will be more than willing to collaborate with you on the matter.

Here I’ll take you through what a mission thread looks like. This is a mission I created back in November. You can see the date written as 2011 (the year) – 11-26 (the month and day). The time (17:17) is listed in 24 Hour Format. My name is posted with my Password-Protected Identifier (also known as a Tripcode and explained in the Help page). My IP-Identifier (w1Dn0Hhd) is listed on the right, as well as the resolution and size of my attachment image.

While many of these things are technical, it’s good to know them because it can help you navigate through the threads (searching View All Threads is done by Name/Tripcode), and it also tells you how long a mission has been ongoing. Also, each post can only have one photo attachment, and an unlimited number of links (which will be underlined), which is useful to know. The photo attachment will always be shown at the top of a post.

The Missions board has several missions to choose from, ranging in difficulty, location and amount of effort needed to be put into them. The one you see above has to do with CPU Donor Software, which take the times your computer is idle and uses them to solve complex computational problems. Other notable missions include:

Cleanup Missions: There have been numerous calls to help remove litter and waste in cities, towns, forests, and beaches. People have been working to organize group litter pickups, recycling awareness programs in schools, and better locations for waste receptacles in their communities.

Donations: During the holiday season there was a massive push to assist the Salvation Army by donating money, as well as donating food and clothing to GoodWill. Donations have also been advocated as part of natural disaster relief, and personal funds for patients in poor health. One of the greatest missions of all time was made by user Minguchi (seen right). It was created as a way to bring a smile to the faces of children undergoing severe health problems, and should still be considered as an active mission today.

Self-Improvement: There has been a movement for the members of the Dollars to improve themselves. After all, if one doesn’t help themselves, how can they hope to help others? Recent missions include GetFIT (created by archadmiral), which motivates people to get in shape by community encouragement; and The Facebook Memoir, which is a thought experiment using Facebook’s new Timeline Feature as a method of analysis for self-growth over long periods of time).