You could say that some topics discussed on 4chan are "toxic" but is the discussion in general also toxic? There are no cliques, no friends and foes, no flame wars, just a background level of ad-hominem (i.e. very formalized and short phrases used to express disagreement with the message in the form of ad-hominem). There is no point in slinging insults at other users and no "honor" to protect - everyone is anonymous, there is no identity, not even a pseudonym or post history. It's incredible how much of the discussion (on-line and in real life) is about asserting one's status and preventing others from asserting theirs. Anonymous image boards are free from this.