Christopher Poole - Identity

Identity

Christopher Poole's actual name (previously known only as moot) was revealed on July 9, 2008, in The Wall Street Journal. The same day, Lev Grossman of Time published an interview describing Poole's influence as a non-visible administrator as "one of the most " on the evolution of content collaboration. Although Grossman's article began with the confession that "I don't even know his real name," he claimed to identify moot as Christopher Poole. Later, on July 10, Grossman admitted that there was an outside chance that Christopher Poole was not moot's real name, rather an obscure reference to a 4chan inside joke. The Washington Post concurred that "Christopher Poole" could be "all a big hoax, a 'gotcha.' It would be just what you'd expect from the creator of 4chan." In March 2009, Time backpedaled somewhat on the issue by placing the moot persona on the 2009 Time 100 finalists list. Prior to the Wall Street Journal and Time interviews, moot deliberately kept his real identity separate from 4chan. He told Grossman, "my personal private life is very separate from my Internet life ... There's a firewall in between." As moot, he has spoken at conferences at Yale University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A 2008 article in The Observer had him down as "the most influential web entrepreneur you've never heard of," though he has since been described in more limited terms such as "benefactor."

In February 2009, The Washington Post reported that Poole had attended Virginia Commonwealth University for a few semesters before dropping out. It reported that Poole was living with his mother while looking for a way to make money from owning 4chan.