Then Hiro said, “The outcry against /bant/ is so great and their post quality so low that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”

The men turned away and went toward /bant/, but Anon remained standing before Hiro. Then Anon approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the good with the bad? What if there are fifty good posters in the board? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty good posters in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the good with the bad, treating the good and the bad alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all of 4chan do right?”

Hiro said, “If I find fifty good posters in the board of /bant/, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

Then Anon spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to Hiro, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the good is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole board for lack of five posters?”

“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”

Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”

He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”

Then he said, “May Hiro not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”

He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

Anon said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to Hiro, what if only twenty can be found there?”

He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”

Then he said, “May Hiro not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”

He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

When Hiro had finished speaking with Anon, he left, and Anon returned home.