Goons: A Primer
$$Standard Disclaimer: I am not an 04 era oldfag. I joined the non-porn parts of the Chans in 2010 and joined Holla Forums inbetween the first and second exodus. This is my understanding of Goonery based on interactions with them on Holla Forums and summaries I've read that actual oldfags have written. As a result, this is largely based on hearsay and my flawed memory of reposts and will inevitably be disputed. Any corrections or elaborations more knowledgeable people have are encouraged so we can all learn.$$
What is a "Goon?"
There are two major meanings of the term. Goon originally refers to the members of Something Awful, the predecssor to 4chan. Ancient history states that Moot split from SA in 2004 because goons hate anime, so he made his own site to share anime. These are, generally speaking, the goons people with a superficial understanding of internet culture understand, these are the goons of GoonSquad on EVE and several early 4chan trolls. This group of proto-anons developed memes like goatse and their notable accomplishments are Lulzsec and if I recall correctly, KiwiFarms. They also, being the quintessential incarnation of namefaggotry, have a penchant for drama, and harvesting lulz from manufactured drama between namefags is a time-honored goon tradition. Think of them like a namefag version of Holla Forums from the 2000s.
The second type of goon is the modern connotation of the term, and generally what Holla Forumsacks mean when they say the word "goon." Not all goons are from SA but the original clique comesfrom there. SA has a section known as "Fuck Yourself And Die" or FYAD, which eventually evolved into the cool kids club of SA if Encyclopedia Dramatica is to be believed. In 2007, FYAD began taking a more political tone as (allegedly) a result of revenge from a feminist group they'd been trolling subverting SA. Within the year a clique of users on FYAD had fully embraced leftist moralfaggotry and began working, as goons have always done, to cause drama on SA, but not for it's own sake, for the sake of moralfaggotry. Eventually the FYAD clique was refined down to the craziest of SJWs all keeping eachother in check by the mutual drama-flinging. I believe it was at this time that they branched out and did what they would later do to Reddit to Digg, but I fully admit that is speculation on my part due to the similar fates of the sites. There is some crossover between these two groups.
Goons. Hate. Anons. Ever since 2004 they have hated us, for our anime, then for being their unsophisticated shock troops for trolling ops, and then for outcompeting their site during the golden age of trolling, all while posting smug anime in response to them. The nature of anonymous frusturates the second group of goons because there is only user, no individuals or groups to target and cause drama with, even if the Chans are in a constant state of inter-user drama due to their nature. It's hard to cause the funny, flame-waring drama that kills online personas and gives them the lolcows goons delight in except by manufacturing controversy which usually goes away once the astroturf ends. In the 2007-2010 period, the goon/user divide split farther from namefag/user division and eventually moved into politics when reddit entered the scene, while /n/ simultaneously became more and more NatSoc and Holla Forums did ironically. Reddit became the opposite.