Stormfront.org restricts access to donors, shuts down main server

[DonViejo]

April 04, 2018

Hatewatch Staff

Stormfront founder and former Klansman Don Black announced on Tuesday that the white supremacist movement’s first major hate forum is temporarily restricting access to “sustaining members” — users who donate at least five dollars a month — and will be archiving and shuttering its main server on April 6 due to a “financial crisis.”

Black is well-known among white supremacists for perennially complaining about the costs of maintaining the site, which he has threatened to close before. This time, his threats appear to be real.

“I appreciate everybody’s support. But it’s that time of month again, when the big, scary bills hit,” Black wrote to current sustaining members. “Our contributions have once again totaled less than $2000, which is not enough to cover our basic server and radio bills, and this month we no longer have enough personal money to make up the difference.”

Stormfront’s influence cannot be understated. For over a decade, a Stormfront account was virtually mandatory for members of the white supremacist community to network and organize.

The forum also hosted a number of users who went on to commit violence. A 2014 study by the SPLC found that in the five previous years, the members of the forum murdered nearly 100 people — including 77 murdered by Anders Breivik in Norway in 2011.

more
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/04/04/stormfrontorg-restricts-access-donors-shuts-down-main-server

[Farmer-Rick]

1. What did Putin stop money laundering through them?

[MineralMan]

2. Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish!

I hope this comes to pass.

[forgotmylogin]

3. Looks like the site got kicked off all the low-cost consumer web hosting services

after the Charlotteville incident. It will be interesting to see how many of those users want to put money where their mouth is (and reveal their personal information to pay for membership!). More than likely some anonymous rich white racist will write them a check.

[Johnny2X2X]

4. They own the White House

No reason for them to remain in the shadows anymore, they have their guy in the oval Office and White Supremacy is now completely accepted by a major political party.

[Hoyt]

5. Those damn ignorant white wing racist gun-nuts are cheapos. They love the hate content, but not

coughing up to keep the disgusting junk flowing.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. Trump should buy the site./NT

[tblue37]

7. From Raw Story; emphasis added:

The site was central to organized white supremacy for more than two decades, and a 2014 study by the Southern Poverty Law Center found forum members had murdered nearly 100 people in the previous five years, including 77 killed by Anders Breivik in Norway in 2011.

[Lee-Lee]

8. The biggest reason is the users have migrated to social media

Message boards like that had their high points in the 80’s and up through about 10 years ago.

As social media has evolved the need for them for any niche community has lessened. People network more organically online and you log in and see all sorts of stuff in one place instead of going to one place for one thing.

Anyone now can start a secret Facebook group for an investment of $0.00 and have every bit of the functionality of a message board. With no knowledge of how to run it or keep it up. If it gets shut down have 3 more waiting to replace it with your “core” members already in who then add all the others.

It’s free. It can be down more anonymously than any other way. It’s easier to recruit people over to.

That’s what is happening to message boards all over. Eventually it may happen here too.

It just hits the losers like them first.

[Runningdawg]

9. They have migrated to fundy religious and survivalist forums

Seeking an opportunity to train "militia" for churches. I monitor several of those type forums because I live in the middle of a bunch of these pricks.

[Ilsa]

10. I hope you have reported them to

the Southern Poverty Law Center, and any other legal group that monitors these hate groups. My guess is that there are so many, it is difficult for them to keep up with these cells that keep springing up.