Stormfront

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About

Stormfront^[1] is an American neo-nazi and white supremacist internet forum created by former Ku Klux Klan leader Don Black that has been the subject of considerable amounts of controversy since its foundation in 1995.

History

In 1990, Stormfront went online as a campaign website for former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke's run for the position of state senator of Louisiana. On January 11, 1995, former Ku Klux Klan leader Don Black registered the domain name Stormfront.org.^[2] The website maintained a relatively low profile until October 23, 2000 when Hate.com: Extremists of the Internet, a documentary focusing on the website, was released.^[3] In 2002, the site was the focus of controversy when Google, complying with legislation from France and Germany prohibiting links to hate sites, removed Stormfront from it's indexes in those languages.^[4] In May 2003 Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly asked his viewers if they would send their children to a racially segregated prom after one had taken place in the US state of Georgia, members of the website attacked the poll prompting O'Reilly to discuss the website and it's community on the following weeks program. In August 2005, Doug Hanks who at the time was running for city council in Charlotte, North Carolina dropped out of the race after it had been discovered that he had made over 4,000 posts to the forum over three years including a comment he made calling black people "rabid beasts".^[5] In 2012 Italy's police force blocked the and put 4 people under arrest for inciting racial hatred after it was discovered that a blacklist targeting "Prominent Jews and people who support Jewish Immigrants" was posted on the Italian language section of the website.The blacklist included potential attack targets, such as Gypsy camps.^[6] In November 2013 the homes of 35 posters were raided including one from Mantua, Italy who, had at the time of his arrest, had in his possession two loaded weapons, a swastika flag, and a grenade casing.^[7]

Features

The v-bulletin powered forum includes a board introducing potential new members to the site and it's rules.^[8] A news board where members can discuss "all news relating to white nationalists".^[9] A general board that deals with a wide array of topics, such as self defense, health and fitness and finance.^[10] An "Open Forums" board that allows guests to post.^[11] An activism board.^[12] A "White Singles" board that allows members to talk to other members looking for romance and friendship as well as a forum for dating advice.^[13] Finally, the website contains an "International" board with forums for members from countries such as Croatia and Great Britain.^[14]

Traffic

According to Quantcast, Stormfront.org receives approximately 166,700 unique visitors monthly,^[15] and currently has an Alexa Global Rank of 33,912.^[16] In 2001, It was reported that Stormfront was the most visited white supremacist site on the internet.^[17] From January 2002 to June 2005, the number of registered users on the site rose from 5,000 to 52,556. That same year, it was reported that the site was the 338th largest internet forum receiving 1,500 hits each weekday. By June 2008 the site was getting more than 40,000 unique viewers every day.^[18] in 2016, Don Black revealed that the site was experiencing massive traffic spikes corresponding to statements made by Donald Trump who's run for office is popular with white supremacists.^[19]