Stormfront (website)
{{Short description|Neo-Nazi Internet forum and hate website}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2018}}
{{Infobox website
| name = Stormfront
| logo = Stormfront header logo.png
| logo_alt =
| logo_size = 233
| url = {{url|https://www.stormfront.org/forum/|stormfront.org}}
| screenshot =
| screenshot_alt =
| caption = Stormfront's logo, in Gothic typeface
| commercial = No
| language = English, with sub-forums in multiple languages
| registration = Required to post (except in open sub-forums)
| owner = Don Black
| author = Don Black
| launch_date = {{start date and age|1996|11}}{{cite news|last1=Wojcieszak |first1= Magdalena|title=Cyber Racism: White Supremacy Online and the New Attack on Civil Rights|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=91aEFrm6DLMC&pg=PA106|access-date=March 24, 2016|work=Sociological Inquiry 80 (1)|date=June 16, 2009|isbn= 9780742565258|quote=...John Black founded Stormfront in November 1996….}}
| current_status = Online
| revenue =
}}
{{neo-fascism}}
{{islamophobia|Media}}
{{Antisemitism}}
Stormfront is a neo-Nazi Internet forum, and the Web's first major racial hate site. The site is focused on propagating white nationalism, Nazism, antisemitism (especially antisemitic conspiracy theories) and Islamophobia, as well as Holocaust denial and white supremacy.{{Cite web|title=Stormfront|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/stormfront|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203171805/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/stormfront|archive-date=February 3, 2022|website=Southern Poverty Law Center}}
Stormfront began as an online bulletin board system in the early 1990s before being established as a website in 1996 by the former Ku Klux Klan leader and white supremacist Don Black. It received national attention in the United States in 2000 after being featured as the subject of a documentary called Hate.Com. Stormfront has been the subject of controversy after being removed from French, German, and Italian Google indices; for targeting an online Fox News poll on racial segregation; and for having political candidates as members. Its prominence has grown since the 1990s, attracting attention from watchdog organizations that oppose racism and antisemitism.
In August 2017, Stormfront was taken offline for just over a month when its registrar seized its domain name due to complaints that it promoted hatred and that some of its members were linked to murder.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/08/29/worlds-oldest-neo-nazi-website-stormfront-shut/|title=World's oldest neo-Nazi website Stormfront shut down|date=August 29, 2017|work=The Telegraph|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829195521/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/08/29/worlds-oldest-neo-nazi-website-stormfront-shut/|archive-date=August 29, 2017|agency=Associated Press}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/29/stormfront-neo-nazi-hate-site-murder-internet-pulled-offline-web-com-civil-rights-action|title=Stormfront: 'murder capital of internet' pulled offline after civil rights action|last=Hern|first=Alex|date=August 29, 2017|work=The Guardian|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921103636/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/29/stormfront-neo-nazi-hate-site-murder-internet-pulled-offline-web-com-civil-rights-action|archive-date=September 21, 2017}} The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law claimed credit for the action after advocating for Stormfront's web host, Network Solutions, to enforce its Terms of Service agreement, which prohibits users from using its services to incite violence.{{cite press release|title=Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Takes Action Leading to Shut Down of Stormfront.com|url=https://lawyerscommittee.org/lawyers-committee-civil-rights-law-takes-action-leading-shut-stormfront-com/|access-date=June 5, 2019|date=August 28, 2017|publisher=Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413045931/https://lawyerscommittee.org/lawyers-committee-civil-rights-law-takes-action-leading-shut-stormfront-com/|url-status=live|archive-date=April 13, 2019}}
History
=Early history=
Stormfront began in 1990 as an online bulletin board supporting the white nationalist David Duke's campaign for United States senator for Louisiana. The name "Stormfront" was chosen for its connotations of a political or military front (such as the German Nazi Sturmabteilung (also known as storm troopers or SA) and an analogy with weather fronts that invokes the idea of a tumultuous storm ending in cleansing. The Stormfront website has been registered at Network Solutions since 1995 and was founded in 1996 by Don Black, a former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s and a member of the National Socialist White People's Party.{{cite news|url=https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/the-racist-next-door-6332282|title=The Racist Next Door|last=Schwab Abel|first=David|date=February 19, 1998|work=New Times Broward-Palm Beach|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912165746/https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/the-racist-next-door-6332282|archive-date=September 12, 2015}}{{cite book|title=It's Show Time!: Media, Politics, and Popular Culture|publisher=P. Lang|year=2000|isbn=978-0-8204-4135-1|editor-last=Schultz|editor-first=David A.|location=Frankfurt Am Main|page=236}}{{Cite web |last=Biggs |first=John |date=2017-08-28 |title=Another neo-Nazi site, Stormfront, is shut down |url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/28/another-neo-nazi-site-stormfront-is-shut-down/ |access-date=2022-11-07 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}} Black first received computer training while he was imprisoned for his role in an abortive 1981 attempt to overthrow the government of Dominica.{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9908/12/hate.online|title=Web trackers hunt racist groups online|last=Lloyd|first=Robin|date=August 8, 1999|access-date=September 14, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000817031027/http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9908/12/hate.online/|archive-date=August 17, 2000|publisher=CNN}}{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/2001-07-16-kid-hate-sites.htm#more|title=Father and Son Team on Hate Site|last=McKelvey|first=Tara|date=August 16, 2001|work=USA Today|access-date=January 29, 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190124073507/https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/2001-07-16-kid-hate-sites.htm|archive-date=January 24, 2019|publisher=Gannett Company|author-link=Tara McKelvey}}
Although Stormfront became the first website associated with white supremacy, its founding as a private cyberspace medium for white supremacy was based on the earlier online bulletin board system Liberty Net.{{Cite book|title=Hate Crimes: A Reference Handbook|last=Altschiller|first=Donald|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2015|isbn=9781610699464|edition=Third|location=Santa Barbara, California|oclc=909777157}} Liberty Net was implemented in 1984 by Klan Grand Dragon Louis Beam and protected by four password-protected computers that took the FBI two years to decrypt.{{Cite book|title=Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America|last=Belew|first=Kathleen|date=2018-12-31|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674984943|location=Cambridge, MA and London, England|doi=10.4159/9780674984943|s2cid=158661768 |author-link=Kathleen Belew}} Liberty Net's code-accessed message board contained personal ads along with recruitment material and information about the white power movement. Liberty Net's success as a computer platform led to Stormfront's establishment and later conversion into a website.
Until this point, attempts at using the Internet as opposed to bulletin boards have had limited success for the white pride movement,{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hZJU6wJvJBIC&q=The+Emergence+of+a+Euro-American+Radical+Right|title=The Emergence of a Euro-American Radical Right|last1=Kaplan|first1=Jeffrey|last2=Weinberg|first2=Leonard|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=1998|isbn=978-0-8135-2564-8|location=New Brunswick|pages=160–161|author-link=Jeffrey Kaplan (academic)}} but Stormfront developed a following with the growth of the Internet during the 1990s.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/600876.stm|title=Hate.com expands on the net|last=Etchingham|first=Julie|date=January 12, 2000|access-date=September 14, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110206235548/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/600876.stm|archive-date=February 6, 2011|work=BBC News|author-link=Julie Etchingham}} By 1999, nearly 2,000 websites associated with white supremacism existed, with the recruitment power of reaching millions across the United States.{{Cite journal|date=September 26, 2003|title=The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration|journal=Nations and Nationalism|volume=9|issue=4|pages=641–642|doi=10.1111/1469-8219.00143|issn=1354-5078}}
=National attention=
The website has received considerable attention in the United States, given that, as of 2009, it had over 120,000 active members.{{Cite journal|last=Wojcieszak|first=Magdalena|date=January 21, 2010|title=Cyber Racism: White Supremacy Online and the New Attack on Civil Rights|journal=Sociological Inquiry|volume=80|issue=1|pages=150–152|doi=10.1111/j.1475-682x.2009.00320.x|issn=0038-0245}}
The 2000 CBS/HBO TV documentary special Hate.com focused on the rise of hate groups online and included input from Don Black, the founder of Stormfront.{{Cite book|title=Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist|last=Saslow|first=Eli|date=September 18, 2018|publisher=Diversified |isbn=9781984833594|oclc=1055267618|author-link=Eli Saslow}} Narrated by Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), it featured interviews with Black and his child Adrianne as well as interviews with other white nationalist groups and organizations. Black had participated in the hope that the broadcast would show some sympathy towards the white nationalist movement, but Hate.com focused exclusively on the group's tactics and not its grievances.
=Controversies=
In 2002, Google complied with French and German legislation forbidding links to websites that host white supremacist, Holocaust-denying, or historical negationism material by removing Stormfront's website from their French and German indexes.{{cite news|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/google-excluding-controversial-sites/|title=Google excluding controversial sites|last=McCullagh|first=Declan|date=October 23, 2002|work=CNET News|access-date=July 20, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310185103/http://www.cnet.com/news/google-excluding-controversial-sites/|archive-date=March 10, 2016|author-link=Declan McCullagh}}
Stormfront returned to the news in May 2003, when Fox News Channel host Bill O'Reilly reported on a racially segregated prom being held in Georgia and posted a poll on his website asking his viewers if they would send their own children to one. The next night, O'Reilly announced that he could not report the results of the poll as it appeared Stormfront had urged its members to vote in the poll, thus skewing the numbers.{{cite news|url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/circling-the-wagons-in-georgia|title=Circling the Wagons in Georgia|last=O'Reilly|first=Bill|date=May 8, 2003|work=Talking Points|access-date=July 20, 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061113055016/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,86338,00.html|archive-date=November 13, 2006|publisher=Fox News|author-link=Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)}}
Doug Hanks, a candidate for the city council of Charlotte, North Carolina, withdrew his nomination in August 2005 after it was revealed that he had posted on Stormfront. Hanks had posted more than 4,000 comments over three years, including one in which he described black people as "rabid beasts".{{cite news|url=http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2005/aug/20050806news010.asp|title=Internet postings end politico's shot|date=August 6, 2005|work=Columbia Daily Tribune|access-date=November 25, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303210517/http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2005/aug/20050806news010.asp|archive-date=March 3, 2016|agency=Associated Press}}{{cite news|url=https://clclt.com/charlotte/no-really-hes-a-racialist/Content?oid=2360607|title=No Really, He's A Racialist|last=Shugart|first=Karen|date=December 7, 2005|work=Creative Loafing|access-date=November 25, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119164629/http://clclt.com/charlotte/no-really-hes-a-racialist/Content?oid=2360607|archive-date=January 19, 2012}} Hanks said his postings were designed to gain the trust of Stormfront users to help him write a novel: "I did what I thought I needed to do to establish myself as a credible white nationalist."
In 2012, Italian police blocked the website and arrested four people for inciting racial hatred.{{cite news|url=https://gazzettadelsud.it/speciali/english/2013/04/08/four-race-crime-convictions-for-neo-nazi-website-0f158b63-65d3-4437-aa5d-94bbb8e177d6/|title=Four race-crime convictions for neo-Nazi website|date=April 8, 2013|website=Gazzetta del Sud|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190628134340/https://gazzettadelsud.it/speciali/english/2013/04/08/four-race-crime-convictions-for-neo-nazi-website-0f158b63-65d3-4437-aa5d-94bbb8e177d6/|archive-date=June 28, 2019|access-date=July 21, 2015}} The measure was taken after the publication of a blacklist of "prominent Jews and people who support Jews and immigrants" on the Italian section of the website. The list included possible targets of violent attacks, including Romani camps.{{cite news|url=https://www.jta.org/2012/11/18/global/italian-white-supremacists-arrested-for-inciting-anti-semitism|title=Italian white supremacists arrested for inciting anti-Semitism|last=Gruber|first=Ruth Ellen|date=November 18, 2012|publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208123444/https://www.jta.org/2012/11/18/global/italian-white-supremacists-arrested-for-inciting-anti-semitism|archive-date=December 8, 2018|access-date=November 24, 2012}} The subsequent year, in November 2013, Italian police raided the homes of 35 Stormfront posters. One man who was arrested in Mantua had two loaded weapons, a hand grenade casing, and a flag with a swastika in his possession.{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/italian-police-raid-online-neo-nazis-1.5290794|title=Italian Police Raid Homes of Suspected Online anti-Semites|date=November 15, 2013|work=Haaretz|agency=The Associated Press and JTA}}
According to a 2014 two-year study by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)'s Intelligence Report, registered Stormfront users have been disproportionately responsible for some of the most lethal hate crimes and mass killings since its founding in 1995. From 2009 to 2014, nearly 100 people were murdered by members of Stormfront.{{cite web|title=White Homicide Worldwide|url=http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/White-Homicide-Worldwide|website=splcenter.org|date=April 2014 |publisher=SPL|access-date=September 17, 2014}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/18/hate-crime-murders-website-stormfront-report|title=More than 100 hate-crime murders linked to single website, report finds|last=Holpuch|first=Amanda|date=April 18, 2014|work=The Guardian|access-date=September 17, 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427181132/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/18/hate-crime-murders-website-stormfront-report|archive-date=April 27, 2019}}{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/04/18/posters-on-one-white-supremacist-site-have-killed-almost-100-people-watchdog-says|title=A white supremacist Web site frequented by killers|last1=Bever|first1=Lindsey|date=April 18, 2014|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=September 17, 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140917193828/http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/04/18/posters-on-one-white-supremacist-site-have-killed-almost-100-people-watchdog-says/|archive-date=September 17, 2014|url-access=subscription}}{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/stormfront-website-posters-murdered-100-people-watchdog-group/story?id=23365815|title=Stormfront Website Posters Have Murdered Almost 100 People, Watchdog Group Says|last1=Newcomb|first1=Alyssa|date=April 17, 2014|access-date=September 17, 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428114609/https://abcnews.go.com/US/stormfront-website-posters-murdered-100-people-watchdog-group/story?id=23365815|archive-date=April 28, 2019|publisher=ABC News}} Of these, 77 were massacred by Stormfront user Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian terrorist and perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/22/opinion/white-supremacists-without-borders.html|title=White Supremacists Without Borders|last1=Dees|first1=Morris|author-link=Morris Dees|last2=Cohen|first2=J. Richard|date=June 22, 2015|work=The New York Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150628183309/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/22/opinion/white-supremacists-without-borders.html|archive-date=June 28, 2015|access-date=September 26, 2015}}
=Public profile and later history=
{{quote|text=The total of registered users is just shy of 300,000, a fairly astounding number for a site run by an ex-felon and former Alabama Klan leader. And that doesn't include thousands of visitors who never register as users. At press time, Stormfront ranked as the Internet's 13,648th most popular site, while the NAACP site, by comparison, ranked 32,640th. – The Year in Hate and Extremism, 2015{{cite web|last1=Potok|first1=Mark|title=The Year in Hate and Extremism|url=http://www.splcenter.org/Year-in-Hate-and-Extremism|publisher=SPLC|access-date=6 May 2015}}}}
In a 2001 USA Today article, journalist Tara McKelvey called Stormfront "the most visited white supremacist site on the Net." The number of registered users on the site rose from 5,000 in January 2002 to 52,566 in June 2005, by which year it was the 338th largest Internet forum, receiving more than 1,500 hits each weekday and ranking in the top one percent of Internet sites in terms of use.{{cite book|title=This Side of Heaven: Race, Ethnicity, and Christian Faith|last=Jessup|first=Michael|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-19-531056-6|editor=Priest|editor-first=Robert J.|location=Oxford, Oxfordshire|page=165|chapter=The Sword of Truth in a Sea of Lies: The Ideology of Hate|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195310566.003.0011|editor2=Nieves|editor-first2=Alvaro L.}}{{cite book|title=The Scope of Tolerance: Studies on the Costs of Free Expression and Freedom of the Press|last=Cohen-Almagor|first=Raphael|date=November 1, 2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-35758-6|edition=1st|page=254|chapter=Conclusion|doi=10.4324/9780203003411|access-date=July 21, 2008|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W96CMNnRYv0C&q=The+Scope+of+Tolerance:+Studies+on+the+costs+of+free+expression+and+freedom+of+the+press}} By June 2008, the site was attracting more than 40,000 unique users each day. Operating the site from its West Palm Beach, Florida headquarters is Black's full-time job, and he was assisted by his child and 40 moderators.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/censored200100pete_0|url-access=registration|title=Censored 2001: 25 Years of Censored News and the Top Censored Stories of the Year|last=Phillips|first=Peter|date=April 9, 2001|publisher=Seven Stories Press|isbn=978-1-58322-064-1|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/censored200100pete_0/page/133 133]|quote=Today, the state is home to several of the most powerful white supremicists in the country, including Stormfront, an Internet-based hate group headquartered in West Palm Beach.}} The public profile of the site attracted attention from groups such as the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The ADL describes Stormfront as having "served as a veritable supermarket of online hate, stocking its shelves with many forms of anti-Semitism and racism".{{cite web|url=https://www.adl.org/poisoning_web/black.asp|title=Don Black: White Pride World Wide|work=Poisoning the Web: Hatred Online|publisher=Anti-Defamation League|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615230625/https://www.adl.org/poisoning_web/black.asp|archive-date=June 15, 2006|access-date=December 28, 2008}}
In 2006, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) reported a discussion on Stormfront in which white nationalists were encouraged to join the United States military to learn the skills necessary for winning a race war.{{cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/intel/news/item.jsp?aid=66|title=A Few Bad Men|last=Holthouse|first=David|date=July 7, 2006|publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713111940/http://www.splcenter.org/intel/news/item.jsp?pid=79|archive-date=July 13, 2007|access-date=July 20, 2008}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/washington/07recruit.html|title=Hate Groups Are Infiltrating the Military, Group Asserts|last=Kifner|first=John|date=July 7, 2006|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=July 20, 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180821132418/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/washington/07recruit.html|archive-date=August 21, 2018|author-link=John Kifner}} The 2008 United States presidential candidacy of African-American Democrat Barack Obama was a cause of significant concern for some Stormfront members: the site received 2,000 new members the day after Obama was elected as president, and went offline temporarily due to the increase in visitors.{{cite news|url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081114/ap_on_el_pr/obama_threats_1|title=Obama threats more than previous presidents-elect|last1=Sullivan|first1=Eileen|date=November 13, 2008|work=Yahoo! News|access-date=November 15, 2008|archive-url=https://archive.today/20081115011517/http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081114/ap_on_el_pr/obama_threats_1|archive-date=November 15, 2008|url-status=dead|agency=Associated Press|last2=Jordan|first2=Lara Lakes|last3=Harkavy|first3=Jerry}} Stormfront posters saw Obama as representing a new multicultural era in the United States replacing "white rule", and feared that he would support illegal immigration and affirmative action and that he would help make white people a minority group.
During the 2008 primary campaigns, The New York Times mistakenly reported that Stormfront had donated $500 to Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul;{{Cite web|url=https://themedium.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/24/the-ron-paul-vid-lash/|title=The Ron Paul Vid-Lash|last=Heffernan|first=Virginia|author-link=Virginia Heffernan|date=December 24, 2007|website=The Medium Blog|publisher=The New York Times|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226150527/https://themedium.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/24/the-ron-paul-vid-lash/|archive-date=December 26, 2007|access-date=October 5, 2019}} in fact, it was site owner Don Black who had contributed the money to Paul.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/pageoneplus/corrections.html|title=Corrections: For the Record|date=December 26, 2007|work=The New York Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123003109/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/pageoneplus/corrections.html|archive-date=November 23, 2018}}
Following an April 2009 shooting, Richard Poplawski, a poster on the site, calling himself Braced for Fate, was charged with ambushing and killing three Pittsburgh police officers and attempting to kill nine others.{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/04/05/Poplawski-frequented-right-wing-Web-sites/66971238977599/|title=Poplawski frequented right-wing Web sites|date=April 5, 2009|access-date=April 6, 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150606083804/https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/04/05/Poplawski-frequented-right-wing-Web-sites/66971238977599/|archive-date=June 6, 2015|work=United Press International}}
During the 2016 election season, site founder Don Black said that the site was experiencing huge spikes in traffic corresponding to controversial statements by Donald Trump, who is popular among white supremacists. In response, Black upgraded the site's servers.{{cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/donald-trump-white-supremacists-216620|title=White supremacist groups see Trump bump|last1=Schrekinger|first1=Ben|date=December 10, 2015|work=Politico'|access-date=December 12, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160226002858/https://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/donald-trump-white-supremacists-216620|archive-date=February 26, 2016}}
Black's child Derek, who was a long-time participant in the site, has disavowed the beliefs held by their father and family and the Stormfront site. Through their years in college, Derek Black came to feel that white nationalism is not supportable. Their story was captured in the book, "Rising Out of Hatred" by Eli Saslow.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the-white-flight-of-derek-black/2016/10/15/ed5f906a-8f3b-11e6-a6a3-d50061aa9fae_story.html| title=The white flight of Derek Black| newspaper=The Washington Post| date=October 15, 2016|access-date=August 7, 2020}}{{Cite web|title=R. Derek Black Was the Heir Apparent to America's White Nationalist Movement. Then He Went to New College|url=https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/news-and-profiles/2019/01/derek-black-white-nationalist-new-college|last=Burns|first=Susan|date=January 2, 2019|work=Sarasota Magazine|access-date=July 29, 2021}}
In August 2017, Stormfront's domain name was seized by its registrar for "displaying bigotry, discrimination or hatred."{{cite news|url=https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/2017/08/26/white-supremacist-forum-site-stormfront-seized-domain-hosts/604902001/|title=White supremacist forum site Stormfront seized by domain hosts|last1=Crocker|first1=Brittany|date=August 29, 2017|work=Knoxville News Sentinel|access-date=June 5, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422113655/https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/2017/08/26/white-supremacist-forum-site-stormfront-seized-domain-hosts/604902001/|archive-date=April 22, 2019|publisher=USA Today}}
The site came back online on September 29, 2017. As of October 2017, services to keep the site online were provided by Tucows, Network Solutions, and Cloudflare.{{cite news|last1=Schulberg | first1=Jessica|last2= Liebelson |first2 = Dana|last3=Craggs| first3=Tommy|title=The Neo-Nazis Are Back Online| date= October 3, 2017|work= HuffPost|url-status = live|url= https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nazis-are-back-online_us_59d40719e4b06226e3f46941|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430001151/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nazis-are-back-online_n_59d40719e4b06226e3f46941|archive-date = April 30, 2019| access-date= October 25, 2017}}
The neo-Nazi supervillain Stormfront in the Amazon Prime superhero series The Boys is named after the website.{{cite web | url=https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/stormfront-the-boys-scene-stealers-2020 | title=How Stormfront shocked superhero TV in 2020 | date=December 29, 2020 }}
Content
Stormfront is a white nationalist,Sources which describe Stormfront as a white nationalist website include:
- {{cite news |last=Keating |first=Dan |date=May 2, 1995 |title=White supremacists booted from Internet |work=Knight-Ridder Newspapers |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-16889488.html |url-status=dead |access-date=October 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140611102321/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-16889488.html |archive-date=June 11, 2014 |quote='I wasn't surprised,' said Don Black of West Palm Beach, who runs the Stormfront World Wide Web site for white nationalists.}}
- {{cite news |last=Backover |first=Andrew |date=November 8, 1999 |title=Hate sets up shop on Internet |work=The Denver Post |url=https://extras.denverpost.com/enduser/digital/digital1108c.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816020812/https://extras.denverpost.com/enduser/digital/digital1108c.htm |archive-date=August 16, 2017 |quote=Nationally, Stormfront, a white nationalist site, is considered the granddaddy of online hatred.}}
- {{cite news |author=Jean Winegardner |date=February 17, 1998 |title=Is Hate Young and New on the Web? |work=USC Annenberg's Online Journalism Review |url=http://ojr.usc.edu/content/story.cfm?id=192 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020214082107/http://ojr.usc.edu/content/story.cfm?id=192 |archive-date=February 14, 2002 |quote=Don Black, 44, a white nationalist since the age of 15, runs a site many would put in the hate speech category. He [is] the founder of Stormfront, a white nationalist Web site.}}
- {{cite episode |title=Hate and the Internet |series=ABC News Nightline |credits=Anchor: Ted Koppel |network=ABC |airdate=January 13, 1998 |url=http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/l/lipstadt.deborah/ftp.cgi?people//b/black.don/press/nightline.980113 |quote=[...] Storm Front, a Web site dedicated to the white nationalist movement [...] Storm Front, a white nationalist Web site [...] |access-date=February 19, 2022 |archive-date=October 4, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004221942/http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/l/lipstadt.deborah/ftp.cgi?people%2F%2Fb%2Fblack.don%2Fpress%2Fnightline.980113 |url-status=dead}}
- {{cite book |last=Swain |first=Carol Miller |url=https://archive.org/details/newwhitenational0000swai/page/98 |title=The New White Nationalism in America |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-521-80886-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/newwhitenational0000swai/page/98 98] |quote=Don Black, leader of the white nationalist organization Stormfront |author-link=Carol M. Swain}} white supremacistSources which describe Stormfront as a white supremacist website include:
- {{cite news |last=Abel |first=David Schwab |date=February 19, 1998 |title=The Racist Next Door |work=New Times Broward-Palm Beach |url=https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/the-racist-next-door-6332282 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150606131832/http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/the-racist-next-door-6332282 |archive-date=June 6, 2015 |quote=Black's swastika-strewn "Stormfront" – the only white supremacist Website on the Internet before the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City}}
- {{cite news |last=Etchingham |first=Julie |date=January 12, 2000 |title=Hate.com expands on the net |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/600876.stm |url-status=live |access-date=September 14, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501080018/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/600876.stm |archive-date=May 1, 2011}}
- {{cite news |last=Lloyd |first=Robin |date=August 12, 1999 |title=Web trackers hunt racist groups online |publisher=CNN |url=http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9908/12/hate.online/ |url-status=live |access-date=September 14, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000817031027/http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9908/12/hate.online/ |archive-date=August 17, 2000}}
- {{cite web |date=October 1998 |title=Hate on the World Wide Web:A Brief Guide to Cyberspace Bigotry |url=http://www.adl.org/special_reports/hate_on_www/print.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021001221952/http://www.adl.org/special_reports/hate_on_www/print.asp |archive-date=October 1, 2002 |access-date=January 1, 2009 |publisher=Anti-Defamation League}}
- {{cite web |last=Potok |first=Mark |date=September 20, 2007 |title=Jena Rally Sparks White Supremacist Rage, Lynching Threat |url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2007/09/20/jena-rally-sparks-white-supremacist-rage-lynching-threat |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131040742/https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2007/09/20/jena-rally-sparks-white-supremacist-rage-lynching-threat |archive-date=January 31, 2019 |access-date=January 29, 2008 |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center}}
- {{cite magazine |last=Ripley |first=Amanda |date=March 5, 2005 |title=The Bench Under Siege |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1034695-2,00.html |url-status=dead |magazine=Time |page=2 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121210184729/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1034695-2,00.html |archive-date=December 10, 2012 |access-date=January 29, 2008}}
- {{cite news |last=Scheneider |first=Keith |date=March 13, 1995 |title=Hate Groups Use Tools Of the Electronic Trade |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/13/us/hate-groups-use-tools-of-the-electronic-trade.html |url-status=live |access-date=January 29, 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813052314/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/13/us/hate-groups-use-tools-of-the-electronic-trade.html |archive-date=August 13, 2019}}
- {{cite book |last=Atkins |first=Stephen E. |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmo0000atki_r5l5 |title=Encyclopedia of Modern American Extremists and Extremist Groups |date=August 30, 2002 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0-313-31502-2 |location=Westport, Connecticut |quote=In 1995 Black brought up a Web site, Stormfront, which now serves as the primary site for white supremacist Internet communications. |access-date=July 19, 2008 |url-access=registration}}
- {{cite book |last1=Mooney |first1=Linda A. |title=Understanding Social Problems |last2=Knox |first2=David |last3=Schach |first3=Caroline |publisher=Thomson Wadsworth |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-534-62514-6 |page=181 |chapter=Race and Ethic Relations |quote=White supremacist groups such as Stormfront spread their message of racial hate through their Web site. |access-date=July 19, 2008 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZzS7K5LAqvEC}}
- {{cite book |last=Wang |first=Wallace |url=https://archive.org/details/stealthiscompute0000wang_w7x7/page/239 |title=Steal This Computer Book 4.0: What They Won't Tell You About the Internet |publisher=No Starch Press Inc |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-59327-105-3 |edition=4th |location=San Francisco |page=[https://archive.org/details/stealthiscompute0000wang_w7x7/page/239 239] |chapter=Hate Groups and Terrorists on the Internet |quote=Don Black, an ex-Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan and owner of the white supremacist homepage Stormfront (www.stormfront.org) |access-date=July 19, 2008 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMwy2y_4VFcC&q=Steal+This+Computer+Book+4.0:+What+They+Won%27t+Tell+You+About+the+Internet}}
- {{cite book |last=Casey |first=Natasha |title=The Irish in Us: Irishness, Performativity, and Popular Culture |date=February 2006 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-3740-9 |editor=Negra |editor-first=Diane |page=94 |chapter='The Best Kept Secret in Retail': Selling Business in Contemporary America |quote=… the inclusion of the Stormfront flag specifically defines its audience as white supremacist. |access-date=July 19, 2008 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J2GzFmGkuGsC&q=The+Irish+in+Us:+Irishness,+Performativity,+and+Popular+Culture}}
- {{cite book |last=Gerstenfeld |first=Phyllis B. |title=Hate Crimes: Causes, Controls, and Controversies |date=June 26, 2003 |publisher=Sage Publications |isbn=978-0-7619-2814-0 |page=227 |quote=A search for the term 'Stormfront' on the American version of Google results in a list of sites with the white supremacist Web site Stormfront first on the list.}}
- {{cite book |last1=Lane |first1=Henry W. |title=International Management Behavior: Text, Readings, and Cases |last2=DiStefano |first2=Joseph J. |last3=Maznevski |first3=Martha L. |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-4051-2671-7 |edition=Fifth |page=539 |quote=After his release in 1985, Black launched the first white supremacist Web site. Black's "Stormfront" was one of the largest hate sites on the Internet}}
- {{cite book |last=Jepson |first=Peter |title=Tackling Militant Racism |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7546-2163-8 |page=151 |quote=Stormfront is a white supremacist organisation.}} footnote 83. and neo-Nazi websiteSources which consider Stormfront a neo-Nazi website include:
- {{cite journal|last=Kim|first=T.K.|date=Summer 2005|title=Electronic Storm – Stormfront Grows a Thriving Neo-Nazi Community|url=http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=551|url-status=dead|journal=Intelligence Report|publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center|issue=118|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060521192841/http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=551|archive-date=May 21, 2006|access-date=December 30, 2008}}
- {{cite web|url=http://ai.arizona.edu/intranet/papers/Zhou_Domestic_MainText.pdf|title=U.S. Domestic Extremist Groups on the Web: Link and Content Analysis|last1=Zhou|first1=Yilu|last2=Reid|first2=Edna|year=2008|publisher=University of Arizona|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100709003315/http://ai.arizona.edu/intranet/papers/Zhou_Domestic_MainText.pdf|archive-date=July 9, 2010|access-date=December 27, 2008|quote=Stormfront.org, a neo-Nazi's Web site set up in 1995, is considered the first major domestic "hate site" on the World Wide Web because of its depth of content and its presentation style which represented a new period for online right-wing extremism|last3=Qin|first3=Jialun|last4=Chen|first4=Hsinchun|last5=Lai|first5=Guanpi}}
- {{cite news|url=https://jewishjournal.com/opinion/rob_eshman/67766/|title=Jewish Money|last=Eshman|first=Rob|date=December 23, 2008|work=Jewish Journal|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170712165054/http://jewishjournal.com/opinion/67789/|archive-date=July 12, 2017|quote=Earlier this week, when I entered the search terms "Madoff" and "Jewish" into Google, the top responses included JewishJournal.com and stormfront.org, a neo-Nazi Web site.}}
- {{cite news|url=http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23028061-5001021,00.html?from=mostpop|title=RSL slams Australia Day hijack|last=Hildebrand|first=Joe|date=January 1, 2008|work=The Daily Telegraph|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122233124/http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23028061-5001021,00.html?from=mostpop|archive-date=January 22, 2009|quote=Much of the activity has been co-ordinated through the neo-Nazi website Stormfront, whose Australian arm is moderated by 18-year-old Newcastle resident Rhys McLean.|author-link=Joe Hildebrand}}
- {{Cite book|title=Shakedown: How Our Government Is Undermining Democracy in the Name of Human Rights|last=Levant|first=Ezra|publisher=McClelland & Stewart|year=2009|isbn=978-0-7710-4619-3|page=208|quote=A particularly rough stretch of road is a neo-Nazi website called Stormfront.org.|author-link=Ezra Levant}}
- {{Cite book|title=The Cultic Milieu: Oppositional Subcultures in an Age of Globalization|publisher=Rowman Altamira|year=2002|isbn=978-0-7591-0204-0|editor-last=Kaplan|editor-first=Jeffrey|page=224|quote=Also, Web Pages such as ...'Stormfront'... in addition to racist, anti-Semitic, and neo-Nazi messages and illustrations, provide links...|editor-last2=Lööw|editor-first2=Heléne}}
- {{Cite book|title=Reality Squared: Televisual Discourse on the Real|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-8135-2989-9|editor-last=Friedman|editor-first=James|page=[https://archive.org/details/realitysquaredte0000unse/page/163 163]|quote=Stormfront provides its viewers with... a general store stocked with Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and neo-Nazi literature and music...|url=https://archive.org/details/realitysquaredte0000unse/page/163}}
- {{Cite book|title=Issues in Terrorism and Homeland Security|last=Katel|first=Peter|publisher=SAGE Publications|year=2010|isbn=978-1-4129-9201-5|editor-last=CQ Researcher|edition=Second|page=79|chapter=Hate Groups: Is Extremism on the Rise in the United States?|quote=...a March 13 Web post by Poplawski to the neo-Nazi Web site Stormfront.}}
- {{Cite book|title=Mel Gibson's Passion: The Film, the Controversy, and its Implications|last=Jacobs|first=Steven Leonard|publisher=Purdue University Press|year=2006|isbn=978-1-55753-405-7|editor-last=Garber|editor-first=Zev|editor-link=Zev Garber|page=147|chapter=Jewish “Officialdom” and The Passion of the Christ: Who Said What and What Did They Say?|doi=10.2307/j.ctt6wq6d1|jstor=j.ctt6wq6d1|quote=...Internet websites (e.g. Angry White Female web-page, Vanguard News Network, Christian Identity website, Stormfront Neo-Nazi website, National Alliance website...)}}
- {{Cite book|title=Fooled Again: The Real Case for Electoral Reform|last=Miller|first=Mark Crispin|publisher=Basic Books|year=2007|isbn=978-0-465-04580-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/fooledagainrealc00mill/page/461 461]|quote=...appearing on such ultra-rightist websites as Free Republic and the neo-Nazi outfit Stormfront ("WHITE PRIDE WORLD WIDE")|author-link=Mark Crispin Miller|url=https://archive.org/details/fooledagainrealc00mill/page/461}}
- {{Cite book|title=American Taliban: How War, Sex, Sin, and Power Bind Jihadists and the Radical Right|last=Moulitsas|first=Markos|publisher=Polipoint Press|year=2010|isbn=978-1-936227-02-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/americantalibanh0000moul/page/56 56]|quote=Poplawski was active on white supremacist and neo-Nazi Stormfront internet forums.|author-link=Markos Moulitsas|url=https://archive.org/details/americantalibanh0000moul/page/56}}
- {{Cite book|title=Rethinking Global Security: Media, Popular Culture, and the "War on terror"|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-8135-3830-3|editor-last=Martin|editor-first=Andrew|page=174|quote=...9/11 Internet chat-room discussions, including radical hate-group sites like the neo-Nazi Stormfront.org.|editor-last2=Petro|editor-first2=Patrice}}
- {{Cite book|title=Bad Moon Rising: How Reverend Moon Created the Washington Times, Seduced the Religious Right, and Built an American Kingdom|last=Gorenfeld|first=John|publisher=Polipoint Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-9794822-3-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/badmoonrisinghow00gore/page/68 68]|quote=She has even written in to neo-Nazi Web site Stormfront, geeking out together on Peter Jackson's film adaptation;...|url=https://archive.org/details/badmoonrisinghow00gore/page/68}}
known as a hate site.Sources which identify Stormfront as the Internet's "first hate site" include:
- {{cite book|title=Hate and Bias Crime: A Reader|last=Levin|first=Brian|publisher=Routledge|year=2003|isbn=978-0-415-94408-3|editor=Perry|editor-first=Barbara|chapter=Cyberhate: A Legal and Historical Analysis of Extremists' Use of Computer Networks in America|access-date=July 21, 2008|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kUa5r4aUCYIC&q=Hate+and+Bias+Crime:+A+Reader}}
- {{cite book|title=Into a World of Hate: A Journey Among the Extreme Right|last=Ryan|first=Nick|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=978-0-415-94922-4|location=New York|page=80|chapter=Thirteen Days|quote=It was Black who would launch Stormfront, the first major extremist hate site.|access-date=July 21, 2008|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wOq79eHTJu4C&q=Into+a+World+of+Hate:+A+Journey+Among+the+Extreme+Right}}
- {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/isholocaustuniqu00rose|url-access=registration|title=Is the Holocaust Unique?: Perspectives on Comparative Genocide|last=Samuels|first=Shimon|publisher=Westview Press|year=2001|isbn=978-0-8133-3686-2|editor=Rosenbaum|editor-first=Alan S.|edition=Second|page=[https://archive.org/details/isholocaustuniqu00rose/page/218 218]|chapter=Applying the Lessons of the Holocaust|quote=It was Holocaust denier and Ku Klux Klan leader, Don Black, who had founded Stormfront (the very first Internet hate site, in 1995)|access-date=July 21, 2008}}
- {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZgaNjbesx-gC|title=Dictionary of Race, Ethnicity & Culture|publisher=Sage Publications|year=2003|isbn=978-0-7619-6900-6|editor-last=Bolaffi|editor-first=Guido|page=254|quote=The first extremist hate site was Stormfront (1995)|access-date=July 21, 2008|editor-last2=Bracalenti|editor-first2=Raffaele|editor-last3=Braham|editor-first3=Peter H.|editor-last4=Gindro|editor-first4=Sandro}}
It is a site on which Nazi mysticism and the personality cult of Adolf Hitler are sustained and Nazi iconography is used and accepted. The Stormfront website is organized primarily as a discussion forum with multiple thematic sub-forums including "News", "Ideology and Philosophy" ("Foundations for White Nationalism"), "Culture and Customs", "Theology", "Quotations", "Revisionism", "Science, Technology and Race" ("Genetics, eugenics, racial science and related subjects"), "Privacy", "Self-Defense, Martial Arts, and Preparedness", "Homemaking", "Education and Homeschooling", "Youth", and "Music and Entertainment". There are boards for different geographic regions, and a section open to unregistered guests, who are elsewhere unable to post, and even then, only under heavy moderation.{{citation needed|date=May 2015}}
=Services=
The Stormfront website hosts files from and links to a number of white nationalist and white racist websites,{{cite book|title=The New White Nationalism in America|last=Swain|first=Carol Miller|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-521-80886-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newwhitenational0000swai/page/30 30–32]|quote=Stormfront has links to many dozens of other white nationalist and white racist websites, and many of these also feed into Stormfront.|author-link=Carol M. Swain|url=https://archive.org/details/newwhitenational0000swai/page/30}} an online dating service (for "heterosexual White Gentiles only"), and electronic mailing lists that allows the white nationalist community to discuss issues of interest.{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of White Power: A Sourcebook on the Radical Racist Right|publisher=AltaMira Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0-7425-0340-3|editor-last=Kaplan|editor-first=Jeffrey|editor-link=Jeffrey Kaplan (academic)|location=Walnut Creek, CA|page=24|chapter=Black Metal|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNWbbhUYv8oC&q=Encyclopedia+of+White+Power}}{{cite book|title=Mass-Mediated Terrorism: The Central Role of the Media in Terrorism and Counterterrorism|last=Nacos|first=Brigitte L.|date=November 2002|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.|isbn=978-0-7425-1083-8|edition=2nd|location=Lanham, MD|page=[https://archive.org/details/massmediatedterr0000naco/page/114 114]|chapter=E-Terrorism and the Web of Hate|author-link=Brigitte L. Nacos|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UPPT1owM8TIC&q=Mass-Mediated+Terrorism&pg=PP1|url=https://archive.org/details/massmediatedterr0000naco/page/114}} It features a selection of current news reports, an archive of past stories, live streaming of The Political Cesspool radio show,Screencap of Stormfront site with Cesspool streaming link, [http://www.politics1.com/documents/stormfront-ronpaul.pdf available at Politics1.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019163200/http://www.politics1.com/documents/stormfront-ronpaul.pdf |date=October 19, 2013 }}; accessed February 17, 2013. and a merchandise store featuring literature and music. Stormfront has reportedly published stories aimed at children.
A 2001 study of recruitment by extremist groups on the Internet noted that Stormfront at that time came close to offering most of the standard services offered by web portals, including an internal search engine, web hosting, and categorized links, and lacking only an Internet search engine and the provision of free email for its members (though a limited email service was available at the price of $30 a month).
=Design=
Prominently featured on the homepage is a Celtic cross surrounded by the words "white pride world wide." Stormfront states it discourages racial slurs, and prohibits violent threats and descriptions of anything illegal. Others state that blatant hate and calls for violence are only kept off the opening page.{{cite book|title=Reality Squared|last=Bernardi|first=Daniel|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-8135-2989-9|editor=Friedman|editor-first=James|location=New Brunswick, NJ|pages=[https://archive.org/details/realitysquaredte0000unse/page/163 163–167]|chapter=Cyborgs in Cyberspace|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/realitysquaredte0000unse/page/163}}{{Cite book|title=Pornography: Film And Culture|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-8135-3871-6|editor-last=Lehman|editor-first=Peter|pages=221, 272}}
The site uses the Fraktur font,{{cite web
| url = https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/01/08/1356260/-Now-the-Nazis-REALLY-Hate-Me
| title = Now the Nazis REALLY Hate Me
| last = Grayson
| first = Alan
| author-link = Alan Grayson
| date = July 1, 2015
| website = Daily Kos
| url-status = live
| archive-url = https://archive.today/20191005060308/https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/01/08/1356260/-Now-the-Nazis-REALLY-Hate-Me
| archive-date = October 5, 2019
| access-date = September 20, 2015
}} which was the favored font of the Nazi Party when it emerged in the early 1920s. Official Nazi documents and letterheads employed the font, and the cover of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf used a hand-drawn version of it.{{cite web|url=https://historyweird.com/1941-nazis-ban-jewish-fonts/|title=1941: The Nazis ban Jewish fonts|work=History Weird|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305023129/https://historyweird.com/1941-nazis-ban-jewish-fonts/|archive-date=March 5, 2014|access-date=September 20, 2015}}
Purpose and appeal
Don Black has long attempted to increase the mainstream appeal of white supremacy. Black established Stormfront to heighten awareness of perceived anti-white discrimination and government actions detrimental to white people,{{cite book|title=The New White Nationalism in America|last=Swain|first=Carol M.|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-521-80886-6|location=Cambridge|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newwhitenational0000swai/page/230 230–232]|author-link=Carol M. Swain|url=https://archive.org/details/newwhitenational0000swai/page/230}} and to create a virtual community of white extremists.{{cite book|title=Contemporary Voices of White Nationalism in America|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-521-01693-3|editor-last=Swain|editor-first=Carol M.|editor-link=Carol M. Swain|location=Cambridge|pages=[https://archive.org/details/contemporaryvoic00swai/page/153 153–165]|chapter=Don Black|editor-last2=Nieli|editor-first2=Russ|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/contemporaryvoic00swai_0/page/152|url=https://archive.org/details/contemporaryvoic00swai/page/153}}{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/21/AR2008062101471.html|title=Hate Groups' Newest Target|last=Saslow|first=Eli|date=June 22, 2008|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=July 13, 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626034820/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/21/AR2008062101471.html|archive-date=June 26, 2008}}{{Cite journal|last1=Ray|first1=Beverly|last2=Marsh|first2=George E. II|date=February 2001|title=Recruitment by Extremist Groups on the Internet|journal=First Monday|volume=6|issue=2|doi=10.5210/fm.v6i2.834|doi-access= free}}{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/sharingdreamwhit00pule|url-access=registration|title=Sharing the Dream: White Males in Multicultural America|last=Pulera|first=Dominic J.|publisher=Continuum|year=2004|isbn=978-0-8264-1643-8|location=London, UK|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sharingdreamwhit00pule/page/304 304]–305|chapter=White Wrongs|quote=Jeffrey Kaplan ... describes Black's Web site as 'the cyberspace flagship of the racist right.' Indeed, Stormfront.org is the most popular racist site on the Internet}} Black owns the site's servers, so he is not dependent upon website hosting providers.
Black's organization inculcated enough white pride to make "its worldwide aspirations meaningful and socially significant". Stormfront keeps the rhetoric in its forums muted, discourages racial slurs, and prohibits violent threats and descriptions of anything illegal. Site moderator Jamie Kelso was reportedly "the motivating force behind real community-building among Stormfront members" due to his energy and enthusiasm in organizing offline events.{{cite news|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/content/printVersion/209786|title=A Neo-Nazi Field Trip to the Met|last=Tucker|first=Maria Luisa|date=June 5, 2007|work=The Village Voice|access-date=December 27, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120122225127/http://www.villagevoice.com/content/printVersion/209786/|archive-date=January 22, 2012}} Black's positioning the site as a community with the explicit purpose of "defending the white race" helped sustain the community, as it attracts white people who define themselves in opposition to ethnic minorities, particularly Jews.{{cite book|title=Learning Race and Ethnicity: Youth and Digital Media|last=Daniels|first=Jessie|publisher=MIT Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-262-05091-3|editor=Everett|editor-first=Anna|page=133|chapter=Race, Civil Rights and Hate Speech in the Digital Era|quote=Black has long been advocate for 'mainstreaming' the white supremacist movement, and the Internet is his preferred medium for doing so. His first and primary presence is Stormfront.org|access-date=July 19, 2008|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?q=Black+has+long+been+advocate+for+%27mainstreaming%27+the+white+supremacist+movement%2C+and+the+Internet+is+his+preferred+medium+for+doing+so.+His+first+and+primary+presence+is+Stormfront.org&ie=ISO-8859-1&vid=9780262550673&sourceid=ca-print-mitpress#PPA129,M1}}
Stormfront established MartinLutherKing.org to discredit Martin Luther King Jr.{{Cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Story?id=7822417&page=1|title=Hate Groups Effectively Use Web as a Recruiting Tool|last=Ibanga|first=Imaeyen|date=June 12, 2009|access-date=June 12, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090630115233/https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Story?id=7822417&page=1|archive-date=June 30, 2009|publisher=ABC News}} In a 2001 study of white nationalist groups including Stormfront, academics Beverly Ray and George E. Marsh II commented: "Like the Nazis before them, they rely upon a blend of science, ignorance, and mythology to prop up their arguments".{{cite web|url=https://www.salon.com/2000/01/24/mlk/|title=Dissing the King|last=Hubbard|first=Lee|date=January 24, 2000|work=Salon|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150522165219/http://www.salon.com/2000/01/24/mlk/|archive-date=May 22, 2015|access-date=September 28, 2008}}
=Ideology=
Stormfront presents itself as being engaged in a struggle for unity and identifies culture, speech, and free association as its core concerns, though members of Stormfront are especially passionate about racial purity. It promotes a lone wolf mentality, which links it to white nationalist theorist Louis Beam's influential work on leaderless resistance and offers a sympathetic assessment of Benjamin Nathaniel Smith, a white supremacist who committed suicide after a racially motivated killing spree in July 1999. Violet Jones notes that Stormfront credits its mission to "the founding myth of an America created, built, and ideologically grounded by the descendants of white Europeans."{{cite book|title=Reinventing Critical Pedagogy: Widening the Circle of Anti-Oppression Education|last=Jones|first=Violet|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.|year=2006|isbn=978-0-7425-3888-7|editor=Rossatto|editor-first=César|location=Lanham, MD|page=39|chapter=Violence, Discourse and Dixieland: A Critical Reflection on an Incident Involving Violence Against Black Youth|editor2=Allen|editor-first2=Ricky. L|editor3=Pryun|editor-first3=Mark|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tY_2Ob3_gRQC&q=Reinventing+Critical+Pedagogy:+Widening+the+Circle+of+Anti-Oppression+Education&pg=PA118}} Don Black has specifically compared his views to those of the Founding Fathers, whom he asserts "did not believe that an integrated black and white society was possible in America."{{cite book
|title=Contemporary voices of white nationalism in America
|last1=Swain
|first1=Carol M
|last2=Nieli
|first2=Russ
|year=2003
|publisher=Cambridge University Press
|page=154
}} Asked in 2008 by an interviewer for the Italian newspaper la Repubblica whether Stormfront was a 21st-century version of the Ku Klux Klan without the iconography, Black responded affirmatively, though he noted that he would never say so to an American journalist.{{cite news|url=https://www.repubblica.it/2008/10/sezioni/esteri/verso-elezioni-usa-5/nuovo-kkk/nuovo-kkk.html|title=Fermeremo Barack Obama siamo il nuovo Ku Klux Klan|last=Calabresi|first=Mario|date=October 29, 2008|work=la Repubblica|publisher=Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso|language=it|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201124300/https://www.repubblica.it/2008/10/sezioni/esteri/verso-elezioni-usa-5/nuovo-kkk/nuovo-kkk.html|archive-date=December 1, 2008|access-date=November 17, 2008}} In addition to its promotion of antisemitism and Holocaust denial, Stormfront has increasingly become active in the propagation of Islamophobia.{{cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/blog/2010/08/25/white-supremacists-find-common-cause-with-pam-gellers-anti-islam-campaign/|title=White Supremacists Find Common Cause with Pam Geller's Anti-Islam Campaign|last=Beirich|first=Heidi|date=August 25, 2010|website=Hatewatch|publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100830174616/https://www.splcenter.org/blog/2010/08/25/white-supremacists-find-common-cause-with-pam-gellers-anti-islam-campaign/|archive-date=August 30, 2010|access-date=June 11, 2015}}
See also
{{Portal|United States|Internet}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{White nationalism}}
{{Neo-Nazism}}
{{Fascism}}
{{Alt-right footer}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Alt-right Internet forums
Category:Anti-black racism in the United States
Category:Hispanophobia in the United States
Category:Holocaust denial in the United States
Category:Internet properties established in 1995
Category:1996 establishments in Florida
Category:Islamophobia in the United States
Category:Islamophobic publications
Category:Neo-Nazism in the United States
Category:Sexism in the United States
Category:Domain name seizures by United States
Category:Discrimination against LGBTQ people in the United States