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Stormfront Users Say Site Is Collapsing Because Founder's Wife Stopped Paying for It

The hate-filled white supremacist forum is switching to paying members only because of a "financial shortfall."
Photo by Chet Strange via Getty Images.

Although these days there's no shortage of places for racists to congregate online, back in the 90s, the concept was pretty novel. That's when a former Klansman named Don Black launched a site called Stormfront, and for years the hate-filled forum served as the primary hub for white supremacists who wanted to meet one another. But now, the Southern Poverty Law Center reports that the once-influential site is now on the brink of collapse—and according to some members, it's because Black's wife is sick of footing the bill.

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"I appreciate everybody’s support," Black wrote to his followers. "But it’s that time of month again, when the big, scary bills hit. Our contributions have once again totaled less than $2,000, 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."

As a result of the crisis, access to the site has been restricted to paying members only, the entire server will be shut down and archived on April 6, and Black has canceled an upcoming appearance at a League of the South conference to honor David Duke, the SPLC reports.

Stormfront being on the brink of collapse is not exactly new. Although its the preferred online forum of older racists, the so-called alt-right now flocks to a slew of alternatives, such as social media site Gab, podcast network The Right Stuff, and Gawker-knockoff The Daily Stormer. But according to some users who commented on the recent announcement, the final death knell came when Black's wife was no longer willing to keep Stormfront afloat financially.

"Don Black’s wife, Chloe, had been working full time past retirement age to help support this site,” a user named Ruthless commented on April 4. "All of the years that Don posted how much was needed to run this site and all the months that SF didn’t receive enough donations. That difference was made up from Chloe Black’s income. She is now recently retired and deserves to spend her time with her grandbabies."

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