A Major Trump Forum Scrubs Its Archives of Thousands of Pre-Riot Posts

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Khashoggi’s Ghost
@UROCKlive1
A Major Trump Forum Scrubs Its Archives of Thousands of Pre-Riot Posts

Consciousness of guilt?

A major Trump forum scrubs its archives of thousands of pre-riot posts
The removal of messages discussing violent plans could bring evidence tampering charges.
motherjones.com

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/01/thedonald-win-deleted-posts/

In the days ahead of the January 6 Capitol riot, there were warnings, but no guarantee that the day would turn violent. But users of TheDonald.win, a major online pro-Trump forum, were preparing for a fight, posting maps of the Capitol and swapping messages about being ready to die.

In the wake of the carnage, law enforcement identified TheDonald.win as a key planning platform for the insurrectionists. And on Inauguration Day, the forum established a new domain, rebranding as Patriots.win. Alongside that transition, thousands of posts from lead up to the riot have disappeared from the site as though they were never there.

Jared Holt, a research fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab who regularly monitors the forum, noticed the change when he recently went to reexamine now-missing messages. The posters’ deleted content included maps of the Capitol, manifestos about their intentions upon arriving, discussion about flouting D.C.’s strict gun laws, and praise of extremist groups like the Proud Boys.

Mother Jones‘s analysis of the site’s existing archives, conducted by cross-referencing what remains with other records, suggests the forum’s administrators removed all posts made between December 19 and January 6. Posts from before and after remain accessible. While the site has not publicly explained the gap, Holt thinks they may have been attempting to protect themselves or their users from legal repercussions. “I think there is a very fair question here whether moderators of The Donald destroyed evidence that would aid law enforcement investigation,” Holt says.

*snip*

[RussellCattle]

1. Now we're talking about going after, not just the politicians and "influencers" who incited and....

....planned the insurrection on line, but the people who administered those websites. It's almost as if a new age of responsibility for one's actions may be upon us. Weren't the repubs big on responsibility? This just keeps getting better and better.

[MagickMuffin]

2. Add some more charges to their already growing ones: Obstruction

Yep, I'd think that would be another good charge to include with the insurrection charges + conspiracy to overthrow the government.

[Sogo]

3. Another famous gap....

I wonder who their Rosemary Woods will be....

[Clash City Rocker]

4. Aww, how cute, they think things can be removed from the internet

Wait until they learn how the internet really works. They’ll learn that they actually incriminated themselves more by doing this. Of course, if they had any brains, they wouldn’t have been there in the first place.

[roamer65]

5. If I had worked for any Dump entity in my past, I'd leave it off the resume.

It’s utter POISON on a resume now.

[TheBlackAdder]

6. If they're hosting it at a hosting service, they keep backup images from 1 month to 6 months.

.

Get those subpoenas in early, or a notice to retain data and documents--not to the domain, but the hosting site.

.