Websleuths Crime Sleuthing CommunityReviews of websleuths.com

*sigh* where do we even start? Firstly, the website itself is a NIGHTMARE. Security is at a zero, you cannot delete anything you post anywhere and any private information you have on there will forever be vulnerable. On top of this, the website just doesn't even work 40% of the time, you get error messages multiple times a day making it the most poorly designed site I have ever seen in my entire life. It's honestly embarrassing. They're always asking for donations and patreon support, as well as blasting the most vile ads, you'd think they'd take some of that money an invest in a more stable, safe, working infrastructure. Now let's get into what makes this place the 5th circle of hell. Off the bat, they depend on ad revenue to pay their dictators, I mean moderators, meager unlivable wages. Which means that they have to rule with an iron fist for any kind of language and behavior that is deemed inappropriate for ad revenue. They are not doing any of this out of the kindness of their hearts to help solve crime, they are exploiting murders and crimes to then justify making money from them. The mods do not even know all of the rules themselves because they are always changing them to justify whatever agenda they are following. For example, back in the day, astrology threads were welcome and commonplace. These days, if you post anything metaphysical related, you will be hit by an invisible rule in the book that doesn't exist anywhere but will be enforced anyway. Another example of this kind of behavior is apparent when the mods themselves don't read the threads and remove things that have been approved for discussion or already exist in an acceptable form on the thread. They will also pick and choose who they want to target, deleting entire posts when they could simply edit out the sentence or two that is not compliant up to their standards. They will also tell people that they cannot tell others what to do what to say or how to think, but in the same breath are hyper hypocritical and behave like they are above all of the rules they force everyone to follow. You literally have no voice and their abuse of power is one of the most disgusting things I have ever witnessed when it comes to online forums. If I'm quite frank, they should ALL be ashamed of themselves for partaking in this kind of toxic environment willingly. There is a sick power dynamic and it is very clear that the people who mod and lead the mods are extremely powerless in their own lives and take it out on random internet strangers on the daily. It's clear that the owners cannot pull their heads out for long enough to not let their massive egos get in the way of running an ethical, successful, and FAIRLY censored website because the notoriety and money they make is far more important to them than doing the right things. They can try to hide behind it being for the victims sake, but it is very clear the only thing that motivates them all is $$$$$. Sillybilly is one of the saddest, most pathetic mod managers I have ever seen at work in my entire life, followed directly by Knitty, who strives to mimic every move Sillybilly makes. People get censored, put on time out, banned, deleted, etc, WRONGFULLY may I add, and because there is no way to see something once it is gone, no one can even exonerate themselves of any wrongdoing. The mods will literally lie on the "reason for deletion" on purpose for people they don't like and there is nothing anyone can do about it because once it's gone, it's gone. Put in a pending deletion box for an IMPARITAL mod leader to approve/deny/edit and hold yourselves ACCOUNTABLE. Watching these adults behave like middle aged toddlers has been the most off-putting experience one could have on WS. They are constantly boasting how "we're not reddit" "we're not like the other websites" in regards to that kind of stuff doesn't fly here when in reality, the only reason they're so hard on the rules is to not have analytics flag the website so that they can keep monetizing the literal worst and last moments of people's lives. The only good thing about WS is the members, particularly the long standing ones, they are angels on this earth. Their one star is for all of the actually amazing people that come to the site for the victims. The rest of them? Jail.

The censorship on this site is like nothing I've ever seen. Your comments will be edited and deleted by the moderators any way they see fit. They have a very short list of allowed "sources" such as Fox, CBS, NBC, and ABC and you can't post anything that isn't written on those sites. You also can't express an opinion that is different than the power users or you'll be run off the board. The site is also over run with ads and you'll start receiving loads of email spam as soon as you give them your email address. And even after they banned me they wouldn't delete my account, so they still have all my personal information and won't give it back. The site owner begs constantly for money and threatens the site will go down if she can't pay the server bill. Avoid like the plague.

the moderation is evil. i basically got bullied by one specific moderator called "SillyBilly" because i posted a lot of life updates (99-100% of the time related to my case) on my own status. the ones that nobody can read unless you specifically look them up. the other members of the site also had no idea why i was being targeted by the moderators. i was banned after a little under a month of being there. my reason for being banned was because i updated my status saying that i was back and that i had taken a break because i felt targeted by mods. they called this an "immature posting style" and that i was complaining. didnt break the rules at all. The same mod, sillybilly, had targeted me and sent me private messages in all caps within my first week at websleuths. not to mention the messages were borderline condescending and offensive. i want to know how to get my account recovered only because of my progress. if you haven't started on the website, don't waste your time.

Websleuths is not what the name implies. I am a professional and spent decades around police detectives in a very large city. Spent more than 10 years on Websleuths trying to solve several crimes where either I knew a place, culture and/ or saw patterns/facts which could lead to breakthroughs. Initially it seemed ok, but year after year it became less and less about sleuthing and crime solving. Moderators became horribly fascistic unlike anything anywhere. Far far worse than the political censorship at fb and tw. The censorship on WS is incredibly ignorant, and stops all actual sleuthing. What remains is essentially a twisted morbid group whose lives are about getting a thrill out of being associated with a horrific act. Some call it Grief Porn. All real crime solving and sleuthing has been completely eliminated. It is to the point that you should not trust the people running this site with your personal information! There is no telling how it could be used or who can access it.