WebSleuths

My only motivation on this site for 12 years was to solve cases. I thought that was the point. But no, like the other posters here, I have been rudely punished for various ridiculous things 1) A family member of a perp (who wasn't identified as such, but was known to Admin Nazi SillyBilly) attacked me! I got timed out for politely defending myself against the attacker. I stayed off the site for a full year. 2) I got punished for referring to an abusive guy that murdered his fiance as a "punk" 3) Then when I asked if it was better to refer to him as alleged bald murderer I was timed out for complaining about the moderator. (Who pompously has the moniker of CocoChanel).

Site is antiquated, and run by ego tripping buffoons.

Where do I begin? Young black men or boys are always "gang bangers" (tip of the hat to Katydid23, total racist $#*!), DA and Prosecutors are always leg-hump worthy (the "Juanettes" in the Arias trial-although he was later disbarred for being a sexual predator) and anyone who posts against the MAGA loons gets a month-long "Time Out". Oh! And lazy-assed Tricia who begs for money NON STOP but cannot be arsed to know any details of the crimes she features on her lame assed podcast. Moderators are akin to Gestapo and allow racist $#*!s to post whatever, but if you report it, you get the ban. If Sean Hannity were a message board, it would be Websleuths. ***CarlK is amazing, however. I have no idea why his talents are wasted in that $#*!hole***

At first I thought websleuths was a great place to be and I really felt like I was making a difference but the longer I stay the more I see the real truth. The inconsistent rules, the favoritism and flat out bullying that is allowed to go on by certain members is terrible. I logged many hours researching, tracing down potential leads, helping to try to identify the unidentified and make something out of the cases that have very little to go on. What do I get in return? Mods deleting my posts for violations of rules that aren't even listed as rules in the first place, then I see other people posting the same thing I just got swatted for posting and they are being praised for "the good idea" Like seriously I haven't done anything to deserve to be forced out but that is how I feel.

Just using the word "politics" or "political"
The mods will ban you. Hahaa! I mean seriously has anyone seen such a terrible display of power and control?
The mods ban you because some old time user reported you because they are inherently weak inside and anything that goes against their narrative must be wrong and reported. Again Ha!
What it comes down to now is, myself and well over a dozen other people have been smart enough to screenshot every post that gets removed and also film the entire action and how quickly they block your account and in a PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE MANNER, do NOT allow you the ability to contact them in any way or form.
Time to bring this generic site down. It is unhealthy and also all speculation and opinion from low level intelligence people who don't use the library, don't read books, just post the latest ABC news link

You may only contribute/post a video to the conversation/forum that was produced by Main Stream Media or Law Enforcement. You can't sleuth the web with that policy - so everything is very surface-level with a common denominator approach.

There are so many excellent true crime outlets that are not mainstream but are doing the best work. MODERN DAY SOCIETY doesn't get their news from mainstream media anymore, so to limit the convo to that is, well...

This website is not a serious true crime forum and is severely outdated in its approach. I understand now WHY Websleuth's owner appealed to their users for money to keep the company alive. It's a shame.

Not only is the moderation incompetent in general, the mods "pick a pet theory" and then removes/bans anything that does not go along with that theory. They shape the conversation with all kinds of picky "rules" that only allow the discussion to go the way they want it to go. And if you protest about this they mute you and then put your account on time-out if you don't go along. And they aren't "sleuthing" anything on that site. You are literally only allowed to discuss articles printed in the media. That's it. If it hasn't been published on CNN you can't talk about it. Just a bunch of people rehashing the news. Which I can just read for myself, right?

Update: I was just permanently banned for criticizing the moderators on a completely different website. Who does that? Crazytown.

This site claims to be one where cases and evidence can be discussed in an environment free form cursing and harassment, but what it really is, a place where intelligence is shunned, and if people don't dummy-down, they are removed-literally for no reason. There are little posts that are applied to the banning or "time-outs" but they seem more like a technicality than a legitimate reason for removing persons. At one time Websleuths had excellent research and posters were quite brilliant, but it's almost as if the owner of this website wants to keep the intelligence level down to lower triple digit IQs or less. Maybe these become the most loyal followers. I've messaged with people who are afraid of saying the wrong thing, who are thoughtful and well informed. Why should anyone participate on a blog where one would have to be afraid of saying what is on one's mind ins a respectful manner. And that is the point here. I would understand if people were banned because they were trolling and rude, but very nice people get banned. It's almost Orwellian. Bad site. And you can never really leave. It's not like Reddit where you can erase comments and identity-they want those kept, even if you are no longer there. You gotta wonder why, and what the actual agenda is here.

You are given only accurate and verified information on this forum. The community that has began growing feels more like family than your actual family. You speak w/them nightly.

When originally signing up for the site, you would think that you are going to have discussions about a certain case, or to give insight, especially if you are from the area where the case has taken place OR if you have a similar life experience to the victim. This site promotes victim blaming. I was taken aback to see what they allow their users to say. These members are labeled at "well-known" users. That is the tag they carry under their selected usernames. I believe the "owner" is named Trisha. She has motives beyond belief. DO NOT GIVE HER YOUR MONEY! She will hound you for it. She is playing off of murdered individuals to get your money. It's scary. They advertise a "podcast" which is a total farse. I would not recommend spending your money on it. She also begs for you to sign up for her "Patreon" which is a bigger ripoff. You get nothing for your money spent. This "woman" is acting under the ruse of caring for missing and murdered humans but she is just exploiting them!

Websleuths is beyond awful. I'm not sure there are words to describe how awful. The site is run by a clique of power users who dominate the discussions and run you off the boards if you don't bow down to their opinions. Worse than that, the moderators do the same. They pick a pet theory or suspect and then snip, edit, delete or outright ban you if you don't go along with their narrative. It's like dealing with the group of mean girls that run the halls of the junior high school.

The name of the site is extremely misleading. You are not allowed to sleuth or investigating anything and may only submit information from cherry-picked sources, which are at the moderator's sole discretion. If they don't like your source or what it says they just delete it. If you question why the moderator did that they simply put you in "Time Out" and revoke your posting privileges for a few days or weeks.

Also beware it's like the Hotel California. Once you sign up (giving them your personal information) you cannot leave. There is no option to delete your account. They hold it hostage forever to keep their membership numbers up - even if they've permanently banned you! Also beware you'll start getting tons of email spam as soon as you give them your email address (I did anyway).

All in all, there is nothing positive to be said about this social media site. The site is also overrun by an absurd amount of ads. And constant unprofessional begging for money, which is super annoying.

The website is not secure, and there is no way to delete your account or remove your posts/personal details once you've made them. These two factors combine to form a data security nightmare. If you message a member of staff and ask for your account to be deleted, rather than deleting your account they will either not respond to your message, or simply ban your account but leave all your details intact. If you've ever had an account on WS, then I'd highly suggest not using that password on any other accounts or linking it to any of your other accounts in any way. If you still have access to your account you should create a secure password for it and scrub it of as much personal information as you can before its too late.

That is nothing to say of the poor behavior by staff or any other aspect of the site which many other comments here can cover. Its simply terrible from a technical standpoint and a very risky website to trust your details with, even if the staff were a model of responsibility and competency, but the combination of a very outdated and insecure site along with poor moderation and questionable staff behavior are really concerning.

First of all, DO NOT DONATE any money to this site, the mods will beg you for paypal tips or patreon tips. DON'T DO IT. Why? Because its a majorly biased and unfair site to be on, you are quite literally stepping on eggshells around the mods permanently. Sillybilly is the worst mod of all time, i really don't understand how she keeps her job as quite frankly i would donate (as i like the idea of the site in general) but she makes the site so AWFUL to use i wouldn't dream of ever donating a penny towards her wages. I know plenty of other people feel the same towards her too. She puts you on time outs, thread bans, deletes your post for literally just stating an opinion, its as simple as that. Yet the people that actually start an argument she never seems to punish? Only the people that respond trying to defend themselves in the first place. Makes no sense and just another sign of the favoritism on here, sign up and you'll know what i mean... thats all i can say.

Websleuths has a rule that makes absolutely no sense. You will be removed and banned if you speak about race or politics. I understand keeping religion out of the discussion which is another rule. But race and politics are intertwined
I was removed discussing racial profiling in regards to various police departments and the politics surrounding it. These are legit questions when discussing crime. The moderators are bullies. Jerseygrilll and SILLYBILLY are really awful in their treatment to others who disagree with them. If you do not agree with them or the old dinosaur members who were there from day one, you will be treated terrbly and eventually removed without anyway to contact websleuths. They NEVER rerspond to emails. I have screenshots of over 23 emails they never responded to regarding my account. My roommates have the same issue. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME.

Moderators are dictators, rude, bossy. Website is unclear and confusing.
Hard to use... Giving comments or reading comments

Very funny. Personable presenter. Talks about latest interest everyone wants to know about. Has on Great guests.

Attached images are the screenshots of the final alerts and the notice of permanent ban that followed. Real reason for the post removals and the ban: being too intelligent and logical to blend in. Quote:
"
Your post in the thread Closing Arguments- Chase Merritt Charged W/Murder of Joseph, Summer, Gianni and Joe Jr McStay #2 was deleted. Reason: no time given for what you are claiming
7:22 PM

Your post in the thread Closing Arguments- Chase Merritt Charged W/Murder of Joseph, Summer, Gianni and Joe Jr McStay #2 was deleted. Reason: Your example is wrong: they were laughing about an alternate way of saying "digging in the dirt"
7:20 PM

Your post in the thread Closing Arguments- Chase Merritt Charged W/Murder of Joseph, Summer, Gianni and Joe Jr McStay #2 was deleted. Reason: no link to attached files
7:17 PM
"

Moderation on current cases involves restricting discussion just to things that have already been published in the mainstream media. Links to social media source material or any other useful unearthed information will mostly be banned unless LE have announced that person as a suspect, making sleuthing by then a largely pointless exercise.

The entire website is therefore largely irrelevant circular chatter and is unhelpful for any serious sleuthing by those with sharp minds and attention to detail. The only smart conversations happen between members in private chat and not in the public forum where it will be swiftly deleted. Forum posts tend towards expressing emotion and feelings rather than clinical assessment of evidence, gathering new insights, and informed theorizing. Virtue signalling for "likes" abounds. Moderators tend to invoke their Terms of Service against anyone who adopts anything other than the accepted herd mentality view on a case which longtime members constantly direct according to their "years of experience following these sorts of cases on here" - never mind the real world experience of others or the different era of crime that we're in.

Only registered to websleuths a few days ago tried to log in this morning and getting a message you have been banned what on earth is that all about I didnt even get the chance to comment.