Jared Loughner’s Posts on AboveTopSecret.com

Jared Loughner’s Posts on AboveTopSecret.com: "

Our friends over at Above Top Secret have never been short of traffic to their site, but they haven’t often been recognized for the influence they have over the many people posting on the forum boards that constitute most of the site. Jared Loughner may have changed that forever, with the mainstream media flocking to ATS to read Loughner’s posts. The Wall Street Journal’s Alexandra Berzon and John Emswhiller investigated and for their report they interviewed ATS CEO Bill Irvine:

On Thursday on Above Top Secret, a conspiracy-theory website where Mr. Loughner, the alleged assailant, appears to have posted more than 100 messages in July 2010, one member worried whether a series of posts could have pushed Mr. Loughner over the edge.

“All the information, discussions, and conspiracy theories…might have served as fuel for his fire which was obviously not on the right track,” this member wrote.

Mr. Loughner stands accused of killing six people, gravely wounding Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and injuring 13 others.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation declined to comment on its investigation. On Wednesday the agency requested Mr. Loughner’s postings from the online forum associated with the game Earth Empires, according to game’s administrator, David McVittie.

Bill Irvine, chief executive of Above Networks,which owns Above Top Secret, said he was convinced that Mr. Loughner posted on Above Top Secret under the user name Erad3 because of similarities in other confirmed online identities and posts of Mr. Loughner.

Mr. Irvine said in an interview Thursday that his community was doing some soul-searching after the shooting spree, but he didn’t think it could be held responsible for Mr. Loughner’s behavior…

[continues at the Wall Street Journal]

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