Dread, the largest English-language forum on the Dark Web, is truly a platform for free speech

Dread is a popular community center, a Tor-based free speech platform, a Reddit-like discussion forum on the dark web, described as a "Reddit-style forum" and recognized as the successor to the censored "DeepDotWeb "It is currently the largest English-language forum on the dark web, featuring news and discussion of the dark web marketplace. The site's administrators go by the pseudonyms Paris and HugBunter.

Dread came to prominence after Reddit banned several dark web marketplace discussion communities in 2018, and was developed by "HugBunter" in early 2018 and launched on February 15, quickly reaching 12,000 registered users within three months of launch and 14,683 users by June 2018. 14,683 users , which grew faster than any other dark web forum.Dread was abruptly taken offline in the fall of 2019, but relaunched in November with improved user interface, introduction of chat rooms, and overall performance enhancements, among other features.

Dread Forum is often referred to as the "reddit of the dark web," and that's because when visiting the site, you immediately think of reddit. dread's user interface is essentially a clone of reddit. dread is developed on the Reddit model, and anyone can create their own subreddit (or subdread). Moderators control what types of posts are allowed, and they can ban users from their subreddit or subdread if they think they are being a jerk or violating their rules. subreddit and subdread are usually based on areas of interest. Most subchannels never become popular, but a few can have millions of active users. But there is no connection between the company that owns Reddit and the admins of Dread, the latter just found a model that works and copied it.

Dread does not rely on Javascript to run at all, so it is far superior to reddit in terms of browser security. because Dread benefits from the anonymity of the Tor network, many popular subreads are about illegal or otherwise controversial topics. Cybercriminals do discuss their activities in some subdreads. But Dread also has some harmless subchannels. dread has subchannels on how to deal with financial crime and subchannels on popular video games.

Dread now has some authority as the largest English-language forum on the Dark Web, and many public events have been announced on Dread, such as the announcement of Dream Market's closure on Dread in March 2019 and White House Market's closure on Dread in October 2021, among others.

Dread's dark web V3 domain name is:

http://dreadytofatroptsdj6io7l3xptbet6onoyno2yv7jicoxknyazubrad.onion

From the official About:

What is Dread?

Dread is an onion based free speech platform and forum, where you can post, comment and share among tonnes of different communities.

It was developed with both privacy and usability in mind, choosing to stick to a common user interface to match the likes of Reddit, but without the added security issues that are involved with the use of JavaScript.

It was developed by /u/HugBunter in early 2018 and launched on February 15th.

Following a month of down time from the 23rd of April, the platform was redeveloped to be a lot more stable, with the backbone and UI completely re-imagined to allow for more flexibility, based on the mistakes that were made in the first iteration.

Initially, I planned to base the communities solely around my interest in DarkNetMarkets and the security surrounding them, but since then it has grown to become much more than that, housing a variety of different communities and providing a safe place for users to interact without the fear of censorship beyond the specific rules in place. We provide a hub for harm reduction to many aspects of Deep web purchases, including, but not limited to, security reports and also safe drug use information.

As a free speech platform without the unwarranted censorship that transparent sites like Reddit offer, Dread strives to allow for all content to be discussed and to accommodate as many different communities as possible. However, based on basic ethics and legality concerns, Dread also has some ground rules in place to prevent illegal content from being shared on the platform. Under no circumstances may users post or privately discuss any of the following categories of content on the platform, as follows:

Child pornography
Pro-terrorism or terrorist propoganda
Harmful weapons/weapons of mass destruction
Poisons
Assassination services or media related to harm/murder

In addition, there are a number of community guidelines that all users must adhere to at all times:

1) No on-site trades/transactions of any sort. See this post for clarification of what is counted.
2) No spam posts/comments/messages.
3) No vote brigading/manipulation. This includes requesting upvotes from users.
4) No sharing of fear mongering content, with no factual basis or evidence. (AKA NO FUD)
5) No direct personal information of any individual. (AKA NO DOXXING)
6) No impersonating any known individual or staff member.
7) No spreading blatant misinformation in hopes of tricking those less intellectually fortunate (or high).