Dark.fail's News Site to Launch “This Monday” (Update, nope!)
Dark.fail has been working on a news website and media organization that will launch “this Monday.”
According to Dark.fail on Twitter, the news website has been a year in the making. Other than the fact that the site will require a subscription of some sort, there is very little publicly available information.
“It’s my 4th year here, providing original reporting on privacy and cyber matters. Thank you readers. This Monday I launch my independent news website, years in the making. Want a free one year subscription? D.M. or email me your Protonmail within the next 24 hours. Hiring writers.”
On April 29, Dark.fail tweeted, “Launching this Monday: my new media organization. (delayed by a bug.).” If the timeline does not shift, the launch will presumably take place on May 1, 2022.
Subscriptions
Perhaps the subscription model is the way to go here. As someone who is not truly anonymous or someone trying to stay out of the crosshairs of the U.S. government, there are not a ton of options here. There are the occasional emails, such as the one below, that read like bait from law enforcement.
Most likely not LE but who knows.
Someone could easily make a killing by launching a directory site and soliciting this. They would obviously have to maintain perfect OPSEC or stay out of the reach of the U.S. government. If someone was going to go through that whole routine, they might as well go all in - run phishing sites, exit scams with Eckmar scripts, etc.
I do not have accurate traffic figures for this site. Still, I do know that while the total number of pageviews is relatively high, the number of pageviews for most articles is much lower than the pageviews for practical pages like Dread, Not Evil, the market list, etc. Articles generate more activity than new markets and less popular forums. But as a general rule, over 30 days, the market list, the onion list, Dread, the forum list, a couple of markets, etc., will all generate more pageviews than any article.
This is a fairly typical lineup for pageviews over 30 days.
Dark.fail generates more pageviews than this site, I suspect. The news organization might be a successful venture financially.
I am not trying to sound like I am complaining about anything (Dark.fail potentially finding a way to make running an independent news site financially viable). I did not take this on to make money.