What to Do When Dread Goes Down

When Dread, the most popular discussion platform on the darkweb, goes offline for one reason or another, many users find themselves lost or posting the same questions concerning Dread’s status on various subreddits. Here are some alternative forums to check out until Dread comes back online. This is not a conclusive list of darkweb forums worth using but hopefully these sites can occupy your time until Dread’s retun.

Post update: Dread timing out is an indication that is has been hit with a denial of service attack again instead of other more ominous possibilities. Also I mentioned not emailing about this. I should have clarified that sending messages on Jabber about this is likely equally fruitless; I have no power over HugBunter’s ability to get things done.

And hopefully these will help keep my inbox free of emails asking when Dread will return.

The first and only practice actually endorsed by HugBunter, the owner and creator of Dread, is checking the subreddit dedicated to official posts about the circumstance we find ourselves in right now: Dread being offline. The subreddit is /r/DreadAlert and it is the only official Dread sub. Remember that unless a link is posted and signed by HugBunter on that subreddit, it is not a legitimate Dread link. Dread uses only one onion address: dreadditevelidot.onion.

You can check the status of Dread there (if HugBunter feels as though the downtime is important enough to warrant a post; his time is limited and dedicated to more projects than he can reasonably finish as it is).

There are no replacements for Dread, but there are some other places where darkweb users from various markets converge and discuss topics not found on the forums from specific marketplaces (and some marketplace forums, such as Empire’s, will likely never return or stay “down.”)

The Hub

The Hub is a forum that has been functioning for a long time with very few periods of downtime. The forum dates back to the Silk Road and although it went down and stayed down for some time, The Hub staff brought the forum back online from a backup. As of June 17, The Hub has more than 85,000 members. More users than any marketplace forum. And, like many of the forums unaffiliated with marketplaces, content on The Hub is genuine content instead of blatant vendors advertisements or advertisements disguised as real content.

The Hub address: thehub7xbw4dc5r2.onion

DNM Avengers

DNM Avengers started as a subreddit but grew in size and eventually moved to their forum. The forum’s primary focus is harm prevention, quality control, and other health-related topics such as a specific vendor’s products or offerings on various markets. The forum has general discussion boards and places for topics outside of the harm reduction sphere.

DNM Avengers address: avengersdutyk3xf.onion

Deutschland im Deep Web

If you can read German, DIDW is one of the better forums on the darkweb. The topics range from drug safety to politics. It is not quite the “wild west” of the internet as the usual discussions are prohibited (thankfully), but it is a virtually free and forum not even remotely connected or influenced by outside parties.

DIDW Address: germanyruvvy2tcw.onion

DNSTARS

Even though the site has expressed their discontent with darknetlive, they are worthy of a mention due to the site’s function and active users. “DNSTARS™ is a social enterprise that makes access to drug screening services easier, cheaper and more relevant for everyone.”

DNSTARS Address: community.dnstars.vip/

As a reminder, please check /r/DreadAlert before emailing me to ask HugBunter when Dread will be online. Hopefully soon.