The bolded part.
Sorry, I missed the bold.
Totse closed on January 17th 2009. Obama took office January 19th 2009. Its not too much of a secret that when a new administration takes office oftentimes funding and focus does change to some degree depending on the attitudes of the new regime. Many times it may be completely out in the open with things like funding space exploration, or in the case of national security black ops and other things that are more covert.
I've heard many theories over the years that Totse was taken over many years earlier by the feds, as a way to track and attract any would be bad guys. ESPECIALLY in a post 9/11 world where all the rules changed....if you can frisk grannies at the airport and not allow people to carry on a bic lighter for all the world to see, one can only imagine just how far "in the shadows" they would go...literally not leaving any possible stone unturned. If they brought on board a literal army of TSA agents, air marshalls, and all the equipment to tighten the reigns on air travel, is it so incredible to think they would also invest time, money and manpower to start monitoring if not directing how the internet was operating....especially how viral everything has gotten since then?
Totse and Zoklet more than likely were just honeypots for the feds and state law enforcement to track potential criminals...and any other off-shoot agencies like the ones that Coupon Guy got caught by. Totse closed because they might have realized the funding would no longer be there, or the new incoming regime had different ideas what to do with those personnel or assets. Or maybe just slice the funding, and those still managing Totse realized with limited manpower and focus they couldn't do their jobs any better. Zoklet now became a viable honeypot to track and attract criminals....only this time it might have been guided more on the state instead of federal level with whoever was in charge. Ever find it funny how SO MANY of the higher ups at Zoklet were from Ohio? Zok, Vladie, O_RLY, Unwyred...etc.
It also explains why during the Zok administrative era of both sites they never ever made a serious attempt at bettering the quality of posters....because if you DID have a board made up of very savy and street capable adults...then dumber/lazier/sloppier criminals wouldn't freely post on a board where they were so out of place.
Lastly, think of how IDchief was promoted and allowed to advertise for so many months. Everyone knew it was illegal, producing, possessing, using fake IDs is common sense against the law. But it WAS allowed on Zoklet for significant time....yet right out of the other side of Zok's mouth in regard to Coupon Guy...."herp, derp, I had to help the feds...I was subpoena'd".
These are just a few pieces of the puzzle, and perhaps I am just an alarmist conspiracy theorist coming up with fanciful bullshit. A lot of it fits though, and IS very relevant in a post 9/11 society where so many of our personal liberties have been trampled on....and how dependent/obsessed the world is with the internet.
