From Our Founder and Lead Moderator ...

We get a lot of this, and worse.
We must be doin' it right.

As a team of 7 key people, along with dozens of allies and contributors, Far Right Watch has grown from a standing start to be, we believe, a key player in the fight against Hate Speech and the Far Right online.

Our moderators are resident across the UK, in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, with contributors throughout the UK, and allies within Europe and the USA.

During this time we have striven to sustain our anonymity. Why? Because we know what happens when the loons identify us. We've been through it all before.

We make the Far Right very
angry. Can't imagine why.

We've had threats ranging from violence to ourselves, our families and children, up to very specific promises of gruesome deaths. We've had emails and phone calls to our employers (who universally have supported us). And we've even had false accusations of criminal offences.

There has been a downside to this: We've had to turn down so many media opportunities where our identities would have to be known; and we've had to bite the bullet when we've been the victim of various offences, as criminal cases would mean, by our nation's laws, that our names and addresses would be revealed in open court. In the latter case, this has provided a certain protection to those attacking us.

Well: no longer.

Our founder, driver, and key moderator has decided that the time has come to identify himself for a few good reasons:

1. A few recent incidents of threats of violence against us have been so serious that criminal cases could well be brought against those guilty, and it is probable that one of us will have to give evidence in court and be identified anyway.
2. We feel that the exposure and interviews being asked of us from various media organisations worldwide are too good an opportunity to miss to spread our message.
3. Our key moderator's personal life is sufficiently insulated from Social Media that the small risk is acceptable.

So, in order to 'draw fire' from the other moderators, we can reveal that our Team Leader is John O'Connell ; @jdpoc on Twitter - a biker, IT consultant, geek, chef, occasional security at rock festivals and a regular on the front line at a demo near you.

And if you're thinking of a 'soft lefty bearded vegetarian' think again.

Okay, except for the beard bit.