By Bo Min Keum
Background
Research suggests that participating in online forums give Incels a sense of belonging and validation for their shared grievances and struggles. Therefore, posing the question; why would they stop posting, and what do they say before they do? Given the emerging research on Incel posting trajectories, and the need for more research looking at the content behind these patterns, we focused on the final phase of once-active users to look for thematic patterns before they stopped posting.
Data and Method
Incels.is forum data spanning from November 2017 to March 2023 was collected by Simon Fraser University’s International CyberCrime Research Centre (ICCRC). Incel user activity can vary, with some posting frequently, and others stopping after a short time. We identified the 200 most active Incels.is users based on the number of posts made per user, and sampled 5 of their final opening posts only, not thread responses. This was to ensure that context was not lost, as responses could primarily show agreement or disagreement without referencing original posts. After removing users who did not initiate threads and posts with broken text or images, we were left with 706 posts made by the top 162 users. The primary coding approach was deductive, focusing on ideological (e.g. questioning Incel beliefs practices) and social (e.g. finding external social bonds and commitments) bases of disengaging online. Aside from these considerations, patterns were coded inductively.
Stopping online posts might not always indicate disengagement. Furthermore, even if some users might have considered disengaging, their thoughts might not have been expressed in their final posts. Examining potential themes surrounding disengagement has nonetheless uncovered the aspects users felt open to sharing.
Findings
Four main themes were identified: 1) incel ideology and values; 2) social anxiety and coping strategies; 3) forum status and users; and 4) online disengagement considerations.
The dominant theme was Incel Ideology and Values (n=406, 51%). The content coded under this theme aligned with well-documented patterns in Incel discussions, such as Lookism and misogynistic beliefs. However, there was a stronger emphasis on feelings of pointlessness, with reduced focus on rationalizing Incel beliefs or ideologies. Users often expressed that they saw no point in continuing to try with strategies, like whitemaxxing, suggesting that these intensified feelings of helplessness, rather than a rejection or dissociation from Incel ideologies, might explain why some stopped posting.
The second most common theme, Social Anxiety and Coping Strategies (n=214, 27%), involved concerns about social anxiety when external commitments, like school, were about to start. Users shared coping strategies, like recommending anime and ways to appear taller. Considering the timing of these external events in the final posts, it is likely that the users stopped participating because of new commitments instead of specific issues related to their involvement on Incels.is.
The themes Forum Status and Users (n=129, 16%) and Online Disengagement Considerations (n=49, 6.14%) more explicitly expressed content related to dissatisfaction with their participation on Incels.is. In the former, users criticized the quality of forum discussions and users. Some, for instance, were dissatisfied with the growing userbase of “greycels” “fakecels” and “LARPERs,” Incel terms for those pretending to be Incels and/or those lurking in the background without making meaningful contributions. This dissatisfaction with the forum suggests that, rather than withdrawing from online Incel communities, these users might have turned to other online spaces that offer a more radical environment and better meet their expectations for a more engaged and relevant user base, as they see it.
Online Disengagement Considerations was much rarer, largely reflecting fatigue with Incel practices such as repetitive venting. These posts indicated a broader sense of helplessness, where users questioned the value of continuing their posting activity. This growing weariness suggests doubt about online engagement practices and posting culture, which may not necessarily imply a complete dissociation from Incel beliefs. Some users directly expressed their intention to leave, while others noting challenges in detaching themselves from Incels.is. One user said it was difficult to stop returning after “more than 3-4 days,” suggesting some level of willingness to express their intention to leave Incels.is, even in an environment where such behaviour might be criticized or shamed by other users. These patterns highlight the need for more research on the experiences and challenges individuals face when attempting to step away from online extremism, rather than solely focusing on the outcome of disengagement.
Pointlessness and Nihilism – as Ideology and Practice
It is likely that a sense of helplessness developed over time as users reached their point of making their last posts, which might have furthered their sense of despair and influenced their decision to stop participating. Not necessarily because they no longer believe in Incel beliefs, but because they don’t see a point. Given their ideological focus on genetic determinism and Lookism, where the logic is on the irreversibility of their inadequacies, there might be Incel-specific helplessness that could take the form of radicalized nihilism and “no point” mentality. Researchers are increasingly recognizing nihilism not merely as a psychological state but as an emerging ideology in itself, involving detachment and withdrawal as responses to perceived failures. Given the prevalent pattern of helplessness seen toward the end of their posting activity, understanding the radicalized nihilism as a potential route to Incel radicalization, rather than disengagement, would require further research.
Furthermore, users’ weariness with forum practices like venting seen in these final posts may indicate frustration with their posting practices, more so than a rejection of their ideology itself. Daly and Reed’s (2022) interviews with Incels revealed that, for some, posting misogynistic content served as a means to vent anger, rather than a deep commitment to misogyny. Community Incel-specific terms might be reinforcing these practices, such as “greycels” which refer to users with fewer than 500 posts, whose profiles appear in grey on Incels.is. These normalized terms, which also persisted in some of the users’ final posts, reflect community expectations about what constitutes a meaningful contribution, and their dissatisfaction with Incels.is and its users for not meeting these expectations. Future research should examine how these implicit reinforcements of performative and memetic aspects of posting behaviour could influence user engagement, and later fatigue within Incel spaces.
Bo Min Keum is a PhD student at the International CyberCrime Research Centre (ICCRC), Simon Fraser University.
Richard Frank is a Professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University and Director of ICCRC.
IMAGE CREDIT: PEXELS
Want to submit a blog post? Click here.