Yesterday, the Middle East Media Research Institute’s Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor first picked-up on this story. Later, Aaron Weisburd of The Internet Haganah posted the message as well as the responses of forum goers to the announcement:
And earlier today, Evan Kholmann of Flashpoint Partners on Twitter highlighted the following comments from online jihādīs:
The administrators of Al-Qaida’s preeminent Faloja online discussion forum have left users in shock by announcing the forum will soon close.
One Faloja forum user begged administrators for clarification: “please do not let the American dogs boast that we are losing the media war.
Indeed, this is a big deal if the administrators of the forum follows through and closes it down, but, at the same time, there are still tens of other forums online. Therefore, I do not think it will make that much of a difference.