Websleuths cited in Wired article:
MAKING A MURDERER GIVES THE INTERNET ITS HOTTEST CASE YET
ON NOV. 4, 2005, a member of the long-running crime-finding site Websleuths started a forum dedicated to a missing-persons case that was fascinating, despite its obscurity: A few days earlier, a young woman named Teresa Halbach had vanished after a work-related visit to Avery’s Auto Salvage, a sprawling junkyard in rural Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. Soon, the charred remains of Halbach, along with her abandoned car, were found on the property; eventually, one of the yard’s namesake workers, Steven Avery, would be arrested, tried, and convicted for Halbach’s murder, and sentenced to life in prison. “Too bad the death penalty wasn’t an option,” wrote one Websleuths user at the time, echoing the sentiment of many fellow online peers.
Nearly a decade later, though, a new Avery-obsessed thread appeared on the site—one that found many of its commenters notably more skeptical about his guilt. They discussed alternate theories, bemoaned what they saw as blatant abuses of power, and shared public-record court transcripts (some of which had been unearthed by a new and equally agitated Reddit forum) that they scoured for more info. Before long, there were about 1,200 comments on the thread—enough to necessitate a second thread, in which commenters grew even more incredulous about Avery’s case. “I am certain there was a conspiracy here,” one user noted. “Certain.”
Wired
Comment: I am rather surprised that a technology reporter does not appear to know what a "
thread" as opposed to a "
forum" is. They also incorrectly cited the WM3, stating it was a case of 3 murdered teenagers, when, in fact, it was a case of a murdered little boy, and 3 teenagers, allegedly involved in Satanism, were charged, tried, and convicted. Outside of these rather glaring errors, the article is interesting.