The worst online spaces for trans and gender diverse people are, in order:
USENET
USENET quickly became the service of choice for the worst online trolls of the 20th century. The trans-focused “support” newsgroup alt.support.srs in particular grew so toxic that everyone but the trolls left.
Twitter quickly became the service of choice for ragey hacks and a terrible place to get information or discuss anything of substance. Any trans person worth following stopped posting much after about 2013.
When Elon Musk purchased Twitter, it became even worse, reinstating many of the accounts banned for transphobia, repealing policies against deadnaming and misgendering, and actively encouraging anti-trans sentiment from the owner down.
Twitter alternatives
People who have been suspended from Twitter for transphobia and other violations often migrate to alternatives, including:
- DLive
- Gab
- Minds
- Parler
- Truth Social
Tumblr
Tumblr was generally accepting of trans and gender diverse people, but the core user base was comprised of the most toxic and histrionic trolls of the millennial generation. It also helped shape the porn tastes of a generation, for better or worse.
Video games and their forums
Games known for anti-trans trolls and griefers who harass trans players include:
- League of Legends
- Call of Duty
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Dota 2
- Overwatch
- World of Tanks
- ARK: Survival Evolved
- World of Warcraft
- Undertale
- Minecraft
4chan and alternatives
This imageboard is favored by anti-trans people on /pol and trancels on /lgbt. Users on /lgbt are often trans-attracted and/or wish to transition but fear rejection. Many have a deep and abiding hatred or contempt for some or all trans people. That hatred is often a pale shadow of their self-hatred. Domains:
- 4chan.org
- 4channel.org
- 8chan
- 8kun
Some subreddits on social media platform reddit are known for toxic views about trans people, including:
- r/BlockedAndReported
- r/KotakuInAction
- r/Safeguarding
- r/politics
- r/TwoXChromosomes
- r/PoliticalHumor
- r/LouderWithCrowder (banned)
- r/opieandanthony (banned)
- r/ChapoTrapHouse (banned)
- r/CringeAnarchy (banned)
- r/GenderCritical (banned)
- r/The_Donald (banned)
- /r/TumblrInAction (banned)
For a full list of the hundreds of banned anti-trans subreddits, see reddit.
reddit alternatives
reddit was the service of choice for anti-trans hate for many years. Once they started banning anti-trans subreddits, most notably r/GenderCritical, some of the hate moved elsewhere on the reddit platform, and some moved to new platforms.
- Voat (2015-2020) domain: voat.co
- SaidIt (founded 2017) domain: saidit.net
- Ovarit (founded 2020) domain: ovarit.com
- Opie and Anthony forum (founded 2020) domain: onaforums.net
- rDrama (founded 2021) domain: rdrama.net
- The Motte (founded 2022) domain: themotte.org
Something Awful
Something Awful was an early web forum for edgy comedy. Its forums were a gathering place for toxic trans people and those who hate them. They later moved to Twitter, 4chan, and other toxic platforms.
- somethingawful.com 1999–2020
Encyclopӕdia Dramatica
Encyclopedia Dramatica is a trolling and doxing site that emerged to catalog LiveJournal drama, which was itself a toxic online community. Its content is so toxic that it has been taken offline many times and had to move domains numerous times since its founding in 2004:
- encyclopediadramatica.com (2004-2011)
- encyclopediadramatica.ch (2011-2012)
- encyclopediadramatica.se (2012)
- encyclopediadramatica.es (2013)
- encyclopediadramatica.rs (2017)
- encyclopediadramatica.wiki (2020)
- encyclopediadramatica.online (2020)
Kiwi Farms
Another trolling and doxing site with a special section on mocking trans and gender diverse people. The site was founded to mock an autistic person who later came out as transbian, then expanded to anyone they consider “lolcows.” Domains include:
- kiwifarms.net
- kiwifarms.ru
- kiwifarms.top
- kiwifarms.is
Alternatives have popped up, including
- lolcow.farm
Wikipedia alternatives
Many people who have been banned from Wikipedia for transphobia participate in alternatives, including:
- feministwiki.org
- conservapedia.com
- rationalwiki
Bodybuilding forums
A relic of web 1.0, many of these forums have negative attitudes about trans people and rigid views about sex and gender binaries.
Women’s forums
Some forums that started out as women-focused forums on things like parenting or makeup devolved into anti-trans hotbeds. Examples are Mumsnet and Lipstick Alley.
- mumsnet.com
- lipstickalley.com
Dating apps
Many dating apps do a terrible job of managing anti-trans harassment.
YouTube comments
If you have a transgender YouTube channel, you should probably set all comments to be held for approval to discourage toxic viewers.