Shutting Down Revenge Porn Site Won't Make Hunter Moore Any Friends

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Shutting down his disgusting revenge-porn site has, if possible, just brought more hate on the already very loathed Hunter Moore.

After a year of media criticism, threatened lawsuits and a stabbing, Moore, in a series of tweets, including one with that Instagram photo to the right, and a blog post, Moore announced the end of "Is Anyone Up?" a site, where people submitted nude photos of an ex or recent hookup or anyone worth shaming for Moore to post along with demeaning quips and the naked person's identifying social media information. Like we said, it's gross. It's actually even grosser than that, as Moore's site brought out the child porn crowd, a reason he cites for shutting down his project. "I just cant take the little kids naked being submitted anymore. im sorry," he tweeted this afternoon. 

As endearing as that reasoning is -- he's doing it for all those molested children! -- Moore's still a "scumbag," "horrible human being," and several  less flattering things to his detractors. The hate's partly because his farewell includes a lot of hypocrisy and not much repentance. Here's the closest he gets to an apology: "Even though there was drama and lots of tears and pissed off parents, I feel blessed and thankful for all of you who came here to support me." That's because Moore isn't quitting because of remorse, he's quitting because of exhaustion. His attitude about what he does hasn't changed. Even when the postings made him feel guilty he didn't shut down the site. "I get paid money to throw parties and I get paid money to sit in front of my computer and look at all of my peers naked," he explained to On The Media's Bob Garfield. "It's just too much fun." Moore chose now to stop because it stopped being "fun."  "I am burned out," he writes.

As for the hypocrisy part, Moore has taken on a social cause for life after shaming: bullying. "I might do some writing on bullyville.com to help people who have been bullied," he writes. "I am putting this message up on Bullyville.com to stand up for underage bullying. I think it’s important that everyone realizes the damage that online bullying can cause." Until this day, however, Moore was a professional bully, as part of the "Is Anyone Up?" model, which involved posting cruel commentary alongside the photos. "That's what people want to see, and I give it to them," he told Garfield, when asked about the demeaning commentary he adds to the already embarrassing nude photos he gets.

But even if Moore had written a heartfelt, "I'm sorry for ruining your lives and posting naked photos of you on the Internet for money" post, it probably would have drawn hatred, mostly because it would have sounded supremely insincere. Moore has done too good a job at playing the part of big asshole. Under his Twitter bio he describes himself as "hated," a moniker he earned by saying things like  "I don't see how I'm supposed to be sorry," which he told the Village Voice's Camille Dodero. Or statements like. "What do I have to defend myself against? It comes down to, you’re fucking stupid and I’m making money off your mistakes," which he said to The Awl's Danny Gold. Your shame isn't his fault. Never was. Never will be. 

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.