But Anonymous hackers have reached beyond the Web.

Anonymous has been operating for nearly a decade. It’s hard to even call it a group — those insiders who have spoken publicly about the organization describe it more in terms of each individual mission.

“It is an anarchist collective of autonomous individuals,” wrote one hacker who responded to an email from the Post-Dispatch. “Most of us are friends and work together, but we are not responsible for anything anyone else in the global collective does.”

That team member, who declined to be identified but said he was out of the country, said the core Ferguson operation is run by about a half-dozen Anonymous operatives, invited by St. Louis activists, with thousands of “Anons” from about 75 different countries “joining in to help.”

And in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, at least one of those hackers began following standard Anonymous protocol: He began scouring the Internet for personal documents regarding Chief Belmar — “doxxing” — the man Anonymous estimated was keeping the shooter’s name secret.

Just after midnight, someone posting as @TheAnonMessage linked to a Web page listing Belmar’s address, phone number and the names of his wife and kids.