When hundreds of white supremacists took to the streets of Charlottesville with lit tiki torches and swastikas, chanting "Jews will not replace us," they drew the ire of countless left-leaning groups, civil rights activists, politicians from both sides of the aisle—and also of Stormfront, the decades-old internet watering hole for David Duke-style white supremacists and neo-Nazis.

Many of Stormfront's users viewed the actions of the Unite the Right rally-goers (most of whom fall under the self-selected moniker of "alt-right," although "Nazis who like memes" also works) as outrageous, shameful, and counterproductive to their shared goals of securing a future for the white race. Stormfront posters complained that the ragtag collection of groups brandishing homemade shields and screaming openly about Jews gave other neo-Nazis a bad name. They viewed the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer almost exclusively as bad PR.

The rifts between Stormfront's white supremacists and the younger, more internet-savvy generation that cut its teeth on 4chan have shown before. In fact, Stormfront's frustration with the Charlottesville rally-goers reflects the same ideological disagreements that have divided white supremacist groups since the early days of the Ku Klux Klan. New racists, same fights.

Stormfront's present-day concerns coalesce around recruiting best-practices. The alt-right's flamboyance, they say, could alienate potential enlistees to their movement of hate.

"Some were carrying swastikas and that isn't good for our image, because of the propogabda [sic] embedded into everyone's minds," wrote user pontypool, although he later added that he was "glad for any whites uniting, even, the morons."

“This is still a propaganda battle," another user wrote. "How does this help us win a propaganda battle? Someone died and around twenty people went to the hospital."

Screenshot via Stormfront.

Beyond shields and swastikas presenting a bad look, the two sides also disagree on long-term strategy. "The factions, in my view, generally reflect differences of opinion that hinge on the normative role of the state in securing or legitimizing white supremacy," says Christopher Petrella, a lecturer in American cultural studies at Bates College.

Where the alt-right sees the establishment as effectively useless, Petrella says, members of Stormfront believe that white nationalists can best further their cause—which, again, is turning the US into a white ethnostate—by insidiously working their way into the mainstream. Torches and Nazi chants aren't exactly the best foot forward.

By contrast, the forum postings argue, if you can make yourself sound even moderately reasonable to people who'd rather not think of themselves as racist, then you've already won.