“I’ve seen mujahideen with braces, come here inshallah [God willing]. Theres good healthcare,” Abu Fariss wrote.

But he admitted to another potential recruit that contact lenses could pose a problem on the battlefield. “how easy is it to get contact lenses there? are they expensive?” the ISIS hopeful had asked.

“Abu dujana [another British ISIS militant, who was killed in Syria] used to wear contacts. He said he didn’t like it because of the fact of if theres an ... alert of an attack it would take like 5 mins to position the lens and make sure its comfortable whilst your being attacked ... another thing is that if dust goes in your eyes whilst you’re in a battle = problem lol. He would prefer glasses over lens,” Abu Fariss explained.

Many potential ISIS recruits are also concerned about the availability of wireless Internet in Syria and Iraq, and whether there are Internet cafes. “Do you think in the future they will improve wi-fi and stuff? Like it will be available to more people once the state gets more stable and expands?” one wanted to know. Abu Fariss replied in the affirmative.

Then there are questions that hint at very specific motivations for wanting to join the Islamic State. “Could you take captured woman as slaves? As your right hand possession?” one user asked. “Dawlah [ISIS] sorts that out,” was the succinct response.

Several recruits were worried about having to cook for themselves in Syria. “Do u have to cook for yourself and clean everyday?” asked one. Abu Fariss replied: “It depends, if you're married you get days off. Also depends on the type of work you do, if you’re front line a lot there are cooks for your katiba [brigade] and stuff. However cleaning you have to do it yourself unless you're married or you have your family with you (mum, sisters etc),” he said.

“Do i have to bring clothes to fight in. Will dowlah give me dem shalwar kamees"—traditional clothing worn in parts of South and Central Asia—"and other camo gear?” one potential recruit asked an apparent British ISIS militant named Abu Qa’qa al-Britani, who reassured him that ISIS provides clothes. “[A]nd also you can buy here and get them tailor made,” he added.

Another ISIS hopeful wanted to know how much money he would need to travel to “khilafa land”—the lands ISIS controls. “[N]othing really at all is provided. All that's needed is to pay towards getting here,” Abu Qa’qa replied. Others were eager to find out how much cash they would have to lay out for weapons. “Do u pay for ur weapons?” asked one.

“No, we get weapons from Dawlatul-Islāmiyyah,” responded Abu Qa’qa, referring to ISIS. Elsewhere, Abu Qa'qa provides cost estimates in case a fighter wanted to buy his own weapons—a modern AKM Kalashnikov assault rifle goes for around $1,200, while an older AK-47 costs even more.