its funny you mention dandies because I was on those forums in the 00s and they skewed pretty right wing (lot of talk about 'trad' clothing styles) and I think OP was there too, and another name I've seen crop up is michael anton who used to post as 'manton' back then and is now a huge trump guy
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The British version, at least, were basically just male fashionistas, except for free black people, who used it as a way to challenge the status quo.