I’ve got a problem and I really need advice from this group.

It seems that someone is going around to various blogs (perhaps automated) and putting in my name, home phone number, and link to my site as comment spam on various blogs. I have a pretty good idea who’s doing it (not their name, etc., yet – that’s under investigation) and why.

The problem is that this is totally antithetical to everything I’m about. I’ve taken a strong stand against splogging, shilling, and comment spamming – I’ve been quoted in the Washington Post, have very publicly exposed some shilling schemes, and have openly taken comment spammers to task (the pen is mightier, etc.). I think this all started about a week ago when I sent a warning message to someone who was shilling on my site and a few others I saw -- I think I rubbed them the wrong way and they figured they'd "show me".

Unfortunately, I’m not a household name (yet) that every blogger in the world just says, “Oh, that can’t really be him – he would never do that.” So I first learned about this when a pissed-off blogger e-mailed me and said “Thanks for spamming my blog. You guys obviously don’t know anything about how to market your book,” etc., etc. I’ve spent way too many hours building up a good reputation to have it damaged by some spammer/hacker with a beef against me.

So far, I only have two confirmed incidents of this. The first one had deleted the comment already and doesn’t have any of the information. Fortunately, the one I heard from today had saved everything and even took the time to go through his server log to tell me all kinds of useful information (raw IP address, visit behavior, etc.).

I’m trying to figure out how to best address this. Should I go public with a counter-PR campaign? Or privately try to find some more evidence first? How do I fight back? FTC? An attorney?

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

I have faith that I will win out in this in the end because a) I’m right and they’re wrong, and b) I have friends who will stand up for me and they don’t.

Thanks in advance,

- Scott -