Wild West 2.0: How to Protect and Restore Your Online Reputation on the Untamed Social Frontier

222 Wild West 2.0

attacker may fear retribution once identified and may give up his

campaign to smear you.

Sometimes the identity of your attacker will be obvious: If a

blogger working under his real name takes out a grudge on you, then

it will be a simple matter to identify the blogger. But, other times, the

identity of your attacker will be less obvious: If you are attacked

through a forum post under a pseudonym (e.g., “Auburn1234”), it

might not immediately make clear who your attacker is.

Even if your attacker is not working under his real name, you

can still put clues together to identify the person. Some attackers re-

veal themselves by repeating information that only a handful of peo-

ple know; if only two people were present at a meeting and t ...