What do the following listed items have in common?

"Sherrie Hanna"
"David Whitw"
"Faith Blair"
"Kim"
"Oh please"
"Marie Sylvester"
"don"
"Sherrie Blair"
"Henry Moore"
"Haliy"
"Sherrie"
"Greg"
"tobias Nguyen"
"seeyalater"

All of these names were used to leave negative comments on stories about Steve Blair. Most were used only one time, some more than once.

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Obviously, many of the names are pseudonyms, and although that's not really preferred, it is usually accepted. The truth is, comments are more trusted and carry more authority when real names are used.

Sometimes there can be good reasons to use pseudonyms. Usually it's not, it's a cowardly reason - typically people who want to hide behind aliases in order to say something unkind or unfavorable. When pseudonyms are used for that reason, it tends to muddy the waters and sidetrack the discussion. 

But, there's something else about that list of names - all the comments represented above came from one location, most likely from one person. We have undeniable proof of that. It's not really a surprise that some of those names show up on comment sections on other media.

Furthermore, the list you see above is more insidious than you might realize at first glance. Sherrie Hanna is the name of Prescott City Councilman John Hanna's wife. Yet, according to John Hanna, she didn't make that comment, she wasn't even on the computer this weekend. And she's not very computer-literate, she wouldn't know how to leave comments, Hanna said.

Faith Blair is the name of Steve Blair's mother. When asked if she made any comments on Prescott eNews, specifically on the story about Blair losing his distributorship, this elderly woman responded, "I haven't seen it, haven't read it, and I wouldn't know how to leave a comment anyway."

What to do?

If democracy is messy, so is the Internet. This two-way street of conversations can be difficult to corral and manage. Sometimes people leave comments we don't like or agree with. Most of the time we gulp and let it go. Some statements are so blatantly over the top that removal is a fairly easy decision to make.

In this case, not only are the comments negative in nature, but they are falsely representing themselves as real people. It's essentially a form of identity theft. As a matter of fact, whether or not this falls into the category of criminal behavior is being examined very carefully.

We're removing the comments by this particular person.

In the meantime, this is a good reminder that when you read comments on a website, it's important to consider the source. Some comments are more valid than others. Look at who is writing them, read the content carefully. Be a critical thinker, examine them thoroughly.

For those leaving comments, please think about what you write before you click "submit". Is your comment a positive voice in the discussion which adds a valuable perspective or important information? We highly value those comments.

On the other hand, if you are just writing something mean and nasty because that's who you are - well, to be quite frank about it, we are happy to do without your input.

The new fine print

We're updating our Terms of Service for comments. They will now read:

Comments should be polite and without profanities. Personal attacks or potentially libelous material will not be allowed. By submitting your comments we reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or delete your comments. Commenting is a privilege and an opportunity to make a significant contribution to the conversation. Those that abuse the privilege will be banned from commenting in the future. Portions of these Terms of Use may change at any time without further notice.