Recently, the owner of the blog, Bene Diction Blogs On, started the day by deleting comment spam. Finding one posted to the “Da Vinci Code and Left Behind” topic, deletion was a click away. That is until Bene Diction noticed that the links in the comment pointed to ChristianityToday.com. (ed. Bene Diction, a nom de plume, is also assistant editor of Spero News.)
"There are a lot of great articles, downloads, sermon helps, Bible studies, and other resources at ChristianityToday.com," the comment read and also included a series of links to articles on Christianity Today related to The Da Vinci Code.
Believing Christianity Today International, the parent company of Christianity Today magazine, was the victim of a spammer, Bene Diction investigated and discovered the links actually directed to the ChristianityToday.com website. Looking at the message closer, Bene Diction noticed the comment included a link to the poster's e-mail address, website, IP address, and his name: Michael Joseph.
Bene Diction forwarded the comment to Spero News' technical experts for help in tracking Michael Joseph and posted a warning for other bloggers to beware of the potential forgery in Christianity Today’s name.
In Michael Joseph’s weblog his biography informs the reader that he’s 33-years-old, suffers from fibromyalgia, and is preparing for his upcoming marriage. His blog is populated with links about planes going around thunderstorms and how roasted vegetables are just as bad for the teeth as fizzy drinks. Michael Joseph's online profile explains his occupation is with a non-profit and in other posts he mentions that he’s in public relations.
Spero News traced and confirmed the IP in his spam message and made another discovery: Michael Joseph e-mailed the comment from an IP address owned by Christianity Today International.
While surfing, Bene Diction found the most important clue. In his weblog, Michael Joseph wrote about his brother's weblog at TonyHerman.com.
If you just missed an important clue, Bene Diction did too.
Because all the links in the blog comment directed to Christianity Today, Spero News explored the possibility that the magazine was using a common technique of posting messages on blog comments for free advertising. The person who would be responsible for making the comment might also be a public relations official who works for the magazine. A search on Christianity Today's website for the pages where media contacts or publicists’ names are provided revealed the media contact on Christianity Today’s press releases as Michael Herman, Tony Herman's brother.
Michael Joseph is Michael Herman, the Alliance and Promotion Manager of Christianity Today International, whose job is to gain publicity for the organization.
Michael Herman hasn't done anything illegal. Commenting on blogs is not against the law nor is it unusual for sellers of body enhancements, phony pharmaceuticals, and gambling offers to use comment sections of weblogs for free advertising.
Ted Olsen, a journalist at Christianity Today, saw Bene Diction's warning and replied, "I'm checking on this. We certainly didn't authorize it here on the CT hallway. It may be a corporate thing. Thanks for letting me know."
That evening Bene Diction e-mailed Olsen explaining that the IP address of the person who made the comments was owned by CTI.
The next day Michael Herman admitted to making the comment and apologized on Bene Diction’s blog.
“It’s an extra thing that I do above and beyond my role he
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