From a current post at Doc Searls Weblog:

This morning I recieved an email from Alan Herrell, who has blogged for many years as The Head Lemur… [full text of the letter here]

This is the communication I’ve been waiting for. Alan appeared to have been the source of some (or perhaps most, or all — I’m not in a position to tell) of the offending posts on MeanKids.

I’ve known Alan for the better part of a decade. He has been a good friend — the kind you call on when something bad happens and you really need help. And he has delivered. Yes, he can be tough on people, especially when defending a principle. But that’s one reason I believe him.

From the beginning of this sorry affair, the default assumption by many people has been that Chris Locke or Alan were behind at least some of the viscious postings against Kathy Sierra and Maryam Scoble. Also from the beginning I’ve believed that these postings were not in the character of anybody I knew — but were in the character of trolls.

Trolls don’t just flame. They bait flaming. And they’ve been doing it since long before most of us were on the Internet. Sometimes very effectively.

If Alan is right, everybody on this giant thread has been taken for one of the oldest rides in the park.

For what it’s worth (and it’s a lot), we still don’t know who did this.

My reaction? My blog has been hammered by hackers the last few weeks, but I thought it was just comment spammers trying to get in the door. I can believe that someone figured out a way to hack Alan and spoof his identity. I’ll believe him because he has always been truthful to me and he is my friend.