The Price of 'Blogebrity': A Cyber Stalker

April 25, 2008 — -- New York City blogger and Star Magazine editor-at-large Julia Allison says she has a stalker -- a blog stalker, that is.

"She follows every single thing I say or do on the Internet," Allison, 27, told ABCNEWS.com, adding that she knows the blogger's identity but is still debating what to do with it. "She has references about me that I didn't know existed. She is a veritable storehouse of Julia Allison history and trivia."

Allison, who spends much of her time blogging on such things as the baths she gives her dog and lunches with her grandmother, claims the blogger -- who uses Allison's real name, Julia Baugher, to write on the blog "Reblogging Julia," has "crossed the line."

"I get criticized a ton on the Internet, but I have never become frightened," Allison said. "This steps beyond the line of a harmless activity and is obsessive."

"I can take a lot of criticism, I have a thick skin," added Allison, who's frequently the butt of jokes on New York-area media blogs like Gawker.com and Valleywag.com.

The mystery blogger -- who has never approached Allison in real life -- has called Allison a liar, an insult the blogger takes most personally that has even led her parents to disown her, she told ABCNEWS.com. When approached for comment, the anonymous blogger did not respond to an e-mail sent to her blog from ABCNEWS.com.

"She's [screwing] with my personal life, and she's [screwing] with my professional life, said Allison, who said that she's "good natured about criticism" and can take more "than the average person."

Allison, who has not alerted the police, said she is undecided on how to proceed against the blogger and doesn't want to respond and encourage anymore disparaging posts. "Infuriated," Allison said she wished the blogger would be like any other gossip columnist, and provide a byline along with her posts.

"I don't believe that all press is good press," said Allison, who is often criticized for being an aggressive self-promoter. "This is scary."

To Blog and Be Blogged

For life bloggers like Allison, who electronically post intricate details of their lives in the blogsophere, it is to be expected that not everyone who reacts to these blogs will like what they're saying, several Internet experts say.

"These life bloggers are the ultimate example of being the victim of your own success," said David Griner, who blogs for Adfreak.com, a pop culture blog launched by AdWeek in 2004. "They built their reputations and popularity by telling everyone every little detail of their lives; that's what makes them such a success."

"But what makes you popular also makes you vulnerable," Griner said. "There is probably nobody who is more susceptible to criticism than these bloggers."

But Allison isn't so sure. Just because she puts the details of her life out there, doesn't mean she should be tortured over them.

"A lot of people have Facebook and MySpace pages, but does it mean people should harass them?" Allison asked. "Really, what kind of society are we living in."

Her experience with the mystery blogger may change the way Allison behaves online.

"Nobody wants to feel that there is this kind of shadow on their life," blogger Griner said. "The whole point of blogging is to feel comfortable sharing."

Allison told ABCNEWS.com that she has no intention of stopping her blog.

Having someone blog about you is not a new problem for bloggers, said Griner, who said that this has been a prevalent issue since the Internet was invented.

"If a celebrity doesn't have any paparazzi following them, are they really a celebrity?" Griner said. "If you're online and nobody talks about you, you might as well not exist at all.

"Any blogger would like to think they spark debate and criticism, but I think they'd rather it be about what they blog about, not about them personally," he said.

Loren Feldman, head of production at 1938 Media Company, knows what it's like to both blog and be blogged. Having first learned of Allison on gawker.com, a Manhattan media blog that has been known to dedicate posts to her antics, Feldman posted a few of his own.

"Allison caught my eye because she was so particularly out there and public," said Feldman, who said that despite rumors, he is not the mystery blogger who Allison claims on her blog is "scaring" her.

Having negative blogs written about you "is all part of the game," Feldman said. "Allison would like to think she's special, but I probably have 10 different sites about me. People hate on me like you would not believe."

Paul Saffo, a technology forecaster in Silicon Valley, Calif., said these kind of "twists and turns" are to be expected for a medium that is still fairly young.

"There are consequences to everything you do in cyberspace," Saffo said. "If you criticize people, chances are you'll get criticized back, and it will be there in perfect digital glory for all to see."