A really nice piece. And a great example of how traditional media found a way to work with the blogs to the benefit of both, and the larger story.
By this time, the liberal blogs were probing Talon News, finding that it was closely affiliated with another site called GOP USA.com. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of the pajamadeen went to work on the alias angle. A few days later, the popular blogger Atrios suggested that Gannon's real name was James D. Guckert....
It was amazing to see how many participants, at how many sites, took part, and the skills at their command, mainly Web-based. The material the detectives at DailyKos and other blogs drew out of obscure or abandoned Web sites — and caches — regarding Talon, Gannon, and a dozen other threads was astounding, although I couldn't quite tell if any of the searches and grabs required talents well beyond the reach of even the most advanced computer wonks.
Within 24 hours, the gumshoes had confirmed that Gannon was Guckert. Meanwhile, someone linked Guckert to setting up half a dozen sex-oriented Web sites with names like militaryescort.com. Hours later someone else posted a screen capture of a "JDG" in his underwear from an abandoned AOL hometown page, and he sure looked like Gannon/Guckert. Certainly that was just coincidence?
Then Gannon/Guckert told Strupp that he had indeed set up sex sites "for a client," but claimed they had never been activated.
Well, I was growing impressed with blog research. Cutting away the over-the-top rhetoric, snarkiness, and conspiracy theories, most of their far-fetched facts were standing up. So when Americablog uncovered what appeared to be nude photos of Gannon/Guckert advertising his wares as an escort, along with something of a paper trail linking him to those sites, I was no longer skeptical. Soon The Washington Post was citing this evidence.
