Crikey blogger adopts assumed identity to hassle Andrew Bolt

Crikey blogger Jeremy Sear not only comments here anonymously in support of himself, he also pops up under an assumed name – Jeff of Mulgrave – to hassle Andrew Bolt on the radio.

Compare "Jeff's" comments on the situation in Libya here (at 32:30) to Sear's commentary in the latest Pure Poison podcast to confirm that the voice does indeed belong to Jeremy. Also, "Jeff" makes the same points on air made by Jeremy in writing at his personal blog.

Anonymous commenting and using an assumed identity are underhanded ways for a contributor to a "news" site with mainstream aspirations – Crikey – to attack ideological opponents. What's going on here, Jeremy?

Update For the latest, go here.

An early morning visit from Jeremy Sear

It looks like Pure Poison blogger Jeremy Sear dropped in this morning to leave an anonymous comment:

Why is this site so obsessed with this Sear guy? Three Sear-devoted posts in three days? A minute by minute breakdown of a podcast?

Did he reject your advances or something?

No, seriously, I thought he was just some blogging lawyer but from your coverage he and Loewenstein must be a lot more important in Australia than I'd assumed.

Anyway, good to find this site. Keep up the good work!

Yep, the comment may be anonymous but it has Sear written all over it: it was posted at 4:44 am WAST (7:44 in Melbourne); it contains thinly disguised distracters such as "this Sear guy" and "good to find this site"; and it's Sear's writing style.

So, at 5:31:57 this morning I sent Sear an email asking if he posted the comment. It's now 10 hours later and he still hasn't responded. I'm assuming he would have denied making the comment if it wasn't him.

Given Blogger's limitations I can't prove that Sear left that comment but the evidence is pointing that way so I' going to ask him again if he visited RWDB this morning and commented. Come on Jeremy, I'm curious, Yes or No?