Aw. Cute!!

It's really quite adorable that a commenter over at PFA thinks we're obsessed with Michael Tonello. Nothing could be further from the truth. We've never met him or Donna Lehtonen, and have absolutely no desire to. Nothing would make us happier than never hearing either of their names again, or having to see their poisonous posts on PFA or other forums, or the even worse comments he allows on his blog. Interesting that he's proud to put his name on the spew over on PFA.

No, what we ARE obsessed with is trying to end the bullying that goes on over there. We don't see any of PFA's anonymous commenters being forthcoming with their Ebay names, real life names and contact info even as they're baying for the same content for PFers. Funny, that.

We'd really like to see them both decide to do the adult thing. Which, in case we haven't made it clear, would be to let go of their grudges against being banned from PF and, in Michael Tonello's case, get over a couple of Ebay sales gone bad from YEARS ago. Really, we think it would do them both good. Come on over to the light side. See how it feels to treat people right for a change. You both might even enjoy it.

God bless Google

We've noticed and been alerted to the fact that Michael Tonello has been busy pimping out his links to PFA and his book. Gee - unemployed much, Mr. Tonello? But people haven't been too busy to come here.
We want to thank all of you for looking for us, too ... and for your readership.
What's good for the goose is good for the gander, right? Or more to the point, what's good for PurseForumAdvisory.blogspot.com is also good for PurseForumAdvisoryEXPOSED.blogspot.com.

Sorry seems to be the hardest word

Why can't Michael Tonello and Donna Lehtonen admit they were wrong?

Frankly, we shouldn't be surprised that they don't get it. But we kind of are.

Michael Tonello said for a very long time that he had nothing to do with running PFA. Donna Lehtonen said she had no idea who was behind it. And now her feelings seem hurt that people are on to her games. We don't recall her protesting at all when her good friend Michael did the exact same thing to people on PFA. Oh, correction. DOES the exact same thing.

Now he's come forward as the blog owner. So ... why wouldn't they just take down all the personal information they know they were wrong to post? Yes, all you PFA fans. Wrong.

We'll say it again. You can hate PF all you like. It doesn't give you or Michael Tonello the right to arbitrarily dig up personal information and make incorrect assumptions about people.

We might have a shred of respect for him if he admitted his agenda here and did the right thing.

We aren't holding our breath.

Michael Tonello aka Nancy Drew

We're guessing Michael Tonello has a thing for detective stories, because he seems to fancy himself quite the amateur sleuth. Thing is .... he has a little reputation. For commenting all over the Internet using multiple names. If he doesn't like something or someone, he posts whatever flighty thing pops into his little head. Or if he's in a good mood, he posts glowing reviews of his book under pseudonyms.

So why would you believe anything he says on his blog?

Let's recap, shall we? He has an agenda. A very simple one. He was booted from PF and seems to be very unhappy about that. Unhappy enough to go back again and again and again (and again) under different names. Unhappy enough to make up stories about what goes on there, the people who post, and the things they buy. So why would you believe any of his sleuthing theories about nefarious scams and reselling liars? Or should that be nefarious liars and reselling scams? He uses the same words over and over to describe .... well, nothing we've seen any proof of.

Hey Michael. Life's really too short. Why don't you spend your time doing something good in the world? Instead of making up nonsense.

Wait lists. Bespoke Bags. Mountains. Mole Hills.

What's the ridiculous obsession with Hermes all about? WHO CARES? Ask a random person in your office if they a) know what Hermes is b) know what a Birkin is or c) know if there is a wait list for a bag there. You are likely to be met by a) a blank stare ) b) a possible reference to maybe kind of sort of knowing what it is c) a blank stare.

We don't get it. Not the brand obsession, not the insistence that it really matters. And especially not the frame of mind that makes someone think it's ok to post misappropriated photos of other people, track their purchases and then decide that they and their belongings are worthy of continued harassment.

We've seen photos of Mr. Tonello and his bags. We haven't taken to this blog (or anywhere else) to decry his purchases, his taste in clothes or his looks. Or call him anything at all. We don't care if what he buys is fake or not. What he spends his money on is his business. What others do is not.

Can't let it rest

Posting as advent, Michael Tonello said this in December of last year on styleforum.net. Perhaps it's time to move on? But then he'd have to stop promoting his name under a different user I.D. At least Scott Adams was just talking himself up and not tearing down anyone else.

http://www.styleforum.net/showpost.php?p=3946962&postcount=1147

So now that Michael Tonello's name is on PFA

and he's openly acknowledging ownership .... we'd like to ask him why?

As in, why continue? That blog is nothing to be proud of. So why, after all the strenuous denials, come forward now? Well, as we wrote earlier, we think we know the answer to that one.

But in the meantime, he's up to his old ways. Everyone is "f'n" this and "f'n" that... he thinks it's funny to post personal information about people he's never met and who probably don't even know who he is but have a tenuous association with PF.

As we've said before, disagree. Dislike or even hate PF. Putting his name to it just confirms what a lot of people already knew. What name do we put to it? Pathetic.

Correcting a misconception

We noticed that someone over on PFA complained that we did not publish their comment despite repeated attempts. Frankly, that's a lie.

Actually, we publish nearly all the comments we have received. There have been a tiny handful, perhaps fewer than 10 of the many we've gotten, that we have not made public. When we have edited a comment to further protect someone's privacy, we have stated that we have done so.

What don't we publish? As we said, personal information about Donna Lehtonen's son. Or profanity laced tirades - we aren't PFA, thank you very much, and have no interest in that kind of language as it hinders, and does not progress, any discussion. And nice to know that Michael Tonello has no issues with continuing to publish private information in his comments section about people who have nothing at all to do with him, purses or anything else.

We have not published the real names of some of the victims of PFA. We are not going to engage in any further pursuit of those innocent people.

We are not interested in publishing he said/she said tPF threads about authenticity, people's buying habits, or personal lives. We don't know those people - we don't care. And actually, we don't even care much about what goes on at PF, whether the owners make or don't make any money doing it, or people's claims and lies. If they want to make themselves out to be mega rich owners of watches, cars, bags and houses, so what?

We do care in showing the patterns that Donna Lehtonen and Michael Tonello have very clearly left all over the Internet. Their own words, their own actions. They said it, often repeatedly. Once you know their various user names, it isn't hard to see those posts, patterns, and personal obsessions. And now that he has admitted to being behind PFA, we're puzzled about all the denials (which he's now removed from the site). We also think it's quite telling that Mr. Tonello removed the link to this site he originally provided in a post saying all publicity is good publicity (something he has said as Michael Tonello on numerous occasions about other things, by the way...)
We do care in hearing your stories, so keep them coming.

Michael Tonello admits to running thepurseforumadvisory blog. What a shock. Not.

So Michael Tonello's name is finally on the masthead at PFA. (And if it gets removed, we're happy to post the screenshot we kept). Of course, this only raises more questions.

• Like ... why would he even care what goes on at tPF?
• Why would he have denied being involved with the site?
• Given that he and Donna Lehtonen are best buddies (he's posed in her husband's gull wing car on StyleForum.net and tried to pass it off as his own ride, we recall), of COURSE she knew it was his blog all along. Why keep denying it?
• Why allow the kind of homophobic, racist and curse filled comments he so delighted in?
• Why publish the personal information of people he's never met and refuse to take this info down when asked?

So for all the doubters, at least now you can plainly see why Michael Tonello always removed personal information and negative comments that had anything to do with him or Donna Lehtonen. You can see why PFA focused on things that were important to Michael Tonello, like a years old Ebay grudge. And people who had the gall to make posts questioning him all those years ago.

Here's our guess about what happens next:

Michael Tonello will post in the comments at PFA, all outraged, that PFA is NOT his blog and he will say he is going to sue the "owner" to get the blog closed. And then suddenly - poof! - it will close. That's going to be his way to shut it down and still save face. Frankly, we don't care how he does it. We just think he needs to move on. (For those of you who followed PFA, remember the love fest between the supposed owner of PFA, and Donna and Michael in NY? Yeah. It sounded bogus to us too. Maybe they need a crystal ball or a seance to get all those personalities together in one room. Or a psychiatrist.)

How are you liking your PFA propaganda now?

Bringing Home the BS

The modus operandi on PFA... Let's start with frequent comments or posts about the following:

1. Grands Fonds (a PF poster with whom Michael Tonello had an Ebay run in - in 2007. Do you even remember your Ebay sales or purchases from 2007? And since Mr. Tonello wasn't banned from Ebay until long after that, that doesn't seem to be the reason.)
2. Amazon and sales of Michael Tonello's book Bringing Home the Birkin
3. Gushing about Michael Tonello and Donna Lehtonen. We particularly loved the one about how the PFA "author" met with MT and DL in NY in January. It's seriously time to get those multiple personalities integrated.

There is also the insistence that there is are all kinds of nefarious scams going on at PF. Yawn. As we've said previously, perhaps there are. Any large blog where people interact in real life is going to have them. It's called buyer beware. Where's the outrage over what happens on Ebay or Bonanza or ANY other large interactive site? We're waiting to see that.

This actually is authentic

The criticism of the authenticators on PF is constant but we won't repeat the claims since we don't use that kind of language. We think - the logic over at PFA, if it can be called that, since it makes no sense - goes like this. 
a) they authenticate from pics which PFA claims no one can do
b) then the moderators supposedly say a bag is fake so that they can scoop it up for themselves. Or
c) they direct the potential buyer to a reseller they work in cahoots with and then get a cut of the profit.

Okaaaay. That's PFAs view of the world.

Having looked now at all of the authentication threads on PF (and yes, we're tired), someone please show us evidence that any of this is actually happening? We just aren't seeing it. And why is it that PFA insists on putting up photos and calling the items fake when ... well, see point a) you can't authenticate a bag from photos. Quick! Tell that to the authentication services we found online who seem to do just that!

And at the end of the day, if all those people care so very very much about fakes, great! Let them get involved to help stamp them out where it matters - at flea markets and local stores. There are places you can go online funded by the luxury and fashion industries that will give you more info. The bag on some stranger's arm (or computer screen)? Not your business.

Thanks for saying what we were thinking

From the comments earlier this week...

Donna IS telling the truth when she says she had questions about bags and "notified someone". She notified lots of someones. Just not anyone in charge. Not mods. Just other members via emails or PMs in hateful, harsh, mocking words. She wasn't concerned about getting fakes off tPF. She was morbidly concerned and obsessed with the possessions of COMPLETE STRANGERS to the point of trying to rabble rouse among Hermes sub forum members. I know. I saw some of these PMs. They were promptly reported them to the Hermes sub forum mods. And they reprimanded her, but it still took overt and open harassment of melliesmom to finally ban that psycho. TPF tried very hard not to ban Donna, even though tons of members despised her for her mean, patronizing, nasty comments.

April 13 was anti-bullying day

It was aimed at kids, who were asked to wear pink. To commemorate a boy wearing a pink shirt who was bullied horribly as a result.

So what's your pink shirt?

Is it that you participated innocently in a blog, sharing your love of bags or cars or fashion or pets?

Did someone mock you, use your pictures in an unauthorized way, spread lies about you? Just because?

In the same week as this event, yet another blog tracking people's IP addresses and mocking people for their (of all things) handbags started up.

It's nothing to be proud of.

It isn't ok when kids do it but they're kids. Presumably, they dont know any better? What's an adult's excuse?

Need a laugh?

It's comedy time at the PFA.

Someone sent us a recent comment over there from the lovely DuchessofH herself and it included the immortal lines...

If Vlad knows about these other sites, he might be wise to ask them to refrain from involving his forum, in any slanderous content.

Um ... like AT PFA?

Or this one:
Even the tPF advises you to not use your real name/email address when choosing a member ID.

Golly gee. Why do we think that is? Hmmm. Let's see. To make it more challenging for the sleuths at PFA and other hate blogs to try to out their real names? Sure. That's probably it.

And our favorite:
The info posted on those other sites regarding me is untrue, and they HAVE posted my real name.

They must be serving up the good stuff over at PFA, really. The place where they not only publish your real name but find lovely other things to say about you that are .... BINGO! Untrue! Funny. We don't recall many people over at PFA disapproving of real names being posted. Including the DuchessofH herself.

Really, it's quite funny. Well, to us at least.

Just to clarify

When you become obsessed with one person ...
When you register as someone else on multiple forums and post as them ...
When you post untrue things about that person all over the Internet using a forum name they have established ...
It's called cyberharassment.

We are not going to mention the forum names of the people (yes, plural) who have been targeted. Because they've been tormented enough. But they know who they are. And some of them were successful in stopping the woman who was doing that to them. So it's rather disingenous for her to claim she's never bothered a soul online.

They know who's responsible for the online harassment they've suffered. And so do we. And for once, this woman who professes to be SO concerned about fakes, maybe she'll be honest with herself.

We aren't counting on it, though.

IT'S WRONG. Can't say it any plainer than that.

Why Michael Tonello changed his user name on GQ.com

Michael Tonello was using readily identiable names like LuxeGuru or HermesGuy but interestingly, his new nicks are different. Google reconfortante and it will no longer link you to his GQ posts because it is a common Spanish word. Ditto advent, for his posts on StyleForum.net (where he also admits to being Michael Tonello and shills his book as someone else, then comments on it as advent).

And of course, he is hiding behind the PFA. Though every now and then he posts as Michael J. Tonello. And comments on his own posts anonymously (it's easy to tell which ones - the style is nearly identical). And we suspect he has other blogs to bash PF. Some were not active. Some are new.

Michael Tonello has been a prolific forum poster and so he has left a trail. A slimy one. Frankly, we prefer breadcrumbs.

Thank you

We want to thank you.

For sharing your stories.

For standing up to cyberbullying and cyberharassment.

For treating each other politely and with respect. There have been only two comments we did not feel were fit to publish because they were basically just name calling. And a handful more (maybe 4) that either levelled accusations we were not comfortable allowing to post, or were speculation about people selling fake merchandise (they may well be - we are not qualified to say so we didn't want to post these) or wanted us to go after Donna Lehtonen's son - by name. We've already explained why we will not do this.

Even in disagreement, people have been civil and that is much appreciated.

We couldn't help noticing that even though Michael Tonello has not updated the content on PFA he has allowed several comments calling people the usual awful names. WHY? He has to approve every single once of those since he has comment moderation on. How do you feel good about hitting "permit" on a comment that calls a stranger a c__t. It's bad enough if you at least know the person, but a total stranger? For the amusement of other strangers.

It's just wrong. And no grudge can make that right.

LuxeGuru = Michael Tonello = purseforumadvisory.blogspot.com

Equals the person who keeps promoting purseforumadvisory, purseforumlies, purseforumconfidential.

Equals the person who made some poor kid's life miserable on the GQ forums - where LuxeGuru (now reconfortante) quite happily admitted to being Michael Tonello. Who also posts as advent on StyleForum.net, where he shills his own book.

Still believe Michael Tonello isn't behind PFA?

http://boards.style.com/message.jspa?messageID=146925

Kudos to Jason85 for taking on Michael Tonello

We don't know his real identity, or care if he was bs'ing about where he went to school. But he stood up to Michael Tonello (first posting as LuxeGuru and then changing his GQ forum name to reconfortante) and he was onto his tactics way before many others. Why would he care and hound this kid for post after post after post ... why?

But this shows a pattern. An ugly one.

Here is Jason85 fighting back in 2010. (From this thread if you want to read more for yourself: http://www.gq.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=62936&start=4680&tstart=0)

How many of you have even heard of it before this Luxe guy brought it up? I went there for a year, and made that very clear. Also, it was something I said in 2007, 2 years before Luxe joined this forum. It was in a "Tell us more about you" thread or something like that. I don't remember where I said it, since it was almost 3 years ago. If you were here last year, you would have noticed how he was stalking me, and how he read every single one of my posts dating years back. You'd think he was writing a biography about me and doing extensive research, since he would bring up things I don't even remember writing. It's creepy, and many pointed that out. He's really that desperate of a person. He has made tens of threads about me, calling me anti-semetic, or this and that, based on nothing. He's trying to get back at me for revealing what he did to those women, which you sent me via pm, btw. He has gone back and searched in his "notes" to find some dirt on me, and make things personal, but I'm not buying it. If he really has something, he would have said it last year, when he was constantly hounding me, since I said that one-third of a decade ago, and not something I randomly said last week.

I swore off responding to him, and made that clear in my last post. Actions speak louder than words. Nothing can justify what he has done by scamming people. I don't know what he's trying to prove. But if he thinks that "lying" about going to a highschool is equivalent to scamming hundreds of women by selling them damaged goods for $10,000-$50,000 and threatening them, then he truly is crazy. It's not even close of being on the same par. It is the internet after all, and no one forced this Tonello guy to reveal his name, and go all Dan Brown on us.

In a "how old are you" thread from last year, he said he was 31, but then suddenly claims he wrote that Birkin book a few months later, not that I don't believe him. It's not like he's a Pulitzer prize winner. His book is ranked #259,590 in Amazon's bestsellers rank, ha! I mean how hard is it to write a book about being blacklisted and thrown out of Hermes? In the end, he has been given way too many chances. He was also "revealed" too many times, as well. First by Hermes for re-selling bags and other goods, which is illegal, then by hundreds of members at the Purse Forum whom he ripped off, and like Hermes, they also banned and blacklisted him, and then by me.

For getting back at Hermes, he wrote a book, and revealed the "secrets" of how to buy the "exclusive" bag. To get back at members of the Purse Forum whom he ripped off, he published their names, addresses, etc., as revenge, and lastly to get back at me for posting the awful things he has done, he's TRYING to do the same thing. Don't you get it??? It's the oldest trick in the book! He truly never learns... Karma is a bitch! As I stated earlier, I swore off not only responding to him, but to not even mention his name. His name is so cursed at the Purse Forum that his last name "Tonello" is forbidden to to be used, and types star symbols instead, like *******, haha! That tells you a lot, when even computers tell you what a fraud he actually is! He can go to hell for all I care.

Open post to PFA commenters

We have one question for you - would you be proud to put your names to your comments on Michael Tonello's blog?

Those names you called people (and we won't repeat the names or the people) .... would you say them again but this time, own it?

We bet not.

That's the thing about anonymity. It frees people to say things they would never admit to having said. If confronted, we bet nearly all of you would be really ashamed.

That's the acid test, folks. If you would 'fess up to it and it wouldn't bother you .... and we don't think the majority of people on PFA who comment would feel comfortable with that.

Another guest post ...

Thanks to another commenter who asked to have their story told. We encourage you to please write us. We will not publish (nor are we interested in) identifying details.

OK, I'll go too. Thanks to comments published about me and personal information published about me, I received threatening telephone calls to my home. Referencing PFA. As you can imagine, my family was upset and scared. And why?? Because I posted some innocuous comments on PF? That's my guess. It's difficult for people to even understand this stupid situation when I explain it to them. I deleted as much personal information as I could from as many public places as I could - and this had a negative impact on my business. What bugs me the most is two things: that someone I considered a friend would betray me in that manner, and that Michael Tonello thought it would be fun and cute to post information that has nothing to do with anything in his life. I asked that my info be removed - no reply, of course, and the comments were never published on PFA.

Please understand that of course my name is online - probably yours is, too. But it's online in professional and personal contexts where I'm ok with it. To have it associated against my will with some scummy blog and to be threatened personally as a result? That is so not ok. I spoke to the police and they thought the comments crossed a legal line. I'm considering my options. So thank you to PFAE for allowing me to express my outrage here. Whoever is behind this, I'm very happy to have a place to speak out about what PFA is all about.

Real life consequences. Fake accusations.

Note: we have edited this to make the poster's occupation less identifiable. Thank you for coming forward.

I would love to take you up on your offer. I am not sure how to without identifying myself to Michael and Donna, and potentially subjecting an agency I love to being ridiculed and reviled. It's not safe. Michael and Donna are neither safe nor sane. And going up against them is scary. I'm really scared. But here goes: I trained for a career that pays a mid to high six figure salary. Instead of following that traditional pathway, I work for peanuts in a small, inner-city nonprofit, helping those who are indigent and ill, some terminally. I was shocked and distressed when Michael and Donna held me up for ridicule and encouraged others to pile on. I drew courage from my clients who face far worse than that every day, but it was painful, unjustified, and unexpected. The worst part was that I had weeks of terror, fearing that Michael and Donna would find out my name and my agency, and try to take it down. There are hundreds who might die if we don't exist, but I don't think Michael or Donna care about that. Thanks to those two, I was forced to go to my Executive Director and Board with a request to be removed from all websites and internet references to our agency. It broke my heart to ask to disassociate from a place I'm so proud of and have given so much of my life and soul to. The day Michael and Donna decided to make fun of me, I sat in my office and cried. I was still crying off and on when a client dropped in to talk to me. I talked to her for an hour about her life now, and she thanked me for helping her be brave enough to admit that she's HIV positive. She said that because of me she's able to go to local hospices and tell her story. So EFF YOU, Michael Tonello and Donna Lehtonen. I'm going to keep on helping people. You go ahead and keep on tearing them down and laughing at them. I have far less money than Donna, but oh boy, am I richer and more loved. Let's just see who leaves a better legacy, you jerks. So screw you, you pieces of human garbage. I hope this blog and your own words follow you to your graves. Oh, and my crime that was the reason I got "exposed" by PFA? Back in 2007 I bore witness to Michael Tonello's and Donna's lies, in real time, as they happened. I refuse to allow them to subsequently lie and deny their vile actions. If you're brave enough to bully, take your medicine when you're pushed back, Michael and Donna. Like most of those who are posted about on PFA, there was no proof given of any wrongdoing on my part, not in the original post, and not even after requests by commenters for proof. But that didn't stop those two.  

Your turn

If you feel you have been unjustly maligned on PFA, the floor is yours. We would be happy to publish your guest posts.

Please send any comments/thoughts and let us know. We feel so many people were held up to unfair ridicule, they should have the option to right the injustice if they would like to.

We will NOT publish your name, email, blog, or other identifying details if you do not wish them made public.

Calling Sherlock Holmes!

It's as though Michael Tonello predicted the future of his own purseforumadvisory blog. In his own words (we'll leave it to you Google hounds to find the reference - thanks, anonymous commenter!)... and I quote:

"But this whole episode made me realize what kind of anonymous defamation is now possible in our age. Because next week, and the week after that, and ad infinitum, this essentially authorless piece of drivel about me will come up under my name in google. Today's society rag doesn't end up lining birdcages anymore....it is a bird of prey itself, forever circling through cyberspace."

Sounds like an aha moment for his launch of PFA. Write things about people that would stick to them in perpetuity, aka Google. We loved his concluding remark:

But hey, all publicity is good publicity, right? Right.

Sounds awfully like something he wrote on PFA directing people to this blog.

Whats' that saying? Oh, yes. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

Not gonna do it

To those people sending nasty comments/links about Ms. Lehtonen's son .... we respectfully ask you to stop. We are not going to subject this kid to the same tactics as have been used on others on PFA. He's done nothing wrong. At all. And we will not unjustly drag him through the mud the way people were on PFA.

We have also not published comments with really bad homophobic or racist language. And will not do so.

We ARE interested in links to Michael Tonello's online postings. Please forward those. We are not interested in driving traffic to his blog, however.

Let's let his words speak for themselves.

Schoolyard games

Let's play a game.

If you have a child or children, I want you to imagine them doing the following...

Going onto a blog to trash other kids in the school they don't like. Calling them hurtful names. Exposing them to ridicule. Encouraging others to pile on.

If you don't have kids, imagine that your significant other or sister or brother is doing the same thing.

Would you cheer them on? Or would you be disapproving and get them to stop?

There's so much media focus on cyberbullying now. Kids have been harassed into suicide. No one is saying it's a good thing. Funny how there isn't the same sympathy for adult victims of cyberbullies.

Cyberharassment, cyberstalking and cyberbullying. Publishing people's personal information against their will so that they can be the target of cyberharassment, cyberstalking and cyberbullying - it's WRONG. Kids may not know any better.

What's an adult's excuse?

Why be anonymous

Anyone who has posted using their true name on PFA has seen Michael Tonello print their personal information and seen commenters swarm them with no good intent.

We have no interest in your identity or your IP address. We will not print your personal information against your wishes.

And the information being printed here is readily available online because Michael Tonello and Donna Lehtonen put it there.

But our concern is that if you do post with your name here, there will be consequences - and not from us. (See above mentioned we don't care who you are.)

Sadly, you need to remain anonymous posting here or on PFA to protect yourself. Despite their calls for "truth" and "exposing" on PFA, you've seen what happened to others who spoke out using their real names. Don't let it happen to you.

Why it matters. And why it doesn't.

It matters who's behind PFA. Because if you don't know the honest truth about why someone started a blog, or holds certain views, then all you're reading is propaganda. Let's give all the commenters over at PFA the benefit of the doubt and say everyone is smart and on the ball. Don't you want to know WHY you're being told certain things? Don't you want to know if it's true? Or perhaps just a vendetta by some people who were banned from a forum (about bags, no less) and can't stand it. (And while we're asking, did you behave this way in school, too? Because honestly, it's pretty juvenile.)

It matters that you feel people are unfairly treated at PF. We are sure some have been, are, and will be. Our research shows it's privately owned, and the owners are therefore able to set the rules and ban people they feel break them. Unfair? Could be. But the adult thing to do is move on if, once you've made your point that you think you've been unfairly booted, you can't change their minds. Slandering people .... not so cool. (And remember that the primary defense to slander is the truth, folks. All the allegations being slung over at PFA? The names they call folks they've never met? That all the bags but Donna's are fake? Show us the proof. We're still waiting.)

It matters that you are being told things that aren't true. Like the amusing hit counter at the bottom of the page on PFA. We can tell you with near 100 per cent certainty those numbers have been sucking helium. And anyhow, what does it matter if 200,000,000,000 people read it? Doesn't make any of it true.

It doesn't matter that the owners of PF are making money on PF. No, seriously. It really doesn't. Do you think all those free websites and forums you visit DON'T make money on you? No one could be that naive in 2011. So here's the real deal. If you don't like it, don't visit. So simple.

It matters that real people are being affected. We're sure there are lots of cheers over at PFA for the fact that people's real names, contact information, blog info and places of work are being posted online against their will on PF. Some of them may see it as comeuppance for some imagined slights. We're still waiting to see if the owners of PFA are willing to do to themselves what they so readily do to others. Dying to see when they will come forward, admit why they really started the blog (and trust us, it has absolutely nothing to do with "advising" or uncovering supposed scams. It has everything to do with their own outrage over being banned. So let's see a little honesty, hmmm?

In the grand scheme of things, none of this matters. How lame is it of us to ask that people not hide behind anonymity when slashing others to bits. And for the commenters who think that's what's going on here, it isn't. We're publishing their own words, their own posts. We won't provide links over to PFA or PF - why drive traffic? When we're unhappy with something, we may try to fix it. We may walk away. We really want people to know the true Michael Tonello. We won't try to inflict damage on all and sundry because that ain't how we roll. And it would be a better world if more of the anonymous felt that way, too.

Obsession

And we don't mean the perfume.

When Donna and Michael were booted from PF, despite protesting loudly about how much they hated it, they couldn't stay away. And Donna started a bunch 'o blogs, all based on PF. In some, we are told, she posted as commenters riffing on well-known member names on PF. Let's just say that most of the posts were not nice. Tsk, Tsk.

Blogs with names like:
The Real Purse Blog
Hermesmerized
Hermes TPF Purse
TPF The Phony Fakes
Hermes TPF Purse (That Paris Purse)
and last but not least (we are sure she has tons more up her sleeve) Hermes TPF Purse.

Mr. Tonello has also had several anti-PF blogs. Thanks to an anonymous tipster for pointing out that his first blog post confused the name of PFA with another one, purseforumlies. There was also, we believe, purseforumconfidential. When does he find the time to do anything else? What a busy bee.

Donna and Michael's premise? EVERYTHING on PF is fake. Everyone is a secret reseller. (Because we know that's basaaaaad.) And of course, the moderators and owners are in on all the nefarious goings-on. (They're always nefarious, don't you know.) And of course, on her blog team was her trusty sidekick, Michael Tonello.

They SAY they hate PF. But you know, love is the opposite of hate. We suspect they just can't stay away. And if they aren't allowed to play, they'll just trash it instead. Make up whatever blather they can think of and hope some of it is believed.

Know what? We actually wish you and Michael well. Enjoy your money and your bags and your blogs, Donna. Enjoy El Bulli and your rioja, Michael. But the revenge blogs and made up posts? Get a new perfume. Obsession is soooooo 80s.

Blah, blah, blah

Does Michael Tonello EVER get tired of talking to himself??

http://www.styleforum.net/showpost.php?p=3961726&postcount=1315

Come out, come out, wherever you are!

Well, actually, we do know where they are.

Sadly, Mrs. Robert Lehtonen has made her blog private so the world may no longer be privy to her acquisitions. Until she feeds the photos to Michael Tonello so he can publish them "anonymously" on PFA. We're sure it won't be long until she busts out some more photos under yet another user name on PF, too. For someone who goes on and on (and on) about hating that site, she sure can't stay away. Neither can he.

But thanks to a screen shot someone sent us, we do know that Michael Tonello is using Donna's Schaumberg address as his. Wonder why? Because for sure he lives in Barcelona.

Wonder why also (thanks, anonymous tipster commenter!) they were both in NY at the same time as the owner of PFA suppsedly met them (Sybil must be their favorite shared book) .... and gee, why did SAs at the Madison Hermes store say they were busy asking questions about specific people's buying habits? Exactly what business is that of theirs or anyone else's?

So we ask them nicely to come out today. Come out and be honest. Come out with the truth about why they started PFA (and why they feel it is necessary to publish people's personal information against their will. Well, everyone but theirs, it seems.

Try it. We dare you. Go over to PFA and try to get either Michael Tonello or Donna Lehtonen's info into a published comment.

We bet they won't allow it.

In the words of Richard Nixon, I am not a crook

And remember how he turned out.

http://www.styleforum.net/showpost.php?p=3946604&postcount=1136

'Nuff said.

Johnny One Note

Or maybe Michael Tonello one-note.

Thanks to the commenter who pointed out today's attack. Which is pretty much emblematic of what goes on at PFA.

Pick a PF poster. Preferably someone who has more money than you do (not hard to find).
Post a picture of one of their purchases (and by the way, to do that, you have to be a registered member of Purse Forum, so I guess Mr. Tonello really can't stay away....)
Pick from one of the following descriptors: scammer, fakester, counterfeiter, reseller.

(Again, we don't see why it's a problem for anyone to buy and sell things... please explain why this is an issue because we aren't getting it.) Oh, we're sure Mr. Tonello will come back and huff and puff and say, "But, but, but, reselling isn't allowed on PF!" So show us some proof that this woman has sold a single one of her items as a result of having posted them there. She seems like a person with huge bag collection to us.

And by the way, stating the obvious here ... if you were to mention purses/reselling/scams/fakes to 99 per cent of the population, they would look at you as if you'd lost it. That's how vastly unimportant what PFA goes on about is in the grand scheme of things. Why do we care? Because the name and shame approach over there is NOT right. Cyberbullying is NOT right.

Apparently, truth is not required at PFA. (But you knew that.) We looked through the thread in question ... seems like a nice person with access to a lot of nice things because her parents are well off. Since when is this a crime? Oh. I guess if you have less, the only thing to do is to point fingers, hold the person up for internet ridicule, and yell, RESELLER! Why, exactly?

And coming from reseller Michael Tonello, that is indeed the meaning of rich.

If you're happy and you know it

Remember that kids' song?

Well, the corollary to that is NOT if you're unhappy post untrue and slanderous things about people online.

You're all free to hate the Purse Forum, its moderators, owners and posters. You are free to hate anyone or thing you like. But sorry kids, there is no huge scam going on there that we can see. So if you don't like this web site just don't frequent it. Shockingly, that simple act is pretty damaging in itself. Traffic, ya know.

Not liking a site doesn't give you the right to threaten people anonymously. Or post their personal information against their will.

And that "free speech" thing they like to trumpet over on PFA? Only if you agree with their fakes/scams world view. Don't dare say anything critical about Michael or Donna. Oh, no. Everyone is fair game but them. Hmmm. Funny how any negative references to them or personal information is whisked away.

By the way, the only comments we won't publish (and there have been some) are racist or homophobic or accusations we think are untrue.

What will make US happy? Seeing Michael Tonello exposed as the person pushing the erroneous content and curious obsessions over at PFA...