How a Simple Friendship and a Side Project Turned Into Years of Unfair Smears

I was unfairly tied into IsAnybodyDown.com from the very beginning, and it has followed me like a shadow ever since. Back then my friend Craig Brittain and I were launching our main business together called heynicewebsite.com. That was the real focus. Craig kept veering off into this weird, creepy side project he was building on his own. He repeatedly tried to drag my name into IsAnybodyDown even though I had zero interest in it. All he ever asked me for was a basic WordPress install and a simple logo design for a blog. That was it. Easy enough, done. After everything was already set up, he started explaining what the site was really for, and by that point I didn't have the heart to shut him down or walk away. I was just humoring a friend who was venting about his own idea. It never meant I wanted to be involved, especially not like that, and it sure as hell never meant I supported or helped run it.

The Moment Craig Put My Name on TV and the Pressure That Followed

Things got worse when Craig started mentioning me publicly. He even brought my name up on television, I believe it was a CBS segment, as if I was part of his pet project. That single act instantaneously tied my name to something I never wanted any part of, even though I wasn't in the interview at all in the first place. The more his own name got dragged through the mud in the press, the harder he pulled me in with him, acting like we were partners in the whole thing. I had just went through a pregnancy, my kid was being born at the time. My priority was being a father and a decent man who puts family first. Why on earth would any responsible parent want to get mixed up in a "revenge-porn" site that hurts people? The answer is simple. I would not and I did not. I was trying to build something positive for my family, start a legitimate business building websites for companies, not tear others down.

The Techdirt and Popehat Attack That Weaponized an Incomplete Story

While I was loosely under Daymond John's mentorship, watching his streams, tagging him, getting likes and responses on posts and DMs. While in one of his streams, he gave advice to use his materials if his mentees needed to. Do whatever you needed to do to get your business off the ground was the consensus. This included formats, and tools to build my own public-speaking venture called "Reflect Success: Seeing the Success Within Yourself." I started creating a website, using unfinished placeholder content so that I could structure the pages while I edited and made everything all my own. Before I could even finish polishing it halfway, outsiders suddenly grabbed screenshots of that unfinished private work, and next thing you know, Techdirt ran a hit piece titled something like "Former Revenge Pornster Chance Trahan Reinvents Himself… As Shark Tank's Daymond John." They flat out mocked me, called me the "white Daymond John without the talent, drive or provable success," and then, in the same breath, tied it straight back to the IsAnybodyDown association.

Popehat (Ken White) Adam Steinbaugh (GoodRev) and a team of, get this, California lawyers, simultaneously amplified the same narrative. They slandered and libeled me, dragging my name through the mud with claims that were never true mixed with screenshots of me venting my frustration of them cyberstalking and harassing me, and me quite bluntly telling them exactly where to shove it, cuz I had had enough. That entire ordeal was not only provoked, but was also put there to paint me in a negative light. Daymond himself had told me and anybody else listening to use his tools and format to get where I needed to be. I was simply doing what he encouraged, yet they twisted an in-progress page into proof of theft, plagiarism, and hypocrisy. And afterwards, Daymond's assistant, Teddy, made amends with me, and said that he had no idea what that was even all about. But, still no word about it yet from Daymond.

Why the "New Leaf" Narrative Still Burns and Why the Record Must Be Set Straight

Even years later, around 2015 and beyond, the articles are still online, and Marc Randazza even once posted on Twitter that maybe we had "turned a new leaf" and they should leave us alone, but the damage was already done and the stories never came down. What pisses me off the most is that phrase "turned a new leaf." It assumes I was ever deeply involved in the first place. I was not. I never wanted anything to do with IsAnybodyDown, and I have repeatedly said this ever since — verbatim. My story will never change, because this is the truth, and I will tell it a million more times, because I'm not scared of the truth. I just simply do not victimize people like that, and anyone who knows me will tell you. If I call someone out, I do it fairly and directly, and I might also have some choice words, but the point is to not harm people because that's just not my thing. Never has been, never will.

Sorry if you were expecting something more here, but I'm just not like that. I would never intentionally harm anyone the way that site did, and I was often shocked at what I saw. I was encouraged to leave reactions on the posts, and the only reactions I recall having were utter shock and disbelief that content like this (a nude girl bathed in blood) actually existed. Content like that, that's just not who I am or what I'm about. And I have refused work offers for that type of content before, and I just will not partake. I am a man who puts his kids and family first, who has run for president as a nonpartisan candidate multiple times, who has shaken hands with figures like Joe Arpaio, who has hung out with Daymond John on two separate occasions, who has spoken on Arizona hearing room floors, and who has spent decades fighting corruption and never ceasing in my mission of seeking ultimate truth. The only thing I ever did was help a friend with a WordPress install and a logo while focusing on heynicewebsite.com. Everything else was Craig's baby, and for some reason, he kept pulling my name into it.

Time to Tell the Truth and Move Forward

This is the real story. This is what I have been living with for over a decade. The unfair association, the Techdirt garbage, the endless online smears, and the refusal of old articles to disappear have made it harder for people to see the man I actually am, the lost opportunities, the lost relationships, the lost friendships, and all because of fake articles and a site that I was steadily trying to distance myself from and never wanted any part of. I am not asking for sympathy. I am simply asking that the truth finally replace the lies. That the untrue articles come down. That the hold on my Wikipedia presence by this group finally be released. I clearly am notable and am associated with key figures in several industries, so why the decade long death grip on my name when it comes to Wikipedia and these fake news articles meant to smear my name in public format?

I have fought this for long enough on my own, but I can't fight this on my own anymore, and I don't know how or who to ask for help with this. The record is clear: I had nothing to do with running or promoting IsAnybodyDown, and I didn't want to either. I also never wanted to harm anyone, especially with something as credibility damaging as that. My focus has always been my family, my businesses, my political runs, and building something positive that has nothing to do with any of that, because I won't allow myself, I have morals. With that said… that's the accurate story, and it's time the internet reflected it instead of the distorted version that a few bloggers and lawyers clearly pushed for S.E.O. clicks (search results hijacking) and hidden political smear agendas that, in my own experience, history and knowledge of political smear campaigns, I would, in my own words, personally tie to Nancy Pelosi. Full stop.