Victoria Strauss -- The IILAA Strikes Back

Ridicule can work, my friends.

As many of you may already know, Leann Murphy yanked the IILAA website last night. At first, the content was replaced by an amusing (though not, I suspect, in the way Leann intended) nyah-nyah message. Second thoughts apparently prevailed, however, and the message was removed. Currently, the website consists of an opening page and a page of links, but the rest of the content is gone. (Fortunately the Cabal, ever watchful and prepared, has screenshots.)

So anyway, I logged in at Absolute Write this morning, and what should I find waiting for me but this Private Message (to fully appreciate it, you need to visit the link above).

"Hello old, ugly one,

Hello. I saw your post about IILAA.....and I just want to ask by which evidence do you and your friends on that website favor the idea of a scam?

I do know there are scams out there-people who take money and do not do their jobs......then again there are some writers who just plain....suck. They suck and they cannot handle disappointment or rejection so they turn their feelings outwards towards places who have made people like me successful.

I am not about hate...but I do wish to know why people try to attack others in such ways that are considered hateful.

IILAA is not Desert Rose...it is an organization which includes Desert Rose....I know...I have checked...I was skeptical too.....and as a published writer with Desert Rose, I will have to defend them in saying that I have never had a problem with them. It did cost a bit to get things going, but I do not expect ANYONE to work for me for free which is the essence of all those who post such hateful text.....I dont understand why people believe that they can get things for free.....it costs money to make money. The only ones I see making money are those who do and those who try-not those who complain that a scam is occurring which they cannot identify. This is also the mark of a mentally ill person. Sites such as the one I got your info. from seem to draw the attention of the mentally ill.....

I do not understand why sites such as the one you post on clone themselves all over the internet and act as if they know not about one another.....if anyone is involved in cyber-terrorism, scams or fraud-it is those websites who do those things. Having watched for a while now, I DO know that absolutewrite, writers beware, sfwa, and a few others are in fact run by the same people. It is called search engine bombing...and what it does is allows people to saturate the search engines with their content- until they search engine finds out-and bans them Some of us have connections that can make that happen at no cost. It is just a matter of code.

Yes this can be done....

I am keeping my identity secret for now because I do not wish to waste my time reading or sifting through the mounds of hate email I may recieve as a result of expressing my opinion. God knows that sort of thing is not allowed on the kinds of websites that you post. Are you sure they are not run by Islam?

I feel I may be wasting my time writing this and sending it out to eveyr single person I can find...maybe I am........just watch who you are in company with...there are people out there who are REAL scammers- and those like Victoria who are so good at scamming that they lead others to follow....trust me... I know all about her I would stay as far away from her and her organizations as I could if you dont want to end up in jail with her someday.

Have a great weekend!"

My response:

"Hi, Leann. If you believe you have the evidence to prove even one of your allegations, I invite you to make it public. I'd welcome the chance to refute it. I also invite you to have the guts not to lurk behind a cloak of anonymity. If you are really as Young and Fabulous as you claim, what do you have to hide? Other than your poor writing skills, of course.

Have a nice day."

So. Anyone think I'll be hearing from her again?