The most direct warning about the Olympic Herald's donation drive did not come from a rival publication or a court. It came from a commenter on Reddit, in the r/PortAngeles2 thread "Monetizing defamation blogs - OH,OWD," and it began in capital letters: "PUBLIC WARNING: Do NOT donate."
A commenter's "PUBLIC WARNING: Do NOT donate" on the r/PortAngeles2 thread about the Olympic Herald. (Reddit/r/PortAngeles2)
Why the warning was issued
The commenter's reasoning, as laid out in the thread, connects two ventures by the same man. Anthony Tomashefsky, identified in the thread as the Olympic Herald's author, previously operated Advice Chaser LLC, a lead-generation company serving financial advisors. The Better Business Bureau's complaint history for Advice Chaser includes dozens of complaints alleging that clients paid upfront fees of $6,000 to $14,000 for services they say were never delivered.
The pattern those complainants describe is consistent: a sales pitch promising a pipeline of client introductions, a substantial fee collected before any service, and then, per the complaints, silence. No refunds, no delivered clients, no recourse short of a complaint to the BBB.
That history is echoed in court and public-record filings. New York records show Revenued LLC obtained a $42,128 default judgment against Advice Chaser LLC and Tomashefsky, filed of record February 13, 2024, in Nassau County. A background report in TROH's possession shows an eviction filing against Tomashefsky by Properties by Landmark Inc. in Clallam County Superior Court the day before, February 12, 2024. And a September 25, 2023 UCC filing in Washington shows Tomashefsky and Advice Chaser pledging essentially all business assets, "all tangible and intangible personal property", to a secured creditor.
The commenter's warning, in substance: the man whose last venture drew complaints alleging thousands paid upfront for nothing now asks the public to pay upfront, donations of $25 to $500, memberships of $10 a month or $100 a year, to fund a "news" site. The warning was not an isolated reaction; the thread around it ran to 11 comments and 45 upvotes, with multiple users adding documented detail about the LLC history and the site's omissions.
The donation page, measured against the warning
The archived Olympic Herald donate page captured October 25, 2026 confirms the solicitation: preset gifts up to $500, recurring memberships, Stripe checkout, and the disclaimer "Contributions are not tax-deductible." The page names no legal entity and no nonprofit status; it says only that the site is "Independently owned in Clallam County, Washington."
The page wraps the ask in reader testimonials, "timely, hard hitting stories," "the receipts the community need," "fearless reporting", and a promise that support "goes into the reporting." The warning on Reddit asked readers to look past the testimonials at the track record.
That record is unusually well documented for a man asking strangers for money. In the protection-order case, court records show, the temporary order's findings described Tomashefsky's email campaign to Wyoming's Game and Fish Department seeking the prosecution of Ben Mavy, the ex-husband of his girlfriend, and noted that he declined to state any purpose for the emails. The court found "long standing rancor" between the parties and evidence of an intention to cause Mavy to be prosecuted. A one-year stalking and harassment order followed on August 26, 2025, after Tomashefsky failed to appear. His motion to revise was denied October 21, 2025, Judge Basden writing that the record "amply supports" the findings.
The site's own ethics page promises that "no donor, subscriber, or friend of the paper sees a story early, kills a story, or softens one." It also states the ownership structure in one line: "One person: founder Anthony Tomashefsky."
Donors weighing that pitch have a right to the full context: a prior business with dozens of BBB complaints alleging five-figure upfront fees and undelivered services; a $42,128 default judgment; an eviction filing; and a creditor lien on all assets, all documented in public records, all preceding the donation drive by less than two years.
A Reddit commenter put the conclusion in all caps. The public record supplies the footnotes.
This article relies on public court records and public complaints. TROH welcomes a response from Mr. Tomashefsky and will publish it in full.