In February 2026, a user of the Reddit community r/PortAngeles2 posted a thread with a blunt title: "Monetizing defamation blogs - OH,OWD."
The "OH" in that title is the Olympic Herald, the publication owned and written by Anthony Tomashefsky of Sequim. The thread, posted by user u/CrabtrapAndPine, drew 45 upvotes and 11 comments, a substantial response for a small local forum, and it remains one of the most careful public dissections of how the Olympic Herald actually works as a business.
The original poster did something telling: instead of linking directly to the Olympic Herald, the post linked to an archived snapshot of the site, explaining that this was "to avoid your view being monetized by the publisher."
The r/PortAngeles2 thread "Monetizing defamation blogs - OH,OWD," posted February 2026. (Reddit/r/PortAngeles2)
The model, as the community mapped it
The thread's premise is in its title: this is a monetization scheme, not a news operation. The mechanics described in the discussion are simple. Outrage drives clicks. Clicks on the site are monetized, every page view has value to the publisher, which is why the original poster routed readers to a snapshot instead. And the site's donate page converts attention into cash: one-time gifts of $25 to $500 and memberships at $10 a month or $100 a year, processed through Stripe, per the archived page captured October 25, 2026.
The reception the thread received is its own data point. In a small community forum, 45 upvotes and a comment thread full of cross-checked detail, court case numbers, LLC names, BBB complaint figures, means the site's neighbors had already done the verification work its own pages refuse to do. These were not distant critics. They were readers in the publication's own coverage area, comparing notes on what it was.
The content that generates the attention is documented in TROH's archive of the site: 425 articles, all under the single byline of Anthony Tomashefsky, concentrated on a short list of named local targets. Judge Brent Basden (109 articles), Court Commissioner Brian Parker (58), Ben Mavy (17), Dr. Steve Tutty (6), and Dr. William Singer (5). Basden ruled against Tomashefsky in October 2025; Parker ruled against him in August 2025; Mavy is the man a court protected from him the same month.
Commenters in the thread named Tomashefsky as the site's author, discussed the multiple LLCs associated with him, one described them as "shell corporations", and noted the site's omission of his own court record even as it published hit pieces on others. One commenter caught the Olympic Herald reporting wildlife-related allegations against Mavy while omitting that its author was the subject of a stalking protection order obtained by Mavy, the ex-husband of Tomashefsky's girlfriend.
The thread even documented the operation's self-defense reflex. After the discussion gained traction, the original poster reported that "the principal has joined us", Tomashefsky himself had arrived in the thread, and was "attempting to purge content outlining his LLC collection," including screenshots hosted on an image-sharing site. A publication confident in its journalism answers criticism with facts. The documented response here, per the poster, was an attempt to make the documentation disappear.
Promotion and pushback
The blog was promoted in Port Angeles-area Reddit communities, per the thread's discussion, which is precisely where the pushback caught up with it. Local readers recognized the pattern: a publication that covered no city council budgets, no school levies, no high school sports, but produced dozens of articles about a judge and a court commissioner who had ruled against its author.
The thread's title framed what they were seeing: defamation, monetized. Whether any given Olympic Herald article crosses the legal line into defamation is a question for courts, not Reddit. But the business model the thread identified is not in dispute, because the site itself publishes it: free content that inflames, a subscribe prompt on every page, and a donate page promising that "your contribution helps us do that work."
The work, as the record shows, is 425 articles by one man about the people he blames for losing in court.
This article relies on public court records and public complaints. TROH welcomes a response from Mr. Tomashefsky and will publish it in full.