Provocative Blog Spawns Its Anti-Blog in Pr. William

Since it started Feb. 24, Almeda's blog has had nearly 4,000 visitors, averaging 255 a day. As a marketing technique "to grab attention," she is using the same black screen and white type format Letiecq uses.

Almeda, a programmer for the U.S. Department of Transportation until she had her youngest child two years ago, also imitated the format to be an "irritant" to Letiecq, who sent her a copyright infringement notice shortly after the site debuted. Early entries mocked Letiecq, but the blog has since taken a more moderate tone.

Letiecq said he checked the site out when it first started, but no more. He called it a nod to his effectiveness.

"I've made an impact if people have designed sites to attack me," Letiecq said.

He said he does not think Almeda's site will last long. "They'll run out of steam," he said. "It takes an incredible amount of dedication to run a blog. It's not something you can enter into lightly. If they keep it up, I'd be surprised."

Mastio said when blogs mimic others, it's a sign of success. "In the blogosphere, attention is the coin of the realm," he said. "Blogs survive on controversy, and this is playing right into his hands."

Almeda said she knows she is opening herself to criticism by venturing into the blogosphere. "This is a highly charged topic," she said of illegal immigration. "Either way, I'm not going to be liked. There are Hispanic gangs which might not like things I have to say and white supremacists on the other side of the spectrum. I won't be intimidated, but it is in the back of my mind."

Almeda said she will not censor comments. She is also thinking of creating a group to counter Letiecq's.

"We joked at one point saying we would name it 'Help Save Manassas From Help Save Manassas,' " she said.