It’s not just the attack ads that affect your reputation. It’s also the sum of the comments and hyperlinks Google’s elephant memory leaves there for posterity.

Motrin Moms – the backlash

ABC network’s slant –why 12,300 comments matter

Rush Limbaugh‘s attack on Michael J. Fox – bad Google junce from 2006

These are brand-names, but you and I could also take steps –pre-emptive ones– to avoid the whiplash of the long tail.