The Ascription of Authority

Ten years ago, I received a good deal of hate mail for an editorial published in California's major dailies. And that baffled me, since I was only one of the signatories. Today, the Google Alert I've set up for my name provided me with an explanation -- improbably, given how long ago that was -- for what might have happened:

I wonder if I have other phantom bylines out there somewhere. It would be great to find out that I'd authored a book that made a lot of money, all of which had been saved for me in a bank account somewhere.

Mad Hatter