Ask HN: Has Anyone Been Targeted by a Personal Smear Campaign?

I'm curious how common it is, to be the target of a specific, personal campaign to destroy one's career or community reputation? I'm talking about the kind of vindictive, vicious personal attack that takes you completely by surprise, because it's so unhinged, and so unrelated to anything you actually did.

I'm not talking about troll pile-ons on social media, or companies targeting a competitor. I'm talking about an individual who deliberately sets out to destroy you personally or professionally, maybe out of spite or envy, or revenge, or wanting something you have, or who-knows-what crazypants projection they're aiming at you.

This has actually happened to me twice. Once professionally, once personally. It's so head-spinning, so outside of normal experience, that by the time you figure out it's happening, a lot of damage can get done.

This is all in the past for me. I've been lucky to have the resources to rebuild, plus loyal friends to validate that the thing actually did happen, and that it was awful.

But events like this aren't discussed much, likely to avoid poking the bear, and the silence can be damaging too. Has this happened to anyone else? Did the smear campaign work? Did you fight back, or leave the arena? How did you rebuild?

My support to anyone who's experienced this. The cognitive dissonance is indescribable.