Court

A member of this forum has threatened to take me to court for 'slander' now i would like to know what the forums views on that are as obviously if i am going to court for something posted on the forum, there would have to be representatives there along with of course, someone to explain why slander was actively allowed on the website

could anyone enlighten me?

Cheers

Fi x

I don't want to get involved in an argument, I don't need or want the specifics as I'm really not interested. But you may find this interesting.

The High Court has ruled that defamation on internet bulletin boards is akin to slander rather than libel.

Mr Justice Eady hearing a case regarding posts on an investors bulletin board (or forum) has said that such comments are not to be taken in the same context as a formal newspaper (etc) article and are more like slander due to the casual or conversational nature of them.

Mr Justice Eady stated that posts on bulletin boards "are rather like contributions to a casual conversation (the analogy sometimes being drawn with people chatting in a bar) which people simply note before moving on; they are often uninhibited, casual and ill thought out...Those who participate know this and expect a certain amount of repartee or 'give and take'."

As such "When considered in the context of defamation law, therefore, communications of this kind are much more akin to slanders (this cause of action being nowadays relatively rare) than to the usual, more permanent kind of communications found in libel actions...People do not often take a 'thread' and go through it as a whole like a newspaper article. They tend to read the remarks, make their own contributions if they feel inclined, and think no more about it."

As for the case in hand it involved a Nigel Smith who runs a shareholder action group, comments were made about this group on a bulletin board (ADVFN). Mr Smith sued the owners of the board and the individuals making the comments.

Mr Justice Eady said that the comments were likely to be considered as 'fair comment' i.e. they cannot be considered as defamatory if they are posted without malice and represent the posters honest views: "I referred to common themes in the postings, such as that of 'bullying' other users and making 'threatening demands' for money. That is classic fair comment territory and, in the light of the modern authorities, it is inconceivable that a jury would find any of those who expressed such a view 'malicious' Ð let alone all of them...Opinions may be expressed in exaggerated and strident terms; the only requirement is that they be honestly held. It is fanciful to suppose that any of these people did not believe what they were saying. Even if they reached their conclusions in haste, or on incomplete information, or irrationally, the defence would still avail them."

There are of course similarities with last years case concerning the football club Sheffield Wednesday see Beware Libel On The Internet and Court Considers Defamatory Comments Posted on a Fanzine. Mr Justice Eady did though make it clear that "I would not suggest for a moment that blogging cannot ever form the basis of a legitimate libel claim...I am focusing only on these particular circumstances."

My attention has been drawn to this thread. No action is being taken. We would always expect serious issues to be reported to us first so we could decide whether the posts are appropriate or not.

I would expect that would be the first point of call too - i was suprised to recieve this threat and i am happy that its no longer an issue

Fi, some people find a bit of robust to and fro on a forum too much for them.

They are sad creatures who, unable to compete by argument, like to climb on their high horse in order to escape the rigor of proving their point.

Don't let them worry you, it only encourages them. Perhaps you could ask other forum members to contribute towards sending the person a bottle of smelling salts?

Oh, I see this thread has re-appeared. I replied into cyberspace at first.

Nicely put Lemmy

That OK feeb? Hopefully your mind has now been put at rest.

The thread only disappeared whilst it was being discussed by the way, so RR is no longer Lost In Space.

I can't imagine that the threat was meant to be taken seriously.

G

All sorted now.

Threats should not be taken lightly, particularly when this member delibrately tried to implicate my relationship with my tutors

It 'not being taken seriously' is about as reasonable as i would expect from the person involved actually

I.e - not reasonable at all

here is the email i recieved

You have published on the internet via the Pentax User Forum remarks about me that are erroneous, untrue and libellous.

If they are not removed within 24 hours from the time of the sending of this message (14:26 on Sunday 6th September 2009) I will instruct solicitors to begin an action against you, I will pass on the name and address of your art school to them for correspondence. Make no mistake about how seriously I view your accusations.



The person could not even tell me at which point in the conversation he was uphappy about

It is sad individuals like this who turn this forum from a friendly nice place to a horrid place at times IMHO

Interesting one this.
I would imagine he cost of proving such a case would be considerable. How would the identity of the alledged even be proven, cannot recall any I.D. checks when i joined this forum. Even if I.D was proven would imagine the court award would not be very much, if anything, and the chances of not getting cos`s awarded quite high.
Think sometimes somethings are taken just a bit to seriously.

Davex.

i was far more worried about the stress it may cause to my already busy tutors at school - i would have thought this person would realise exactly how difficult it would have been for court correspondences to get to my place of education and decided to aim as low as he could

Going to court... well not too sure there was anything to go to court About really, certaintly dont think any solicitor in their right mind would take the case

hopefully hes just a bit embarrassed about it all now and will react to things differently in future

I have deleted what I originally wrote here as I did not want to fan the flames.

I agree Feeb, that what was sent to you was over the top, although there is little chance it would have led to anything.

However, remember that it takes two to quarrel,

G

I cant see what the fuss is about? if you didn't make such comments then you would have nothing to fear, no soicitor will take on a case if his client cant provide him with the proof of his allegations.