Forum Moderators: rogerd
I have a rivalry going with a fellow webmaster, who has allowed what appears to be a troll on his forum to denigrate me.
They don't like my site & what I do, but instead of disagreeing with the content the focus has shifted to me.
The webmaster who moderates the forum has allowed the 'conversation' to essentially dissect my online biography -- accusing me of not being who I say I am (a post that says the they have 'investigated' and I did not graduate from the school that I did, in fact, graduate from, then when that was cleared up, it was making fun of the school itself and me as a result).
Clearly, things have gotten out of hand. I want these posts taken off the web site, I can't afford a lawyer, I was hoping someone might know what I can do take to have the posts removed, something like a DMCA action.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
If you want to spend nothing, write a letter yourself stating that you will be referring the matter to your attorneys if the offending content isn't removed within 5 days (to pick a number). This costs nothing, but it won't have the impact of a letter arriving on an attorney's letterhead. To boost the impact, send it certified mail or Fedex and require a signature.
All the more reason to have a US attorney write the letter. A letter from across the Atlantic might well draw a response like, "So what? Is he going to come over here and get me? Nahhh..."
There's nothing like finding a letter from an attorney in your mailbox to produce that, "Oh, s$%#!" response...
As an alternative, you could try the "world of grief" approach, and contact everyone remotely related to the site detailing your claims and threatening to sue - the web host, ISP, domain registar, everyone listed in the Whois records, site advertisers or affiliate partners, etc. Since slander is a nebulous charge, you might also look around the site for some probably copyright violations (if it's a forum, they probably exist) and report those, too. This ought to keep him busy for a while and might soften him up for a negotiation.
Having said all that, there is some case law that a forum operator isn't always responsible for things posted in his forum; once you call the offending material to his attention, though, I'd guess much of that protection goes away.
Also note the difference between slander and opinion.
That's really the best advise..it will go away on it's own...just dont respond to their taunts ..eventually they will tire of it or find a new target to hassle
If you try and make a legal stink you'l stir up even more hassles..and costs..
That said if you are offering a controversial service..then that is always going to follow you everywhere..
There is probably not much I can do, I'm just concerned that a future employer might come across *just* that message and once the doubt is cast 'so he might not be who he says? He might be lying?' they might not go any further...
I should've looked up the terms better before posting, from what I understand 'libel' would've been closer to the truth since internet is considered 'written' denigration rather than spoken...
In any case, getting the lawyers into it is not a practical solution...
Here's hoping the post will be buried in the internet oblivion!
