Re: Internet Review sites, and slanderous posting

Tom Tit wrote:
pjwest@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Hello,
I was hoping someone could offer some advice to me concerning Internet
review sites and what can be done if they have slanderous (not simply
negative) reviews.

The company i work for sells items though its website and we try to
keep an eye on what is being posted to the larger and more widely
known consumer review sites.

We have noticed that some people are posting out and out lies about
the service or products they received from us. I'm not talking about
negative reviews where someone has received bad service, those posts,
although disappointing are legitimate and we work to rectify those
problems. The posts in question appear made up and designed simply to
damage our reputation with anyone reading them by posting untrue tales
of how we treat customers.

I was wondering what, if anything, we can do about it.

Thanks in advance

You could get yourself a life.

TT


There are a lot of sad and malicious people on the internet who from the safety of thinking they are anonymous use the internet to harm their targets, be it individuals or businesses. We live in a morally corrupt society, and this is reflected in much of the evil that is found on the internet. Even on this newsgroup there are unhelpful people and downright bullies who will insult and attack the reputations of others, welcome to the internet.

There are a few things you can do. First of all, make sure there are reputable sources that advertise that your business provides a good service, that the positive reviews of your business make the first two or three listings on the search engines such as Google. Researchers rarely go beyond the first two listings on search engines i.e the first 20 returned results, so will not see the negative ones if they are outside that range.

It is probable that you have upset someone, or they are a rival out to ruin you. Unless you are prepared to take strong action to the finish then letting the attacker see you are upset or are reacting to their attacks gives them a sense of power, this encourages them to go further.

If you think the attacks are unwarranted you can complain to the ISP, host or web site that carries the offensive material to have it removed. If you have money you can seek the name, address and other identifying details of the attacker from the ISP under the Data Protection Act via the County Court. After obtaining the details of the attacker you can then hit them with a damages claim for Malicious Falsehood through the County Court which could include an injunction forbidding them to write anything further about you. You could also consider an expensive defamation action through the High Court.

Scientology are a good example of a successful organisation that uses the courts to defend its reputation, despite the justified criticism of its practices.

Usenet is not always the best place to get advice, most of the posters hate any form of censorship, just post irrelevant abuse or just are ignorant.

.

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