Re: Newsgroup or Bulletin Board Libel

On Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:39:58 +0100, The Todal wrote:

"The Todal" <deadmailbox@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:6gdcabFf7dl0U1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Interesting court judgments here, where a claim against multiple
defendants for disparaging and insulting comments on a bulletin board was
deemed unworthy of court time and resulted in the claimant being prevented
from issuing further proceedings without leave:
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2008/577.html
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2008/1250.html


I posted in haste and forgot to put the question that was on my mind: the
case in point relates to bulletin board defamation, but does anyone see a
valid distinction between that and usenet defamation? Is the likely number
of readers similar, for instance? And how could that be proved anyway?

The only distinction that comes readily to mind is that BB's or forums tend
to require some form of registration, whereas usenet is in theory open to
all. As to the number of readers, I think the participants in any keyboard
argument assume that they have masses of readers all waiting eagerly to see
who can surpass at insults, where in reality there are probably no more
than a handful of people fuelling the flame war through various sock
puppets. Most people couldn't give a toss and quickly lose interest in such
spats.

What is, perhaps, more relevant is the extent of any *real world* damage to
reputations sustained, which I'd venture to suggest is usually minimal. A
renowned brain surgeon repeatedly being described as a ham-fisted butcher
in my book has a far stronger case than some individual whose interface
between usenet and the real world is virtually non-existent.

--
the dot wanderer at tesco dot net

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Newsgroup or Bulletin Board Libel
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  • Re: Newsgroup or Bulletin Board Libel
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