MN in today's Times

[IntergalacticWalrus]

here

Didn't realise things had got to the point where Justine could loses her home (although I'm not surprised)

is this whole episode an example where MN world meets RL?? That we have 'rules', such as they are, but RL works differently.

can only imagine months of pent up rage being exercised on the 5 forum...

we defame and make libelous comments here all the time......'comfortable' in thinking there are no consequences........that we don't operate in a bubble.

is this thread allowed??

We shouldn't talk about this.

Message withdrawn

Anyone who thinks they can post libellous comments anywhere on line and get away with it needs to go away and read up on that. Using an anonymous name doesn't mean you can't be tracked by any means. people track back to your IP address all the time. You can get sued. Anyone running a site could recover their damages against the people who made the posts. In fact it's the posters who defame who risk their houses not people putting up the bulletin boards (IF they have any money to grab and if a site chooses to recover anything they pay from them, which is a PR issue of course).

If you run a site through a limited company then normally it's the company that is a risk not someone's personal assets but not everybody incorporates.

Hi Xenia - that's not the case in libel where publishers are individually liable even if it's a limited company (which Mumsnet is in fact) in the eyes of the law. (Sadly!)

What appals me about this the most is that anyone feels entiteld to bring a libel action over commetns which could not, in any sense, be described as serious, defamatory statements. I despise the way the laws of libel work anyway, as it invariably seems to come down to who can afford the more expensive laywer, and rich peole often use these kinds of laws to protect themselves from true accusations (think Maxwell or Archer). I'm even more appalled that, when any individual tries to bring legal actions of this nature, no lawyer or judge seems to be prepared to tell such nuisance plaintiffs to grow up, get a life, and get f*d.
SUpportive thoughts coming your way.

I posted on the 5 forum and there is no way anything on there was that bad. We all went out of our way to be factual and inquisitive just to see what happened. Even "why did the last message disappear" would then disappear. Shame.