Can Owners of Internet Message Boards Legally Get Sued......

.....for it's members views, ideas and suggestions??? I'm still shaking my head here at work not believing what I'm reading. Choco posted this over on the RRT which then lead me over to the Australia site which I'm sorry to say I don't get a chance to visit as often as I'd like. I guess my question is could Ryan actually be held accountable for what you hoodlums post on the HAMB?? Any lawyers on the HAMB??

Copied from the RRT: "For those of you who don't know, the Hot Rod Internet Bench Racing site (the primo Aussie rodders forum, a sprout of the RRT) has had its members threatened by legal action from none other than the National Director of the Australian Street Rod Federation. We have been having a robust discussion on ways to improve aspects of the ASRF, and our new director has taken offence to some of the things that we have said. Needless to say, the cowardly act of issuing writs against people making fair comment on an internet forum raises some serious concerns, especially when they are directed against the very people who employ this person! Not only that, but the guy who spends hours and hours of his own time and, more than likely, dollars out of his own pocket, to support the ASRF web site, an Aussie rodders forum and a card-carrying member himself, is the focus of the lawsuit.
Brothers and Sisters, this is a sad day for rodding, indeed! I have been a passionate supporter of the ASRF for as long as I have been in rodding, and that's a long time, but my loyalty has been shaken to its roots. I'm happy to debate issues with anyone, and I'm happy to agree to disagree, even compromise, when wrong decisions are made. But this recent attack is a low act. How the heck can someone sue someone else for making comments on an internet forum? Is this what we've been reduced to?

http://www.hot-rod.com.au/benchracing/index.php
_________________
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Frank Choco Munday, Technical Author
Hot Rod Handbooks
1936 Plymouth Coupe, EFI 360
Carburettors SUCK! "

 

Crap. Pure Crap!

 

wow. What could have possibly been said that someone could get sued over?

 

i don't know about other countries but in this one you have the right to free speach. on the other hand you can pretty much try to sue anybody for anything. but that does'nt mean you'l win or that the case will even go to court. i think if that happened here it would be thrown out before it even went to trial.
i'm no lawyer but i do watch Law and Order ALOT.

 

I think the thread was removed, or at least I haven't been able to find one that would be controversial. Here's what Greg, the owner of the site, posted this morning. (by the way, he is a HAMB member and a very nice guy)


"I have just received a fax from McInnes Wilson, Lawers acting on behalf of Alan Tudman, Gwenda Tudman and Sharon Greenhill (their daughter) in a defamation order specifically about this post.

I have been requested to provide contact details for some for the members of the forum and to provide a number of retractions otherwise I will be sued for $250,000 plus costs and interest for each.
I have until the 25th of February 2005 to respond.

I would ask at this time, in your own interests that you do not post any more comments here until this matter is dealt with.
I will be now contacting each of the members listed in the defamation to seek their advice.

The shame about all of this was there were 141 threads to this post and it was viewed 2187 times in just 9 days.
_________________
Yours in Rodding
Greg Wapling
The years have been kind to me, it's just the weekends that have done the damage."

 

DAAAAAMN! I think its time to remove this asshole from any leadership role,if not membership in their club , people talking about what is good or bad about a club , I see as a good thing you get a take on what is going right and what needs to be changed , time for a tire iron haircut for this dick, I don't do well with these kind of things ,prefer the face to face confrontation method ,but it has cost me some time and will again I'm sure ,age does mellow one a LITTLE, but not that much ,now if its was a personal attack on HIS or HIS FAMILY's caracter (?) it would be something else, but to sue over statements about a clubs real or imagined faults is just plain WRONG.

 

Am I understanding this correctly? They were having a discussion on how to improve the ASRF, then the Big Kahuna of the ASRF sues the message board because people said bad things about "his" organization?

 

The ND is paid $75,000 a year to "run" the ASRF he is not a Hot Rodder he was employed simply to manage the ASRF.

HRI ASRF Forum ASRF Members Please read - Part 1-4 is the thread in question.

 

Jimmy:

Can't get in to it, need a password.

BB

 

That whole mess doesn't make sense to me, that dude surely didn't sway any opinions back his way acting like a twelve year old who got stood up for the church dance.

I think RYAN better watch his ass, I hear the NSRA coming down the hall!

I can see it now, as part of the plea bargain every HAMBer will have to have a cry baby doll on their cars at the HAMB drags.

Just the thought of it makes me wanna puke!

 

Have I mentioned that I hate people?

Yep, while there are exceptions to every rule, for the most part, I hate everyone.

 

defamation, libel and slander are little hiccups in the freedom of speech rally cry that can come back to haunt you.

 

Bugger!! Sorry, I forgot that part of the forum is only accessible to HRI members. must be the fact it is 2:30am here (too tired to think).
I better not post it here in case of legal issues.

 

With the popularity of the Hamb recently, mostly because of the resurgence of the traditional styles and looks, its even makes us (all of Us) more vunerable.
The amount of lurkers here is unbelievable on a daily basis.
Sad but true, we must be careful what we say, and you young guys, be sure its true. That would be a hell of a way to start out your financial lives. With a 100,000.00 liable settlement. You can write off your hotrod building for your lifetime. ......... Free speech..... Yea right! . the old fuck PJ

 

So,he is a legal eagal pencil pushin bean counter ,NOW it makes sense, no offense , to our lawyer members , but I think we're talkin about an ambulance chaser type here, sue just to sue , maybe he can score big

 

I ain't no lawyer thats for sure and I don't pick up much from Law and Order and I don't watch Judge Judy

but how can a lawyer from any country rather than the one you reside in do anything? not like they got extradition laws to cover name calling and my off shore bank acct is suffering terribly

I figure I can sit on my side of the fence and call PeteJoe a crotchety old fart all day long and nothing come of it J/K

I don't figure I'd say anything except my opinion on something or make up a pack of lies to run a product down anyways

 

As i see it there can only be deformation on Either a person or a company,now i don't know what was said but i'm not sure speaking out about how a club is run would be classed as deformation unless someone has got very personal.If you are a member of said club you should have a right to constructivly critisise the person/persons who are running the club but if you have enough members of that club on the boardread the club rules and you may be able to remove that person by vote of no confidence and believe me it onlt takes a few,a substantial number say 50 could do it.As long as it does'nt get too personal you should be able to say what you like.As long as you dont say that person is a thief,liar,conman or anything like that you should be ok..................Marq

 

So much for your constitutional rights..........

 

Ha, yeah I spent an hour on the phone with Gary. His first words to me were something like, "I discussed this with my lawyers, they think I have grounds here,,,etc" He didn't like some of the words I said here about the cause of the failures people have had with his product line and the way his company has delt with those problems. End result was the HAMB guy got his control arms replaced and I got a guarantee from him that he would help us solve future problems. It actually worked out quite well. If anything I wish he would get involved with his customer base on message board. I do, I try to frequent as many classic truck websites where my customers may lurk and try and help out as much as possible.

Its just too easy to get frustrated and angry at someones opinion on a stupid message board. Actually takes effort to get involved and iron out differences.

 

A while back I belonged to a sick group of people that once a year put on a holloween spook house. Two nights a year, the first night was kidde night and everyone was well behaved, the second night, adult night was a little different, not only was it scary it was a little sick minded fun , you know like dildos poking out from behid the black curtains spraying water on you went you went by stuff like that, all harmless and funny. The town has about 500 people in it and is for the most part poor, so all the money was donated each year to a needy family, some had a bout with cancer, some had a little bad luck, some had a fire, some just couldn't seem to pay the bills and put food on the table. Over the year this thing grew to the point people would come from god knows where but it would be contstant movement for about 6 to 7 hours and we raised between 10 and 12 thoudand dollars, again it all was donated.

One year we had some out of towners come to adult night that did nothing but piss and moan about the things they were seeing, of course they couldn't tell who they were telling this to because it was so dark you can't see you hand in front of you face, and besides we are in costume. Well at the end of this spook house there is a slide made out of a large plastic drainage tube that spits you out on the dance floor where the band is playing and your invited to have typical drinks. One of these new guests is cautioned twice by the gouls at the top of th slide to take the stairs down, she's a little overweight and wearing a nylon jump suit. She refuses and put up quite a sceene and of course lands a little too hard and breaks her ankle. Now many of my fellow members are on the volenteer squads so she is rushed to the emergency room with everyone being as nice as possible. We of course take care of all expenses, and maintain contact with her for the next month or so to see if she is alright.

You guessed it, we are sued as a group and all members for 1.5 million dollars for her pain and suffering and .5 million by her husband for lack of sexual activity. The short version is we all shit our pants for the next year until it settled for $100K and our insurance paid that and of course we had to disolve the group.

So the moral of this long winded story is don't be surprised what a lawyer and an asshole can do, and for the most part it ain't good.

 

Thanks again for that!!!
The new control arms work GREAT!

Gary DID tell me that he read everything that was posted, and he appreciated me sticking to the facts, trying to find an honest solution to the problem, rather than just talking shit. Thanks again to you as well Gary...

 

Defamation rules in the US are different than abroad. In the US you have to prove some one has defamed you. In Brittain, It is up to the person being sued to prove that they didnt defame the person.. its Ass Backwards. In brittan the step of "warning" or "cease and desisting" doesnt have to happen, you can just sue. Im not sure of the aussie rules. But here in the US, RYAN would not be accountable for what I say, he may be asked to give up my info, but he wouldnt be sued. If he set up a forum "WHY HYUNDAIS SUCK" yes, he would be "C&D" first, but could be liable for the posts...

I get C&D all the time for my jesus the monster truck site...

 

Now how could anyone complain about a bikini baptismal font like this???

 

I was contacted by Monter Garage, for the first "monster nation" segment. They wanted the baptisimal on the show. I was on the phone with the lunk-head prodcuer for a half hour explaining to her that it was NOT REAL, and a SPOOF site, She never got it. Eventually I just told her I wasnt interested..
they emailed me the next day about the JESUS truck...
Lunk Heads..

 

Is this the same new guy that sent surveys to 10% of the members ?




I guess cheap intimidation tactics are a good substitute
for developing credibility to hard way.
By earning it.


I see a new job in his future.

 

Down With The Man!

 

cool, now that's my second favorite religous parody site, sorry, but it's tough to beat Landover Baptist!

 

Pardon my ignorance
What is the RRT and how do I check it out?