Hi Breeze,

Im afraid i dont know anything about law, but I do know that this would be a civil matter and as such would be very very costly for you to bring anything against him.

You also need to show exactly what effect this has on you, what you stand to lose from this mans claims. Is he costing you income?

its a very complex law and legal aid wouldnt cover it. Im not sure if solicitors would even offer a free consultation period for this, but it may be worth calling a few and asking.

Do you have an address and full name for this man? Can you send a solicitors letter warning him maybe?

In the meantime, all you can do is keep reporting any abusive messages he posts to the admin.

Hi and thank you for your reply, much appreciated.

There were some developments over the weekend on this.  The admin on the site in question have deleted the comments made by this poster which were deemed to be offensive.  I was most grateful for that!

At least that is sorted and i hope they will do this again if such comments are made, i hope not but sadly where the internet is concerned i do feel it can be a playground for those who think they can do as they please, which they can't.  I know it is somewhat limited, but i know certain areas such as inciting racial hatred, child abuse and ecrime can be reported to certain organizations where the police will act given enough evidence. I believe to some degree harassment can also be dealt with which could come under constant abuse of a person on a site.

I really do hope there comes a day when online bullying can be dealt with in a legal way too.  I fear it might be one day, but they may take some years sadly!  As for now, it seems just down to the site in question and how well they are run.

I'm so tired of hearing about these 'hate groups' set up about people on the net to cause distress and really, blame the sites for allowing such things. 

I'm sure more people will be coming on here with such cases, but for now at least, this situation has been dealt with.

Thank you so much for your comments and reply

Breeze.

The test for deformation is whether it would "lower you in the estimation of right thinking people in society generally"....

The problem with an online message board, is people a) won't know it is necessarily you being referred to (so would it lower you in their estimation, if they don't know if's you ... and b) will it lower you in their estimation if it is clear he is ranting ...

Hope this helps a little, I'm not a lawyer, but I think you would be hard pushed and the emotional energy to sue might not be worth it ... In terms of who gets sued, it is both the individual and the publisher, although in practise, many people just go for the publisher as they have more money and it is easier.

Hope this helps and sorry not to be more positive...

Cx

Hi,

Just wanted to thank you for your message, but all this was sorted out quite some time ago now as i think i said in my previous post.

Yes, as i take it myself, it is the 'publisher' or site owner, that would be in trouble for allowing content causing distress or other problems to be put on a site.

I hope eventually clearer guide lines will come into play regarding the internet (i think i've also said this).  I've seen a few cases where boards, or sections of boards, have been closed rather than legal action being taken.  Also, the issue of not being known who is posting behind the username is amusing, as the board in question will warn people for calling others names for fear of their reputation being damaged if their employer saw it.  Well, as you said - how does their employer know?  These sites are run sometimes by people who really do make a hash of things as they can't have it both ways - my way - get away from any bad sites and don't post on them again!!  If any posters are causing distress by what they are saying - speak to the site owner and hope they are at least decent enough to take the comments off and stop the person who is doing it from doing it again.

In my case, the site owner did do that, took the comments off.  I hope that is the end of it now.

Thank you for your reply, perhaps this information might help others in a similar situation.

Breeze.