Join the Neopoet online poetry workshop and community to improve as a writer, meet fellow poets, and showcase your work. Sign up, submit your poetry, and get started.
Boo hoo hoo, I'm going to sue!
It may come as a shock to people but at times I have had people on the Interweb threaten me.
I know, it's unbelievable, me being so easy going and non-abrasive and never taunting or mocking people when they get angry at me.
For those of you who have never been in a courtroom as a plaintive or defendant, and I have been in both positions, a threat to sue can be daunting. Once you spend 13 years in family courts establishing and then confirming custody of your child, courts lose their mystique and you realise that folks who threaten to sue are morons.
I was first threatened with a lawsuit on the Interweb back when I frequented the CompuServe forums and have followed that up at least once yearly for the last 20 years. Why, I even once had someone tell me they had reported me to the FBI and included "contact" information. I forwarded that information to a friend who works in the DEA as the US federal government takes a dim view of people pretending communication from federal agencies.
What people fail to realise is that Freedom of Speech does not extend to private communities. Just as I can have my membership in the Republican party rescinded, so can my involvement in on-line communities be terminated for any or no reason. As long as there has not been a fee for service, the owners of a community can kick anyone they desire for any reason what-so-ever and your only recourse is to sit and cry in a corner.
if there has been a fee for service they only need document your violation of the Terms of Use and they can terminate your membership AND keep your cash. Fee for service arrangements do not include donations, people sometimes forget that point. Whatever agreement you believe exists, a donation is a no-strings transaction. You are giving it freely and the recipient has no obligation towards you.
So, if you are a member of an on-line community and you are upset about the other people who are there, leave, stay, pound sand, all that is fine but threatening to sue them is so moronic you should most probably seek professional help.
And then there is e-mail. E-mail is like answering the phone. If you call me and I scream and yell and call you names and question your ability to dress yourself, your mental state, your relations with dead animals, or anything else, you are powerless to take any action against me. After all, you called me. I can't threaten but I can vent.
The same applies to e-mail. If you write me and I respond, tough on you. You need not read it, you may block my address.
In both cases harassment is involved only if I initiate multiple communications and can be compounded if I respond from multiple points of contact or attempt to disguise my involvement or pursue you from one venue to another.
So, them's the facts. But let's imagine this conversation:
IDIOT: "I'm a member of an on-line community and this person is talking to me and I don't want them to!"
LAWYER: "You are an idiot. That'll be $150, now get out of my office."
And since I am a wonderful person, all of you folks who feel like threatening legal action is the ultimate "FUCK YOU BITCH, I'LL SHOW YOU!" card, send me $50 via PayPal and I will call you an idiot for 1/3 of the cost.
It's because I am such a nice guy.
Just ask me.
I know, it's unbelievable, me being so easy going and non-abrasive and never taunting or mocking people when they get angry at me.
For those of you who have never been in a courtroom as a plaintive or defendant, and I have been in both positions, a threat to sue can be daunting. Once you spend 13 years in family courts establishing and then confirming custody of your child, courts lose their mystique and you realise that folks who threaten to sue are morons.
I was first threatened with a lawsuit on the Interweb back when I frequented the CompuServe forums and have followed that up at least once yearly for the last 20 years. Why, I even once had someone tell me they had reported me to the FBI and included "contact" information. I forwarded that information to a friend who works in the DEA as the US federal government takes a dim view of people pretending communication from federal agencies.
What people fail to realise is that Freedom of Speech does not extend to private communities. Just as I can have my membership in the Republican party rescinded, so can my involvement in on-line communities be terminated for any or no reason. As long as there has not been a fee for service, the owners of a community can kick anyone they desire for any reason what-so-ever and your only recourse is to sit and cry in a corner.
if there has been a fee for service they only need document your violation of the Terms of Use and they can terminate your membership AND keep your cash. Fee for service arrangements do not include donations, people sometimes forget that point. Whatever agreement you believe exists, a donation is a no-strings transaction. You are giving it freely and the recipient has no obligation towards you.
So, if you are a member of an on-line community and you are upset about the other people who are there, leave, stay, pound sand, all that is fine but threatening to sue them is so moronic you should most probably seek professional help.
And then there is e-mail. E-mail is like answering the phone. If you call me and I scream and yell and call you names and question your ability to dress yourself, your mental state, your relations with dead animals, or anything else, you are powerless to take any action against me. After all, you called me. I can't threaten but I can vent.
The same applies to e-mail. If you write me and I respond, tough on you. You need not read it, you may block my address.
In both cases harassment is involved only if I initiate multiple communications and can be compounded if I respond from multiple points of contact or attempt to disguise my involvement or pursue you from one venue to another.
So, them's the facts. But let's imagine this conversation:
IDIOT: "I'm a member of an on-line community and this person is talking to me and I don't want them to!"
LAWYER: "You are an idiot. That'll be $150, now get out of my office."
And since I am a wonderful person, all of you folks who feel like threatening legal action is the ultimate "FUCK YOU BITCH, I'LL SHOW YOU!" card, send me $50 via PayPal and I will call you an idiot for 1/3 of the cost.
It's because I am such a nice guy.
Just ask me.