XPost: karoo.local, alt.movies.monster, misc.education.medical   
   XPost: uk.misc   
   From: rhandley@optonline.net   
      
   Conor :   
   >> >Ever heard of being sued for libel?   
   >> >If anyone has some contact details for this person I'd be grateful   
   >> >(financially too possibly).   
   >> I haven't followed the thread, but are you threatening a lawsuit over   
   >> something someone said about you here?  If so, there's pretty much no   
   >> chance of winning.  Newsgroup-based disputes are largely considered   
   >> frivolous and not taken seriously.   
   >Want to bet? Do a google search on Dr Laureance Goddfrey.   
      
   No need to.  The existence of a single case, or even five if there are   
   a few more, changes little.  A general preception of newsgroups is   
   that they're a haven for freaks who have no life and, thus, need to   
   talk to strangers for attention.  If you actually tried to sue someone   
   for posting something about you here, you'd be portrayed by the press   
   (and by people in newsgroups and other forums across the world) as a   
   sad, sad individual with far too little to occupy your time.  Whenever   
   the prefix "cyber" is added to a scenario, the perception of both the   
   press and the masses becomes far more negative.  Case in point -- the   
   nutcase Marlon Paghtakhan, who cyber-stalked actress Jeri Ryan.  Most   
   stalkers are portrayed as scary individuals, but not Marlon -- he was   
   widely mocked and ridiculed for his antics, even though he made actual   
   death threats, something not all stalkers even do.  Why?  Because he   
   did it online.  The fact that his name entered the papers due to   
   something he did online made others consider him a pathetic loser, and   
   if you were to actually go so far as to sue someone for allegedly   
   libelizing you on a newsgroup (and let's face it, you're not going to   
   -- no matter how angry you might be, you're just sounding off and will   
   clearly take it no further than that), then you'd be portrayed and   
   perceived as a pathetic loser as well.  People would say, "Does he   
   really have nothing better to do than sue someone over something so   
   minor?  Does he really have so few relationships with real people that   
   the comments of an anonymous stranger would actually be so important   
   to him?  Is he really so fragile an individual that the comments of a   
   total stranger online could actually hurt him?  How sad."  The press   
   would really go to town on you, and it just wouldn't be worth it.   
   Take it from me -- I am press.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)