SMEAR BUSTER - CITIZEN FREE PRESS: Con Home Learning College

Disclaimer

People here are basically going to have to follow the rules we deem fit for this place. We know that many won’t like it and not all forums have the same approach, but we do!

Here’s some the legal bits, no libel, slander, lying, fabricating, defamatory comments. NO bad language, even words use by kids in the playground, as parents will get embarrassed. Don’t try insulting groups or individuals. Equally we don’t accept racial slurs or religious bigotry. In other words, don’t try threatening people, as we won’t allow it. Also no toilet or changing room humour, it’s not big and isn’t funny.

We LOVE heated debate, be robust please but keep it civil and don’t suggest people are dictators. This is a public place and so behave as we wish you to behave.And to make it clear if we think you are bullying or being nasty we reserve the right to edit or even pull messages and if necessary we’ll remove membership. Initially, membership will be freely given to those who prove via e-mail they have something valid to say.

Membership will only be issued to those, finally, who have a real e-mail address and provide a name that isn’t from a children’s movie or other fictitious world.If you surf off to other places, you do so at your own risk. If you steal or reproduce anything from this site without written permission we will get extremely upset, by the way please see the section “you have been warned” – especially those within the EU. Finally, we’re human and if you see something you think is wrong do please let us know via e-mail.

It now seems bizarre to say this, but enjoy your stay – we hope you do seriously!

HOW DO THEY DO THAT?

One citizen, yes one citizen, can make it appear that a story is true by cross-posting to multiple - online services.
In plain language please Rick?
Let’s assume you have a grievance with a company and literally nobody will listen or the journalists you approach either start by acting on your story and then subsequently fail to follow it up. This should indicate to the person that the story or grievance has no merit. In many cases it is just a citizen missing the whole point of what they purchased, as it’s normally a consumer issue. Some clever people understand how Forum Readers (sorry jargon but click on the links if you want to know now), RSS (an abbreviation for Really Simple Syndication Feeds) and SEO (Search engine optimization) work can be used to make it appear that a story is very important and has hundreds of people agreeing with it. However, the truth is just one person writes something on the Internet and with cyber magic it appears all over the world. The main problem is the citizens reading such material MAY NOT KNOW it is not really a hundred people. At that point the Citizen should check the last 3 months of the bona fide media. Check if professional journalists have picked up the claims made by the single poster. If the answer is no then the chances are there is NO STORY as the grievance has no merit. If that is hard to do, simply use Google again and search the story with a combination of CNN, Sky News and your preferred national/regional newspaper. That should finally give you the answer – TRUTH or SMEAR CAMPAIGN, better known today as Doing A McBride If at this point you still need help please go to OFCOM (the UK's regulator) and read the ADVICE FOR CONSUMERS about the Media

You have been warned

Below are a few pieces of what we think are good information for anyone thinking of being stupid on the web – don’t do or it could bite you where it hurts.

www.website-law.co.uk

“author” means the originator of the statement, but does not include a person who did not intend that his statement be published at all;
“editor” means a person having editorial or equivalent responsibility for the content of the statement or the decision to publish it; and

Dealing with defamatory posts on your website forum or blog
If you have an online service - have a read!

Content: kinds of illegality
"Examples of content that may give rise to civil liability include:
- Defamatory material- Material infringing another person’s copyright (or other intellectual property rights)- Material infringing another person’s rights of confidence or privacy..."

Internet contracts and jurisdiction
"Similarly, where a supplier is obliged to bring proceedings against a consumer in the consumer’s jurisdiction of domicile, then that obligation cannot be altered by a choice of jurisdiction clause."