Policy: Accusing People of Stuff

What can I say, I'm a maverick. I didn't think "slander is bad" needed to be discussed in commitee.

 

yes, it makes an ass outta u and me...


oh rite... you knew that already


Hi Maverick!!! Can i be Goose???

 

"I didn't think "slander is bad" needed to be discussed in commitee." - Padme-Bra

"This policy has been discussed on the Mod Squad in great detail." - Mara_Jade_Fan

Ironic.

 

Again, not so much the policy, but the issue was discussed.

 

Can I accuse myself of something without anything to prove it? If so, and I accuse myself with un-proven facts, would I be banned from accusing myself wrongly?

Just a "what if..."

 

Now PadmeBra, let's speculate...

Does that mean that *IF* you think a member made an accusation "maliciously," then you would need proof to back that up? Wouldn't banning them on "reasoning" only go against this 'new' policy?

Also, is it fair to ban a member who believes that someone is being sexually harrassed by a senior member of a discussion forum and brings it up with the managaement of that forum?

Sounds very primative thinking to ban someone who is trying to help someone who believes they have been sexually harrassed; proof or no proof.

 

Well sock, if you had read the initial post you would understand that you can come to the administration with any suspicion that you may have. The only way you can get into trouble is if you state it as fact. If you have no proof, tell us you have no proof. But just stating things as fact is called slander. It's illegal in the real world and apparently we need to remind everyone that it's against the rules here. It's that simple.

 

I don't think it's unfair to expect someone to have actual proof before making an accusation, even if s/he actually believes it. It would be one thing to contact an admin and say, "Look, you might want to investigate this rumor; I can't verify but you might be able to, one way or another." It's another to go, without proof, and say, "This happened!" People always need to show caution, because an accusation inevitably will have fallout, even it's proven wrong. That's why slander is illegal.

Further, making accusations of crimes without evidence is a dangerous thing to do. Hysteria can spread fairly quickly, and having evidence before making an accusation helps head it off.

EDIT: Decided to edit out historical reference to accusations without sufficient evidence.

 

Does that mean that *IF* you think a member made an accusation "maliciously," then you would need proof to back that up?

It doesn't matter if the accusation was made out of malice or not, making claims which could be defamatory to a member, simply shouldn't be posted unless one has concrete proof to back up their claim. Even then, it's best to take it up with an admin or someone in charge as posting it out in the open or circulating it among one's circle of friends isn't the best way to take care of it either.

 

Once again, this thread proves common sense isn't common.

Discuss.

BTW, I'm not accusing anybody of anything, just so you know.

 

Good policy.



And now for something.........


Three witches have an eye
Officials in trouble when they come by
Secret documents revealed with sigh
Don't you wish that they would die

Accusations flow and trouble is stirred
Members can't believe a word
It all sounds quite absurd
How can one silence what the three have heard

The seeing eye is out to frame
Hacking in this case isn't to blame
Giving the witches info without shame
Providing the drama for this here game

To stop anymore from being said
The officials must find the beast that leaks the thread
Stab and stab and cut off her head
Until she and her powers are dead

 

Wow...you really spent some time on that.

I give it 3 out of 5.
I liked the content but the rhyme was a bit off at points.
I also thought the ending was somewhat unrealised.

Keep up the good work HLS.

 

hmmmmmm, this looks like a case for Mulder and Scully.

 

Nice HLaS. (Though some punctuation here and there wouldn't go astray )

LittleJedi

 

muwahahahaha.

Man, this place has gone down the crapper in my absence. And people say I cause a lot of Drama...

Funny, the last time I posted something accusing someone of something I had plenty of evidence but was still chastised by admins and mods and probably blacklisted.

 

Clarification -- what is being presented here is legally referred to libel, not slander.


WHAT IS "SLANDER"?

Slander is a spoken defamation.




WHAT IS "LIBEL"?

Libel is a written defamation.

Generally, radio and television broadcasts that are defamatory are considered to be libel, rather than slander.




To PadmeBra:

The first line in your opening statement, addresses all posters of this board as 'kids'. In order to address the general membership with that term, you must feel you're far older than the general membership of this board.

However, I take issue with that comment and would like to remind all the admin/mods of this board, there are several members on here that are old enough to be your mothers or fathers.

 

But what if we accuse, say, Padme Bra of being too damn sexy. Would he desire proof, or would he take the accusation at face value?

 

That would never happen, I've seen PB's photos

 

Wow... Soggy's still here! Good to see ya!

 

All that is being asked of members is to say if they have proof or just suspect.

Are we done here or does anyone else have something on-topic to say?

~*~Bria

 

I think were done, but I don't speak for everyone. Everything seems to be covered though.

 

busy times in the MS eh? what else are you working on lads? tackling the issue of sunset just before night-time?

hey soggy, LOH

 

Sigh.

 

Profound as always, PB.

 

And that'll do it. Thanks, everyone!