Please Read This

[Neil]

To all members of Woodwork Forums.

If you intend to denigrate a business or person on these forums please think long and hard before doing it. You might also like to check with your lawyer and your accountant to see if you have enough money to fight the law suit that may ensue.

It would also be a good idea to make sure that your facts are right and that you have reliable witnesses that are prepared to go to court for you.

Then you might like to read these sections of our Bulletin Board Rules.

The owner, administrators and moderators of Woodwork Forums have the right to delete any message for any or no reason whatsoever. By clicking on the Agree button when you register to become a member of Woodwork Forums: you agree to remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, you also agree to indemnify and hold blameless this Bulletin Board, Woodwork Forums, U-Beaut Enterprises the administrators, moderators, and their agents with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s).

The owner and head administrator of Woodwork Forums has the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) in the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any message posted by you. We also reserve the right without prejudice to ban any member from posting or using the Bulletin Board.

By clicking on the Agree button when you register to become a member of Woodwork Forums you warrant that: you will not use this Bulletin Board to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law. You also agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this Bulletin Board.

Please be assured, if it comes to the crunch and someone wants to sue me or any of the administrators or moderators, for something a non thinking member has posted, I will hand over every bit of identifying information I have to the authorities without blinking an eye.

These forums are for you to use in a spirit of help, understanding and friendship. From time to time there will be the odd misunderstanding and some debates may get a bit hot this is a given and your prerogative. However recently there have been a few posts that have gone overboard, the odd slanderous post and a few personal attacks. I have personally negotiated away a couple of possible slander suits for members, that could well have cost them many thousands of dollars or even the loss of a house and other valuable assets. You may think you are anonymous on these forums but believe me you aren't.

I and the other administrators and moderators have had a gut full of hassles caused by a few numbskulls. From now on if you want to make a big statement, base it on fact, if you want to pick a fight, make sure you can handle what comes back your way, if you wish to denigrate or slander a business or person be prepared to get sued. I am washing my hands of these matters and so are all our administrators and moderators.

Objectionable posts will be deleted and repeat offenders and antagonizers will be banned. If you have a problem with this please feel free to leave these forums and go wreak havoc elsewhere.

Neil Ellis
Owner of Woodworking Forums

[TOMARTOM]

Here is a link that I found on the SA legislation website, maybee it will help explain what defamation is, I must say it would be helpful if there is anyone out there with legal qualification, to explain what implies defamation...

CRIMINAL LAW CONSOLIDATION ACT 1935 - SECT 257
Criminal defamation
Criminal defamation

257. (1) A person who, without lawful excuse, publishes defamatory matter concerning another living person--

(a) knowing the matter to be false or being recklessly indifferent as to whether the matter is true or false; and

(b) intending to cause serious harm, or being recklessly indifferent as to whether the publication of the defamatory matter will cause serious harm, to a person (whether the person defamed or not),

is guilty of an offence.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 3 years.



regards
tony

[Disarm]

Here is a link that I found on the SA legislation website, maybee it will help explain what defamation is, I must say it would be helpful if there is anyone out there with legal qualification, to explain what implies defamation...
Just passed by this thread.. If anyone still wants to know, in easier words, defamation is essentially anything you say/announce about a person, which can be percieved as negative. (Lawyers will argue this, however often cases are thrown out of court)

You will most certainly win your lawsuit if, not only someone has said something about you which offends you, it impacts your life in a negative way, or the person has done it in order to do so (or does it, knowing it may do so).

In this case, nearly anything negative posted on a board such as this makes you very open to be sued- you are essentially announcing something to the world, in the knowledge anyone from their children, bosses, wives and friends, to those they have never met, may read it. So if, for example, I made an allusion to someone cheating on their spouse, regardless of wether it is even read or not by anyone (let alone the spouse), I could be hit up with a great sum. If others do read it, especially those close to the person, I could be hit up with a sum many times over what it may have been. But that's an example and partially conjecture.

Hope this was useful, and not too boring :)

[echnidna]

The laws vary a bit from state to state and country to country.
But in Vic criminal defamation used to be (and may still be) defamation of a person that creates financial or other advantage for the person committing the defamation.

However telling someone to their face what you think of them is merely an insult, unlessother parties hear the comments, which is when the insult may become defamatory.

[ndru]

I found this a good overview of defamation law, and consistent with my notes from my legal studies at uni many years ago...

Defamation law overview (http://artslaw.com.au/reference/info05/)

One point from the article worth noting:

The law of defamation is complex and often unpredictable. Defamation actions are difficult to defend and huge monetary damages can be awarded.

Given the size and reach of this forum's audience, a successful defamation could be quite expensive. Its true that there are defences against defamation, but they are not absolute. Just engaging legal defense against claim of defamation, even if you win, will test the strength of your cashflow. To quote Neil "...if you wish to denigrate or slander a business or person be prepared to get sued."

Having been flamed on the "free speech" issue before :o, my very humble suggestion for anyone who has experienced poor service from a woodworking retailer - take it up with your state's Fair Trading regulator first. If you must comment or seek comment in this forum on a grievance, try to minimise specific details, especially the name of the business(es) you are referring to. If you REALLY think you've got something to say you think everyone should hear, but could be damaging and is targeted at specific entities, stop and take a deep breath, get your facts straight. Even better, clear your comment with the "unenviable deities" (administrator) before you post.

My 1.999 recurring cents worth.

[DanP]

The crux of the whole thing is the truth aspect.

Eg. You can't say "XXXXXX(brand) table saw is rubbish because tey never cut accurately and the nut on the arbour comes loose all the time"

BUT YOU CAN SAY "On my XXXXXX table saw, the arbour nut comes loose all the time and it won't cut accurately"

You can say anything you like about anyone as long as it's true. (AND you better be able to back it up with proof).

Dan

[Kris.Parker1]

Commonly referred to as Character Assassination! Generalised opinions are OK; however, direct derogatory remarks are not. Think this over when you want to write something about someone or something, how would you feel if the reference you were making about someone else was made about you?

Remember, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth an remove all doubt" L. Simpson, The Simpsons