A link spammer signs up on my forum, and starts posting links in every post he makes. As with all spammers, I ban the person, remove all of their post, and submit their information to the Stop Forum Spam website - stopforumspam.com The information that was submitted to the stop forum spam site included their account name on my forum, ip address and email address. This morning, I get an email saying that since I labeled him as a spammer, that is libel, and he is going to sue me. I dont know what to think about this. Someone spams my forum, and then gets mad when their labeled a spammer? Monday morning I'am going to call around and see if I can talk to a local attorney. But until monday, I would like some opinions on the matter.
If it is libel, then would they mot only be able to win if they could PROVE they are not ?, and i doubt they can do that since "stopforumspam" would probably have picked them up at other places.
I know a lot of people are probably going to say this but, I very much doubt you will hear anything further from him. If he is going around forums spamming links then I very much doubt he has the money to launch a law suit. Otherwise he would just pay an Advertising Network to advertise for him....
If it is true it is not libel. By definition for it be be libel it needs to be a false. So... I wouldn't worry about it.
kev, tell the kid to "go ahead" and sue you, in any case, an official lawyer's letter to you is gonna cause him a bomb with all the consultation and shit.. until he decides to do that, just ignore him. OR, you can simply reply. "oh, please don't sue me, please tell me how we can resolve this amicably." then when he replies, "I wan $xxxx from you". copy, save, print all necessary documents & counter sue him with criminal intimidation & extortion. enjoy.
I doubt you have anything to genuinely worry about. Don't bother wasting your money consulting an attorney unless you hear from him again and he responds with a solicitors letter, a letter before action, or an actual law suit. I'd be willing to bet you won't hear anything sensible from them again.
They can only sue you if they can prove in some way that by labelling him a spammer he has lost earnings or something similar. If he spammed on your site he probably did on others as well so I wouldn't be worried if I were you.
Spam is my one pet hate. More power to you for exposing the spammer. Not very professional I know but personally I would just tell im to kiss my a$$.
They don't need to prove anything in order to sue. Winning the suit is where they need to do the proving. On the 1/1000 chance they do bring suit, then get a lawyer. One thing tho... are you sure the guy who did the spamming is the same guy who sent the email? People can spam using other peoples name and links...in the hope of getting them in trouble.
This prick is just trying scare tactics. They are hollow. Ignore it and he will go away. Honestly, these kids will try anything. I would know. I dealt with a few plagiarists of my work who grew truly vicious when backed into a corner. They showed their evil side in hideous ways and there was nothing they would not say or do.
Anyone can sue, but in almost every jurisdiction in the world, truth is an absolute defense to any action for defamation (including libel).
As long as you haven't stated any non-facts, you have nothing to worry about. Libel is defined as damaging someones' reputation with false or misleading information. Just keep a record of any communications they send you and ignore them.
I'm sure he'll really hire a lawyer and go through a long, drawn out court process just because someone banned him from a forum Just call him an asshole, pat him on the head and send him his merry way.
I want to reiterate the part about ignoring them. Telling them to "fuck off", calling them an "asshole", or any other inflammatory communication can and will be used against you.
reply to all of his email with only this: This is an automated message from "your mail server name": Your message to this recipient has been rejected as spam.