Could I take legal action against an individual / group?

Someone who goes by the name Snaisybelle (yeah, you read that right) has been posting lies and other crap about me on a page on some website, with the site itself being primarily aimed to harass people, and nothing more. She is a sysop (administrator) who has the available access to be able to edit and remove specific articles, and therefore could potentially delete the page, via good will. For now, we will just refer to the site itself as ED.

Snaisybelle also followed me to Wikipedia and one of the moderators on Wikipedia (who knows her from the 'other' website) got me banned, by linking to accounts that only had one or more contributions, from as far back as 2005. This is merely because they know me from our meetings on ED.

I'd been on Wikipedia for many years and felt rather annoyed that they would favor a couple of bullies over me, when they had not even had one single real contribution to their credit. After that, they started leaving tag messages on all of my accounts and IP address pages, claiming I'd illegally used "sock puppets" and that I was a sock puppeteer. They've often called me a sock puppeteer on ED.

On my Facebook profile, she sent a PM stating she would make a new page about members of my family, and that my page was about to get interesting. Her own profile soon disappeared from view. I do not have a printer set up upstairs in my room, so I cannot save screen images using my print key. I use a wireless connection. Three computers in total. Two monitors, one laptop.

On the so-called 'other' site, which I won't link to, the abuse has worsened over time. Links are being rejected on here anyway, so linking to it wouldn't work.


The problem lies within the fact that Snaisybelle has been editing an abuse filled article, that has been online since 2008. Therefore she is not the original author. The article was locked at my request from August until January, at which point it was unlocked, so I could remove the abuse, without being reverted. Then Snaisybelle introduced herself to me, as the new sysop, despite not knowing me beyond this site. She then said that if I crossed her, she would make a page promoting my crack whore mother, and other things.

The article is super protected, thus removing detail is only very temporary. She started this carry on in the early weeks of 2010. I even have her real name, location and DOB.

I also don't want to spend hundreds of pounds on a lawsuit. Is there a cheaper and more effective alternative? Also, a train to London and back to Edinburgh would be costly. My young Scot concession card won't be valid in England.

I am 24 and she is apparently 29. So we are both adults. This issue, however, can be traced back to 2002. I do not care about this person at all. And I only want her to delete the page and stop bothering me. However, this is impossible for her.

 

Sue her for what? I would advise just to forget about her. It will cost thousands, not hundreds, to sue this person and what damages can you prove in court? Saying they are going to do something is a lot different from actually doing it. It's not worth the time or money to take legal action.

 

Go to Encyclopedia Dramatica and perform a search for Grace Saunders. Alternatively, just look for Grace Saunders on Google. The ED page should be one of the very first links you see. Grace Saunders is a name I use on a lot of forums. It's a character in one of the survival horror games that I play / have collected.

 

Oh no, not the 'crack whore mother' accusation. What ever will you do in response?

Here is a free tip. Stop wasting your fucking time.

 

How about 'mind your own business and don't play keyboard tennis with someone you don't know' eh? It seems every single board I go to has the exact same type of people giving me the same type of reply. Is it asking too much to respect your fellow man? Is it?

 

if you know wo the person actually is, you probably have grounds for libel and defamation of character, if the references are to you personally, or an average person could construe that the target of the libel was you. Talk to a lawyer.

 

Just forget about it. The reason they do it is to get on your nerves. They will stop getting pleasure from your discomfort if you just laugh along with it.

 

Consult with an attorney who can tell you what your legal options are. Maybe there is something that is short of a lawsuit.

But you should be aware that if this person thrives on internet drama (which sounds like it's the case), anything you do to fight her short of a lawsuit is likely to ramp up the abuse. Even the lawsuit could become a source of online embarrassment if other people think you are over-reacting.

Your situation is frustrating and annoying, I'm sure, but there's a reason why it's usually suggested that online reputation management works best through flooding the intertubes with positive material about yourself rather than trying to get negative material removed - the latter tends to breed more drama and make you look even worse.

 

Dude,

I am not a lawyer... and you probably won't like my answers either. I looked at your situation and my opinion is that you are pretty much hosed. Even if you succeed with getting the info removed, your tormentors will just re-publish elsewhere.

Since this has been going on for awhile, I am sure that you have already tried some of the suggestions in this article:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-remove-false-libelous-information-about-yourself-online/

The website itself is using Free Speech and parody claims in the disclaimer... However, the website is just the instrument of the personal attack and announcing that you are just doing a parody before yelling 'fire' in a crowded theater is unlikely to hold up in court. In your case, I believe that your only course of action is to sue the person(s) responsible for libel and defamation. If they can prove that their personal attacks are true or fall under a parody heading, they will win the case.

I do note that the ED website appears to be hosted by a company in Chicago, Illinois. The state of Illinois has a cyber stalking law which may also apply... at least, until the site owners change hosting providers... You would best be served by finding a lawyer that specializes in Cyber Stalking/Bullying and enlisting them in your cause.

Good luck,

-Moe Green

 

The thing is, I have registered on lots of forums and always got on well with the members. There was the occasional smarty pants who came on the scene and tried to wind everyone up, but he or she were just ignored. The people I've known long term have always been cool with the way I've participated in the discussions, and I don't think forums are a waste of time if used for their purpose. It's just that the pages I would rather not see always come up first on Google. A few years back it was Dowan.org and then it was Retro Thinking, and now it is ED.

I often do a search for my own names to find my way back to places I've forgotten about, and then I find something else they've been saying. Sure, I've posted some lame stuff too, but I more or less just do it as a joke, a bit of fun. So not to take it too seriously. But just the other week there, I found a Resident Evil forum hosted on ProBoards and the folk there said they banned me because I was a hacker. And I noticed they had a shout box, so I left a comment stating they were wrong to accuse me of something like that with no proof, yet they didn't seem to care.

It got that dire, I even contacted people to delete my accounts or change my name. Rarely did anyone comply. My mum just said if you leave your profiles alone, sooner or later they'll delete them or expire. I've been waiting years for them to vanish. I don't think they ever will.

 

Seems like you put way too much personal info out there :S

And reading some of the stuff posted I'm slightly concerned - did you honestly get brought to court over .... let's say "stuff"?

Because if the things being posted are true, it's kind of different the them just harassing you :S

 

Yeah, I lost my job in 2006 and before I had any support workers, I would just spend my time broadcasting all the whole info.

 

They're at it again. I joined this board the other week, although I wasn't fully aware of who they were. They started spamming my topics, so I asked them to cool it or I'd report them to their host.

http://reeextreme.net/bboard/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=27

 

I don't see any problems on the link you gave, its just a very juvenile discussion. Its not illegal in any capacity for them to follow you around like that.

 

To the OP - if you can show that the statements made were
(1) false
(2) Known to be false when said, and/or said with reckless disregard for truth;
(3) damaging to you in some measurable way

AND you know who this person really is

Then I would say you do have a real cause of action. Following someone around the internet and defaming them, while I have not researched the differences which might result from the fact the whole thing is online (I am sure there are some legal differences between online and non-online, but it's hard to see the core elements be really much different --- i.e. posting in a public forum online and posting a sign on the street seem legally pretty similar, to me...---more or less anyway), seems like it should give rise to a cause of action.

Also, if you can show that you are losing sleep, going to a shrink, on anti depressants, and about to shove a shotgun up your arse and pull the trigger over it -- you may also have a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

These types of causes of action though are generally disfavored by the courts (the courts dont want everyone whose feeligns get hurt over being cussed out suing for $92891231923841209312.52) so the details are important, and the severity of the conduct and the damages has to be pretty major.

 

Erm, OP - did you actually push a girl and then go to some forum asking for advice about how to get off in court?

This isn't a thread you were being "harassed" in - another one found looking you up. :S

If that's true, and not just a grab for attention, it's pretty troubling.

 

Why are you all pandering to this blatantly obvious attention seeker?

 

Simply create a anonymous account with a new community and move on.

If you can't do that then its you who has the problem.

 

Hahahahaha knucklechildren.... Never heard that one before.

I lol'ed.

 

Minus the odd asshole above me (get a life), your replies have all been very helpful and honest, and I appreciate it.

However, like you stated earlier, it would cost too much money to take legal action. I only get benefit entitlement for my PDD-NOS and I'd have to save up for years to be able to afford a lawyer. And even if I could get it removed, bang, it's gonna end up on another site anyway. And the cycle will continue.

Even if I could successfully sue them, the memory of what they put me through will always be in the back of my mind. That's the part that is the most troublesome. If people can't understand that, that petty issue lies with them. Not me. They didn't suffer it - they can never know what it felt like to go through it year after year after year.

I think it's about time I gave up on forums. It's damn obvious I'm never gonna find a decent forum with 'real posters' who actually don't want to misuse forums. If you know what I mean.

Almost every video game site I've came across in the past 7 years has been full of spammers, idiots, and more. You name it, they have it. They think they can get away with anything just because they're behind a screen. It's so sad and pitiful.