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Old blog post shows up when people search for a new site

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by sarahk, Mar 25, 2016.

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Would you remove '09 information about scammers because it hurts a new business?

Poll closed May 13, 2016.
  1. Yes. Nobody cares about the guys from '09 anymore

    1 vote(s)
    16.7%
  2. No. The posts are dated and people can see that they're different businesses

    2 vote(s)
    33.3%
  3. No. The '09 scammers don't deserve a clean slate

    2 vote(s)
    33.3%
  4. Other

    1 vote(s)
    16.7%
  1. #1
    Back in 2009 I made a blog post about a company called NZBOL as part of a long campaign against some fraudsters. The Police eventually stepped up and things went quiet.

    Roll onto 2015 and someone decides to create a Weebly directory using the same name but not with the domain. I checked the guy out and posted my findings as evidence, in my mind, that the old site and the new site are not related.

    Maybe because it's Easter and people have more time on their hands, whatever, but today I get a barrage of comments insisting that the 2009 posts be deleted. Thing is, I don't for a second believe the lawyer is a lawyer, I reckon it's the guy trying to get all heavy.

    He's claiming that the posts that are clearly dated 2009 are hurting his 2016 business. I claim that he should have checked before naming his business as the information was out there.

    Slander cases are notoriously hard to get a real lawyer to take on so I reckon he's just throwing his weight around - and I've only published information that can be found in a jiffy from Google.

    What would you do?
     
    sarahk, Mar 25, 2016 IP
  2. digitalpoint

    digitalpoint Overlord of no one Staff

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    #2
    That isn't anything remotely resembling slander. That would be like someone starting a daycare business today, naming it "Michael Jackson Daycare Service" and then them claiming that everyone in the past (before they had a business) that said anything about Michael Jackson molesting kids is slandering their business and now he's going to sue CNN because they ran a story about it and it's hurting his business.

    If the guy had nothing to do with the old business, he would be better off picking a better business name. The thing hurting his business (if that's really the case) is his selection of a company name.
     
    digitalpoint, Mar 25, 2016 IP
    th.sigit, dcristo and sarahk like this.
  3. Nigel Lew

    Nigel Lew Notable Member

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    #3
    This has all the hallmarks of absurdity. Like being entirely devoid of punctuation.

    "[​IMG]
     
    Nigel Lew, Mar 25, 2016 IP
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  4. jrbiz

    jrbiz Acclaimed Member

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    #4
    So, this "plaintiff" has the same name of the Aryan biker seeking an IT employee in another post you recently made? I would laugh this one off and ignore it entirely.

    To start with, a real lawyer would know that the charge is "libel" and not "slander" unless NZ has different definitions than the U.S., which I doubt. Libel covers written words while slander is for spoken words.
     
    jrbiz, Mar 26, 2016 IP
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  5. sarahk

    sarahk iTamer Staff

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    #5
    I'm absolutely stunned. This guy has known since October that the name NZBOL is tainted yet he's just gone and bought the domain name and has it pointing to a wix site. I can't believe he's so committed to the name that he would do that. It's not as if he actually had an established business, he'd gone from a directory to a page talking about being a gofundme type of site but he hadn't actually created the site.

    What is interesting is that when Weebly deleted his hate site it appears they killed all his other, unoffensive, sites as well.

    Oh, and if you want to check out a few libelous statements the comments on my blog post are a treat!
     
    sarahk, Mar 30, 2016 IP
  6. sarahk

    sarahk iTamer Staff

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    #6
    My buddy has been on the phone to me today - I let it go to voicemail - telling me he's also been on the phone to Google about having my site deindexed. It'll be interesting to see what effect that has but I never realised you could phone Google and have a whinge. I'll need to remember that.
     
    sarahk, Apr 5, 2016 IP
  7. digitalpoint

    digitalpoint Overlord of no one Staff

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    #7
    He's gotta be legit if he can just call up Google and get a site deindexed. :)
     
    digitalpoint, Apr 5, 2016 IP
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  8. jrbiz

    jrbiz Acclaimed Member

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    #8
    LOL, I have had one of my staff trying to speak to a Google rep for weeks about our account (in which we are spending many thousands of dollars per month) and we cannot get an actual human to talk to for some help with a problem that we are having. Not likely that he spoke to anyone and, if he did, not likely that Google would take any action. If he believed that the issue would be resolved by Google, there would be no need to call you with that information. Bikers tend to think that they can bluster their way around people. Hilarious.
     
    jrbiz, Apr 6, 2016 IP
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  9. Güney

    Güney Active Member

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    #9
    I don't know how things are arranged (legally) in NZ, but where I'm from (the Netherlands) there are institutions that hand out free legal advice. There are offices in all of the big cities and basically there are people there who give you free legal advice (whether you can pursue your case legally and/or whether you require a lawyer or not).

    These offices were implemented to root away some of the pressure lawyers face from people who don't actually have a legal case but waste their time anyway. At the same time, it also makes the legal system more accessible for the common folk. Advice is free and you can even get a reduction in fees when they forward you to a lawyer.

    The reason I'm mentioning this, is because I can't imagine that in a developed/Western country like New Zealand, they don't provide similar services. My advice, try to figure out whether there are indeed such offices in NZ as well and if so, ask them for advice on your matter.
     
    Güney, Apr 6, 2016 IP
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  10. sarahk

    sarahk iTamer Staff

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    #10
    I have a great lawyer and if the restraining order ever arrives he'll give me an initial consultation for free, mostly because he's amused by some of the scrapes I have got myself into with the guys behind the original site.

    I suspect the new guy is using one of the free services because he needs to get my "address for service" and is doing it personally. A real lawyer would have it in a jiffy. I had a bunch of comments on the blog from Te Ma'imi who claimed to be his lawyer but a) why is the new guy now going to new lawyers; b) why does he still want me to email Te Ma'imi on his mail.com email address; and c) why isn't Te Ma'imi handling everything now?

    The funniest thing is that he still thinks I'm saying bad things about him and I'm not. All the really bad stuff is in the comments he's left on the site.
     
    sarahk, Apr 6, 2016 IP
  11. Güney

    Güney Active Member

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    #11
    Well, if that is the case, I don't think you've really got something to worry about right :p? I imagine over 90% of the "threats" on the internet are just guys making stuff up and trying to get away with it. This guy doesn't seem to challenge that notion.
     
    Güney, Apr 6, 2016 IP