Surveying the Aftermath

What can I say besides "Wow?" A guy steps away from his computer for a day and his humble website gets the most traffic in its history. I never thought anything could be as huge as Trombone Porn; thank you (I think) for proving me wrong.

The "sheep issue" is at an end. I am reposting here a comment made by Ben, our section leader, to make it as clear as possible to all involved (on both sides).

Ok. This is enough. This issue needs to be over. I have talked with clarinet section leaders and this has been blown out of proportion. Their intent was a joke....we lost the intent....we overreacted to a joke with personal attacks.

I personally apologize to Iesha and any others who were attacked personally. We overreacted.

Let's move on....

I, too, would like to issue an apology. To all those that I attacked personally in my initial post, I am sorry. Additionally, I apologize for having attacked the clarinet section as a whole; the 'prank' was played by individuals, not the entire section, and had nothing to do with what instruments certain people played. Thanks for your understanding.

Here ends the 'sheep incident.' Florence will be back at the next game. Fun will be had by all. And we're a stronger band because of it (I'm so proud!).

Now onto other pressing matters.

As this silliness was winding down, I received an email:

Hello,
My name is Garth Gourley, and I find my name laced throughout the comments of your Sheep! Sheep! Sheep! section. I am writing to ask that my name be edited out of all materials on your website. What is said on the website can be considered slander, and I can and will take legal action against it should it remain posted.

Please remove the comments concerning my name, Garth Gourley, and refferences to myself (i.e. Saxophone Section Leader, G.G., Garth, etc.) from the website.

Thank you,
Garth

--
Garth Gourley
Saxophone Student
James Madison University

Here is my reply as sent to Garth.

Garth-
I cannot and will not delete any such comments, nor will I make any effort to censor what is said.

First and foremost, what is written on the website cannot, by definition, be considered slander[ http://www.shlawyers.com/Practice/Labor%20and%20employment%20law/Slander%20Libel.htm ]. To quote the immortal JJJ in Spider-Man, "Slander is spoken. Libel is written."

So let's presume you were speaking of libel, which consists of three parts [ http://www.gigalaw.com/articles/2000-all/morris-2000-01-all.html ]:

First, the writer must publish an untruth about another person in a manner that is meant to be believed by others.

By my count, there are fourteen references to your name on the site as of 1 AM. Several are referring to acual events as they occurred on Saturday afternoon. A few more are random spleen-ventings which are obviously opinion, and three actually refer to you in a positive manner. Because there are no untruths and, as posts on an essentially anonymous forum, they are unlikely to be construed as gospel truth, the first criterion for libel fails to be met.

Second, the object of the author's words must be damaged in some fashion.

I can't speak for you here, but I can't see how a few posts to my forum could possible damage you, I'll go ahead and say that this condition is also not met.

Third, to distinguish libel from slander, the publication must be in some form of permanent impression.

This is the only one that applies in this case. One out of three ain't bad, but it also ain't enough to define libel.

Now let's assume that what is posted on this forum could be, in any way, shape, or form, construed as libel. Regardless, it was established as far back as 1993, in Cubby vs. CompuServe [ http://www.eff.org/Legal/net_libel_godwin.article ] that the owners and operators of an open forum on the Internet are not responsible for the postings of their users.

I do not screen, edit, or modify posts to my website that do not directly impact its ability to operate. The comments posted by readers on my website are akin to the books of a bookstore; just as a bookseller is not liable for writings in a book that they carry, I make no effort to censor the comments of largely anonymous individuals. As the US District Court, District of Columbia ruled in Blumenthal v. Drudge, [ http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:ORz0DsfSVB4C:www.curie.org/downloads/nl200012.pdf+defamation+law+internet+forum+responsible&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 ]

[A] service provider [can] not be held liable ... in the absence of evidence that the service provider had some role in writing or editing the material or creating the information.

I believe strongly in the right of an individual to express himself. Deleting random posts from my personal website goes against everything I believe. In light of this, I hope you reconsider your intent to pursue legal action in this matter.

Sincerely,
AJ Schuster
http://www.maximumaardvark.com/

October 07, 2002 - 01:44 AM

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