Can anyone help?

[Ribeena89]

Removed

[rory32]

Hi Ribeena and welcome to CAG. I'll move your post to a more appropriate area of the site. Can you supply some more information regarding your problem please.

[rory32]

I have just moved your thread to the General Forum for now until you can give us more details.

[Ribeena89]

Ok thank you.

[Ribeena89]

Given the situation I thought it best to remove this also.

[Bookworm]

Well, first of all is the "freedom of speech" one, forget that. Freedom of speech doesn't apply to private forums.

 

Secondly, if you choose to post something on the Internet which makes you or what you are speaking of identifiable, then you are taking chances, not least of all one of libel, which could affect you and the site in which you chose to post, but also that your private life will get exposed to any prying eyes that wishes to see it.

 

My advice is to speak to the moderator/owner of the site if you can't edit it yourself and 1) change your ID to something non-recognisable, b) edit the posts so that the school/people can not be identified.

 

As for your embarassment, that is something you will have to deal with for yourself. If the school is good enough that you wouldn't want to move your child, then hold you head high and ignore it, it is doubtful that you will be more than a 5 mns wonder anyway. If the school isn't worth it, then change schools.

 

Remove the personal comments, advise the HM that they have been removed, and next time, be a bit more careful. If the school/people can not be identified by name or by working out the connection with who you are, there can be no libel, so it's easy enough to sort out.

[JOSH_IOU]

good advice

[Stoked]

Well, first of all is the "freedom of speech" one, forget that. Freedom of speech doesn't apply to private forums.

.

 

Can I ask why that is?

[JOSH_IOU]

Because the country elected the Tories for 18 years.

[Bookworm]

Can I ask why that is?

You certainly can.

 

When you post on "private" forums, you agree to abide by their rules and most of them will have incorporated in them something to do with libel etc...

 

Whilst the right to freedom of speech is guaranteed under international law through human rights instruments like Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, it is subject to restrictions and exceptions. A well-known example is typified by the statement that free speech does not allow falsely "shouting fire in a crowded theatre" (Schenck v United States). Other limiting doctrines, including those of libel and obscenity, can also restrict freedom of speech.

 

Since recent cases have shown (Gina Ford v Mumsnet springs to mind), a website can be held jointly responsible of libel if they don't take due care of removing potentially libellous comments and therefore have a duty to protect themselves if one or more of their posters write libellous comments, even if that person then feels that their "freedom of speech" has been thwarted or that they're being censored.

 

It may well be that at some point, UK libel laws will need to be revised to account for the very specific tool a website or forum represents, but in the meantime, this is how it stands.

[Stoked]

a website can be held jointly responsible of libel if they don't take due care of removing potentially libellous comments

 

Thank you, very interesting.

 

There was a shocking case recently in which a forum based website, not dissimilar to this one, was forced to remove moderator-generated defamatory content from nearly 10000 posts that had been there for some 8 months!

 

It really makes you wonder just how bright some people are...

[JOSH_IOU]

You don't have the right to harass or insult any one unfortunately thats something were working on within reason. Gladly most political insults are over looked.

[Ribeena89]

Given the situation I thought it best to remove this also.

[Bookworm]

Thank you, very interesting.

 

There was a shocking case recently in which a forum based website, not dissimilar to this one, was forced to remove moderator-generated defamatory content from nearly 10000 posts that had been there for some 8 months!

 

It really makes you wonder just how bright some people are...

Hmmm... Of course, there'll always some bullies with more money than sense who will try to build their sense of self-importance by making issues where there's none, and try to create problems out of resentment, or maybe out of sheer ignorance. In cases like these, the only sensible thing to do is to remove the comments and let them have their pyrrhic victory. One feels that people like that are more to be pitied than condemned anyway, if they have nothing better to do than look for imagined slights.

 

In the case here, OP has nothing to gain by leaving the comments, if the HM complains, the website owners will probably remove the comments anyway to protect themselves, so she might as well remove them and the problem (if problem there really is, we only have the little info OP has given to go by) will go away.

[JOSH_IOU]

:rolleyes:bookies on the case people...