Hatrack River Forum: Giving Lawyers a Bad Name

This is topic Giving Lawyers a Bad Name in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

News story

quote:
Cohen said he no longer keeps identifying information on users because he does not want to encourage lawsuits and drive traffic away. Asked why posters could not use their real names, he said, "People would not have as much fun, frankly, if they had to worry about employers pulling up information on them."

But apparently it's ok for posters to identify those they insult and slander by name.

I won't link to threads from AutoAdmit for two reasons. One, the language FAR exceeds the threshold accepted here. Two, I absolutely do not want to encourage Google's ranking of those links to go up.

One of the groups trying to deal with this garbage.

Posted by James Tiberius Kirk (Member # 2832) on :

quote:
But, he said, only Cohen, who created the message board, has authority to have the comments removed. Cohen, in a separate interview, said he will not "selectively remove" offensive comments, and that when he has attempted to do so, he was threatened with litigation for "perceived inconsistencies."

Huh? As far as I'm aware, a website -- and its fora -- are private property. Can't he remove whatever he wants?

--j_k

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

I think so. Just because someone threatened to sue him (gosh, law students threatening to sue! how unlikely!) doesn't mean they had grounds.

I think he's making excuses.

Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :

Just more proof that people are dumb.

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

I think it's stupid that he won't remove offensive stuff. And if he doesn't want to "selectively" remove it, how about removing all of the offensive content, or at least all of it directed at others, especially that which identifies others by name?

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

Also:

quote:
"In fact, one finds overall a much deeper and much more mature level of insight in a community where the ugliest depths of human opinion are confronted, rather than ignored," they wrote.

We manage to do this on Hatrack without insulting each other (most of the time)-- at least not by name and with vulgar language and racial epithets and sexual and physical threats.

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

And upon a re-read:

quote:
The two men said that some of the women who complain of being ridiculed on AutoAdmit invite attention by, for example, posting their photographs on other social networking sites, such as Facebook or MySpace.

Does that remind anyone else of people who say women deserved to be raped because they were asking for it with the way they dressed?

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

Yeah, it does. [Razz]

Posted by JennaDean (Member # 8816) on :

quote:
"In fact, one finds overall a much deeper and much more mature level of insight in a community where the ugliest depths of human opinion are confronted, rather than ignored," they wrote.

Is this saying what I think it's saying? That a community is more mature and insightful when they express ugly opinions? [Roll Eyes]