IMPORTANT ** Defamatory Postings ** Forums

nukeadmin · Site Admin

There has been a discussion taking place in the public forums here on MHF and also in the mods room about cases we have had whereby new members "popup" create an account, sound off about X company and then vanish never to be seen again. The motives behind these posts can only be guessed at, but after careful consideration we have made a few changes to MHF to firstly provide some accountability and also some protection to our members at large.

One of these changes is the Company Reports section has been modified to be subscriber access only. This will lessen the damage to the poster should any post made which is later found to be defamatory and reported by the company involved become involved in any legal action as the number of possible viewers of the content is limited. It also serves to act as an advantage for the subscribers to have access to this information.

The second thing i want to hammer home is that information posted here on MHF is publishing, i.e. you are doing the same here as if you were writing a column for a magazine or newspaper and as such can be subject to legal action should any opinions you have of X company be proved to be defamatory statements etc

Apologies for the "wordiness" of this and the slightly "legalese" language but I found it hard to dampen it down into standard english lol

In the past few months we have had approaches from solicitors complaining about posts which were alleged to be defamatory. Each time a complaint is received the post has to be reviewed and the moderators have to decide what to do. Sometimes that involves taking legal advice.

Under the law, and MHF rules, the moderators and administrators would be within their rights (and can be forced by legal action) to suspend the authors of such posts from membership, disclose their IP and e-mail addresses, and any other personal information held about them, and allow the solicitors to write to them direct. Remember you are each personally responsible for what you post, try to moderate language so it is not defamatory

Defamation This is becoming an increasing problem Stop, think, be sensible.

Meaning of Defamation There is no single comprehensive definition of what is defamatory. It includes anything which;

Is to a person’s discredit. Z is a thief or dishonest or incompetent at his job . business A was run badly, now it has been bought by B it will still be run badly
Tends to lower him or her in the estimation of others. Z is incompetent at his job B provides the worst aftersales care and service in the world, W ran companies into the ground successively (when W is a company doctor put into ailing companies to sell off bits for bankers)
Causes him or her to be shunned or avoided. X has some disfiguring diease
Causes him or her to be exposed to hatred, ridicule or contempt. x is a pervert, Y cheated in his exams

For a statement to be defamatory the imputation must tend to lower the claimant in the estimation of right-thinking members of society generally.

This is particularly true of one frequent subject, Brownhills. It is now (In Legal terms) a new company and as such It is (legally) entitled to be baggage free until such time as it establishes it own reputation, good or bad. You must not tar it with the reputation of its predecessor, if you ignore this advice and post content that isn't factual and is defamatory then the likelyhood is you will face legal action at some point from that companies legal team, this is out of the control of MHF or any other forums.

One poor instance of installation or warranty work or failure to conduct a pre delivery inspection properly can condemn forever a new company. Jumping on the bandwagon and saying "I told you so", or that "they are still cowboys, nothing has changed", merely courts trouble for you and potentially the posts may be defamatory in themselves or they hand the new company comments which might be interpreted as showing it being lowered in the face of right thnking individuals, on a plate. An own goal. They have to be (legally) given a chance.

There is no problem reporting true, factual ocurrences. If you went to X company, and they, in your opinion, did a bad job because they didn't do what you asked them to, they left jobs unfinished, they made a mess, then you should feel comfortable in posting these facts - after all, we are a community, and we should be able to share good or bad experiences. What crosses the line, legally, is where posts are made which are untrue, or calls businesses or individuals defamatory names (e.g. "cowboys"), or draws unjustified conclusions ("they'll always be useless").

Whilst MHF as the industry leading independent motorhomer's voice strives to maintain a delicate balance between allowing members a medium to inform others about good and bad service from companies they have had dealings with, we do not wish our members to post possibly defamatory statements uninformed about the legal processes that have been ocurring not only here on our site but against members of other sites"

So in Summary

If you have had a bad experience with a company, then feel free to come on MHF and tell others about it, you will get more credibility by being a subscriber but that is personal choice, but for your own protection, do not include comments which are potentially libellous and you should therefore avoid the use of words such as 'scam', 'crook', 'rip off', 'thief', etc., unless you are fully able to justify your comments by documentary evidence.