Naming and Shaming

DeVore

"opinion" (or sticking "allegedly" in front of something) makes no difference whatsoever.

Firstly lets bring some reasonably trustworthy "facts" to this discussion.

Read this: http://indigo.ie/~kwood/defamation.htm

"An actionable defamatory statement has three ingredients:

it must be published,
it must refer to the complainant and
it must be false."

The major problem is that while we (you and us) cannot be sued if your statement is true, we (boards admin) can't know if it is or if you are being malicious.

There is some defence along the lines of "fair comment" but its very limited. Ireland basically has extraordinaraily controlled freedoms of speech....

DeV.

WhiteWashMan

DeVore wrote: »

"opinion" (or sticking "allegedly" in front of something) makes no difference whatsoever.

Firstly lets bring some reasonably trustworthy "facts" to this discussion.

Read this: http://indigo.ie/~kwood/defamation.htm

"An actionable defamatory statement has three ingredients:

it must be published,
it must refer to the complainant and
it must be false."

The major problem is that while we (you and us) cannot be sued if your statement is true, we (boards admin) can't know if it is or if you are being malicious.

There is some defence along the lines of "fair comment" but its very limited. Ireland basically has extraordinaraily controlled freedoms of speech....

DeV.

This has been a big debating point for years in the Work forum. there have been a lot of very very unhappy people come onto the forum and rant about this that and the other company, agency, whatever.
We have also had this on the consumer issues forum as well.

my take is that if someone wants to put up a post complaining about the level of service, or their treatment ina company, then thats perfectly acceptable to do so.

This is a community forum and I have no problems with people being warned about potential employers, products or services which do not live up to the expectations of the public.

All complaints however, are not to be mere opinions and ranting. I ask that any complaints made are factual, the reason for the complainst are laid open for anyone to decide for themselves, and that the level of name calling be pretty much zero. THis is a not a site for soapboxing, but a site for communication and information sharing.

And we have also had several companies respond over the years, and while occassionally we get the 'youre all crap' type fighting that goes on, we have had far more resolutions. we have had several companies explain thier side of the story, and the customer has been made happy with transparent fixes. All good and well.

At the moment, there is a cracking thread onthe Work forum about a 'marketing' company called Galloping marketing I think. \Check it out. Its a great example of this community warning potential employees against a poition that is falsely advertised.
Selling cheap and falsely marketed goods on the streets and in stores out of a breif case is not what is advertised, rather, marketing and sales positions, with potential for advancement to management si what is advertised.
We have even managed to get one of irelands top recruitment sites to not take any more of their adverts. Power to the people and all that. Thats what this site is about.

Tom's Dodgy Car Dealership in some town in Ireland?

they have been. If they are not providing a good service there is no reason not to name and shame. The problem is when people get on a soap box as mentioned and spout misinformation, dnot give the full story.

Eoin

PeakOutput wrote: »

ye but only if its presented as fact if its opinion then no1 can take anyone to court. how do you think restaurant critics get away with slating places?*


*im not a legal expert but this is how it was explained to me by one

I know it was in Belfast, and not the Republic, but a newspaper just got successfully sued for their food critic slating a place - they're not immune either...

PeakOutput wrote:

the soup is horrible = fact

I felt the soup was horrible = opinion

Those are both opinions. "Horrible" is a subjective term.

DeVore

When these things are brought to our attention we have to a make a decision on each case. What any of us "think" about this, we don't know. We might be finding out this year though...

DeV.