This blog grew way too fast and too soon. I had no idea that it would generate such …shall we say an interest? I have had comments both good and bad said about the blog but hardly any directed toward the subject of bad horse trainers. I have gotten over 10+ comments complaining about the California post saying it should stay on topic and not venture into slams or praises of this blog. Almost all of them mentioned I don’t have to publish their comments if I didn’t want to so if yours was one of them I am sorry but I have decided not to publish the “staying on topic” complaint. Instead I will remove the posts that are not staying on topic in the “location” blog posts that also includes the praises of this blog too if it is under the “location” posts. If you wish to praise or slam the blog then just write a comment under the blog posts that are listed as “general blog posts”. The biggest fault is not with approving or disapproving a comment but how the blogger software is set up. I don’t know what post the comment was made under until I approve it. Then I have to go and look for it to see where it came from. More than likely it is under the wrong subject. You can still pick any blog post to suggest a new “location” post, I just won’t publish the suggestion (in fact I have to look for them and remove them too).
I also tried to add a side widget for the latest comments to be listed and not only did the widget not work but 2 blog posts disappeared. I also did get a few spam comment ads that I got tired of rejecting so I turned on the Google ID requirement. I figure that most people have a Google ID just for posting so that will not deter anyone from making comments. I am also rethinking my stand on hearsay, whether to keep it or let it go, still not sure. I still believe in God even though I have not seen him so he is hearsay…..still thinking that one over.
Now to help educate my readers that are concerned about the issue of libel (contrary to popular belief this blog is not slanderous, please get your definitions correct). First let’s take a walk through what happens in the typical libel case. Step one the person who feels that they have lost business because of this blog has to contact a lawyer. The lawyer in turn has to get a court order to reveal my identity from Google. There are now court cases on the books in certain states that protect “anonymous” bloggers (I happen to live in one of them). The court cases have established a precedent that protects bloggers from certain types of legal actions by stating that “it is common knowledge that blogs are strictly considered opinions and that statements made by bloggers cannot be listed as libelous statements.“ If that person gets that far with their case and that could take months, the lawyer and court costs will cost them money. Only after the court order can the lawyer issue a certified letter to me asking that I apologize or remove the persons name on the blog or risk a lawsuit. More money for the person to spend. That takes more time. If I choose not to retract or apologize then the person can take me to court (getting a court date could take up to six months or more) and it is up to them to prove that I and I alone damaged their business through acts of willful lies. Yes in order for the lawsuit to be not tossed out of court the person has to prove (yes it is up to them to provide the proof) that the accusations were LIES. If it is the truth they don’t have a case and they also have to have tangible evidence that they lost money because of me. Libel cases are based on money lost not solely on reputation so the “victim” has to prove they lost money because of this blog. Just providing the proof to the court maybe their undoing. Libel lawsuits are rarely brought to court by the average person. They are mostly brought to court by celebrities and big businesses against huge newspapers and publishers - not small time bloggers. It just costs too much money for the small time bad trainer to even start the process just to get an apology or have me remove their name from the blog. Add to that the typical libel suit often takes 2 years before it is settled. My dad (God rest his soul) went through a wrongful injury lawsuit before he died and it took 7 years to finally get it settled from the time he first sat down with his lawyer. Libel lawsuits are not considered as important as an injury or criminal cases in the eyes of the court so they are often pushed back on the court calendar. I also have the added advantage of having access to several really good attorneys that owe me favors if I decided to let the case run it’s course.
Now of course I could always switch the blog to my own hosting company with a top level domain name. That would make it even harder to trace since I know several individuals that own their own servers. I could even pay extra to make the domain name private. I figure that this blog is no where near as bad as the billions of porno sites out there on the net after all it is only targeting BAD horse trainers.
If I was worried about lawsuits I would not have started this blog in the first place. So will everyone relax?
