About The Socker Fan Forum
Regular readers of the forum will note that access has been denied to all visitors.
Due to the changes in my personal life, this was an inevitable action at some point in the near future. However, it has been hastened by
a recent email that I received from someone claiming to be the topic of recent posts on the forum.
In this email, references were made regarding his contact with a lawyer and a statement that they say there is indeed a case.
Also, a declaration that someone from this website should contact him asap and a statement "I will wait twenty
four hours to see if you respond."
It should be noted that there will be no direct response. If this email is not legitimate, or intended to be
be threatening, subsequent emails of similar nature can only be assumed to be harassment.
I want to express my appreciation to our loyal visitors, especially those that have contributed positively to The Sockerfan.
Over the next few weeks, The Socker Fan website will be removed from our servers. Within a few months, I hope to be running a political blog.... talk about jumping from the frying pan into the fire!
Over the years that I have been involved running The Socker Fan website, I have received a number of emails where the author has made reference to contacting their lawyer with regard to legal action involving defamation. These lawyers have always remained nameless. Often, I am told I will be contacted, or there will be legal action being taken, with regard to my perceived role. And in some cases, additional action on my part was taken to allow the other party additional reflection on their planned actions.
In general, most of us have little practical knowledge of law as it applies to defamation, or the definitions of slander and libel, or the nuances of imputation that can be considered defamation. This lack of understanding may lead to troublesome posts and significant debate on electronic forums over the validity of legal action or claim.
The law provides significant protection to the operator of a mechanism which can sometimes unwittingly act as a conduit to statements that could be interpreted as defamatory. These protections continue to be developed and explored as case law is decided, but are generally well established for someone who is not a content provider or publisher of information that is called into question.
Although many posts on public forums are lamentable, it is generally clear that responsibility lies with the author for the content of those posts. In the most recent case, I have received no request from any party known to be directly involved to remove any posting. I have instead decided to take action to close the forum now, rather than in a few days as I had intended.
Finally, in closing the forum, it may appear that I have removed the opportunity for a retraction, clarification, or other similar notice from the author of the post in question. I therefore want to extend publicly that opportunity to the poster should the desire to do so exist. I can be reached by email.
