How much trouble could I get in for this? (Message board post regarding a person interviewed on TV)

In My Humble Opinion
1

I just got a phone call from someone claiming to be a lawyer stating that I made some defamatory posts on another board about a person who was interviewed on TV, and that I needed to delete those posts or I would be in big trouble. I did remember the interview, but not the posts, which were made under a different username than the one I use here.

In short, this person was being interviewed about their inability to find a job, and someone on that other board knew the person and said that the person had in fact committed a serious crime and THIS was the reason for their lengthy unemployment. This person did PM me; I reported the PM and the person was promptly banned.

The person I spoke to would not give me their name or number, and I strongly suspect that it was the person’s spouse calling from their home phone.

I feel that this person got themselves into this situation by going on national television. In any case, has anything like this happened to anyone else here, and if so, what might happen to me?

And yes, I am very aware that you can never assume any postings online are anonymous.

2

I can’t tell from your post if you repeated what you heard from the person who knew the woman. If not, I’m not sure what you’re being accused of. If you did, and if the accusation was false, that could be actionable, but there are many possible defenses.

In short, 1) I’m not your lawyer and am not giving you legal advice, 2) this could be a fake call from anyone, 3) take down the posts if you’re concerned, and 4) talk to a lawyer in your jurisdiction if you’re more concerned.

3

Meh, I’d probably ignore it. If it’s real, you’ll probably get something, in writing, from a lawyer asking you to take it down. If that happens, then I’d worry about taking it down, otherwise I’d move on.
If you want to take it down anyways, and you can do so easily, go ahead. Sure ‘they won’, but who cares. FTR, unlike here, some message board posts are editable forever. I post to some boards where I can go back years later and change or delete a post. Of course, that also bumps it up to the top.

But, in the future, you might not want to make those kind of posts in a place that can so easily be connected to your real life persona. If you can figure out how they connected that you on that board to your phone number, you might want to see about breaking that connection, if it’s possible.

(I know, with enough digging, it’s possible to find me from what I’ve posted here, so I do try to not post anything that would anger anyone to the point of tracking me down. If I could do it again, there’s a few things I might change to make myself more anonymous, but I’m okay with thing being the way they are).

Having said all that, if the person calls back, you could either just delete it, or if you want to stand your ground say 'could you please send me something on your letter head and I’ll be happy to delete the posts, otherwise please stop contacting me" and hangup. You could even take it a step further (but this might make things worse) and say, bluffing, “this call is being recording and I’m going to send it to the TV station that did the interview along with a link to that thread if you don’t stop contacting me”.

Also, you said you don’t even know what you posted, you might want to see what it is. If it’s nothing, that you really can ignore it, they might have just contacted everyone they can find in that thread. If you posted something that wasn’t true (and it sounds like it might turn out to be the case) you also might want to take it down, just in case. But, like I said, you could just wait until you get something on paper. I’d be surprised if some random internet poster got hit with a defamation post. If that was common, politicians/CEOs/business owners would have a field day suing people.

TL;DR, if the threat is real, you’ll get something in writing, from a real lawyer before they lay out real money to sue you…probably.

4

I suspect that the person I spoke to was the woman’s husband and not a lawyer. I do wonder how they got my real name and home phone number, although I’ve heard that’s not as hard to do in many cases and some people think it is.

5

With enough time on your hands, it’s often possible. I mean, I know someone could find me from here if they felt like picking through 20,000+ posts and a few hours or a couple of days, but it can be done. Most people slip up somewhere and reveal something unless they’re always paying attention to what they post.

Also, there’s the very, very small chance the the person is a real lawyer and sent the message board a subpoena for IP addresses, but I doubt that. The fact that you got banned for reporting that PM is strange and probably has something to do with it. Also, if you know anyone from the board IRL, that may be your snitch/mole.

ETA, ignore this if you’re not up for it, but if you PM me the board and your username, I’ll poke around and see if I can find your IRL name and let you know how I figured it out.

6

Legal advice is best suited to IMHO.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

7

I didn’t get banned for that PM. SHE did.

I don’t think I know anyone from that board IRL.

8

Oh, that makes more sense.

9

Which country are you in?

I believe that in some countries, stating the truth is an absolute defence against a defamation case, but in others it is not.

10

United States.

11

My guess is that the whole issue is probably nothing to worry about, since right now all you have is an anonymous phone call. Unless you get something in writing and signed by a specific person,I can’t see how this could progress to a lawsuit or whatever.

But obviously, somebody cared enough to track you down, so they may continue to harrass you.

Can you trace that anonymous phone call? Do this today, when your memory of the time and details are still fresh. Maybe hire a lawyer/private investigator to officially contact your phone company and ask for their records, because you suspect criminal activity. I’m no lawyer, but since the anonymous person threatened you, I think you may have a legitimate case, although you might have to first file a complaint with the police or something.)
In any case, keep written records of the time and date you received the phone call, and any others that might follow.

12

I can barely make heads or tails of what went down from your amazingly convoluted description of events.

If the caller would not identify themselves or leave a number chances are 99.9% it was someone ( a non-lawyer) associated with the person you were (apparently) busting on.

13

Agreed.

OP, what exactly did you say on the other message board? There is a huge difference between saying “with an attitude like that, X probably has a hard time getting employers to take her seriously” and “I received a PM informing me that [first name] [last name] is a felon who committed [insert crime here]. She was such an asshole on national TV, it’s no surprise to hear about her criminal record. I wouldn’t hire her either.”

I am not an attorney and have no idea whether any of the above is actionable. But obviously the second statement is a helluva lot more concerning than the first one.

14

The person who sent me the threatening PM, and got banned from that site, was the person who was on the national TV show. Just Googling her name revealed a police report for what she did, and yes, it was very serious. I’m surprised she isn’t in prison.

15

:confused:

So the person who was interviewed PM’d you saying she really can’t get a job due to a criminal record, she was banned for this.

And now her husband(you think) found your phone number and is threatening you to take down what exactly?

How the hell did they find your phone number? Do you have real life connections to these people?

16

Yeah, I can follow the OP’s sequence of events okay (even if it is a little mixed up temporally), but the part I don’t get is, if “someone on the other board”, and not the OP, said that the interviewee committed a serious crime, why did the interviewee, or the phone call, bother the OP to begin with? Shouldn’t they be going after the “someone”? Or did the OP make comments about the “someone’s” claims?

17

I’d suggest ignoring it and doing nothing to inflame the situation. If the other party can’t find employment it’s unlikely she’ll be able afford a civil suit. I would think it likely that the phone call was a “back off” message rather than a serious threat of legal action.

18

Check the board where you made the posts. If it’s administered similarly to the SDMB, anything you post there is property of them, just as this post is property of the Chicago Reader. Not only do you not have the ability to delete your posts here, it isn’t your choice to make. If you think this is in any way a serious threat, you should contact the board admins there and ask them.

19

In California, people apparently have constitutional protection for posting defamatory crap online.

20

Thirded. It’s very unclear how you’re even in this story - what, if anything, you posted on that board to begin with. Did it go like this?

Ann was interviewed on TV about being unable to get a job

Bob, who knew Ann, posted on some message board that Ann couldn’t find a job because she’d committed mopery in the first degree

You found Ann’s conviction for mopery and posted that info? Or what? (This is the bit that’s most unclear)

Ann sent you a furious PM

You reported it

Ann got banned

Some dude rang you claiming to be a lawyer and demanding you take down your post about Ann’s mopery conviction

Or do I have bits of it wrong?