Naming and shaming?
Discussion
Was just reading a BMW thread, and a mod had removed all references to which dealer was the problem - but it still leaves accusations about BMW main dealers damaging a car.
Where is the line drawn? After all BMW UK could take offence to this, it's still naming and shaming - but aimed at a larger organisation.
Where is the line drawn? After all BMW UK could take offence to this, it's still naming and shaming - but aimed at a larger organisation.
You're right that BMW GB could take action, but it usually tends to be smaller firms that take action, and usually because the case can be more clearly demonstrated. Since a successful claim for defamation requires evidence of consequential loss, it is easier for a smaller firm to show that this is the case in comparison to a national firm or very large dealer group.
We would rather we didn't have to censor stuff on PH, particularly when it adds to the debate or is genuinely useful for owners or potential owners. If we have to do it though, we'll stick to doing it in situations where there is a real threat of action being taken. Unfortunately we also HAVE to act once we've seen a thread, and a Mod doesn't really have the luxury of doing anything but remove all the potentially contentious references since failing to do so is effectively to repeat the libel (just the same as reprinting more than once in a magazine). The law tends to be reasonable if we can demonstrate that we haven't seen a comment or had it pointed out to us, but is much less forgiving if it can be demonstrated that we've failed to take action once it has been brought to our attention.
Boring stuff, but that's what I have to spend my days worrying about.
We would rather we didn't have to censor stuff on PH, particularly when it adds to the debate or is genuinely useful for owners or potential owners. If we have to do it though, we'll stick to doing it in situations where there is a real threat of action being taken. Unfortunately we also HAVE to act once we've seen a thread, and a Mod doesn't really have the luxury of doing anything but remove all the potentially contentious references since failing to do so is effectively to repeat the libel (just the same as reprinting more than once in a magazine). The law tends to be reasonable if we can demonstrate that we haven't seen a comment or had it pointed out to us, but is much less forgiving if it can be demonstrated that we've failed to take action once it has been brought to our attention.
Boring stuff, but that's what I have to spend my days worrying about.
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