abc editors

Stephen, have just read your latest posting in recently added. You can't sue abc tales, it survives on donations. If you sued and were successful, which I doubt, but if you were it would mean bankrupting the site. What about all the other users? nobody

I have every sympathy for your cause, Stephen. The issue of suicide and self-harm in Scotland does seem like one which needs more support and attention, but I have to question your use of ABCtales to air your concerns. Would you not be better served finding some kind of more specific forum? I’m not saying this to try and shut you up or pass the buck, but I would think a forum dedicated to the support of self-harmers and related issues would be more likely to be able to listen and respond appropriately than a site whose primary focus is creative writing. :-) * P * :-)

Stephen, we too have every sympathy for your cause and your plight. However you cannot name names on here. I have no idea of the circumstances surrounding your case and I cannot allow you to conduct a campaign which identifies those you accuse. It will be seen as libel and I will end up in court alongside you. If you want to talk about the generalities of abuse then that is fine - but you cannot go into the specifics of your claims. We must abide by the law and we will continue to do so. Therefore when you name names then I will delete them - I have to do so. Once they are deleted then I cannot get them back. If you continue to name names then I will have to ask you desist from using ABCtales. We have supported you so much over the past years - don't go and blow it now.

sorry to bring this back to the top but I thought this article might illustrate the legal standpoint of the editors as well as make some of us stop and think before slinging mud from the safety of anonimity.

ok then... THIS article http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1737444,00.html

According to netcraft abctales is hosted in the states, wouldn't that mean american libel law aplies rather than british, I'm not sure. Regards the Keith-Smith thing, it seems ridiculous to me that a libelous message on a board of barely 100 people (most if not all of whom would realise that the post was a personal opinion, and you can't believe what you read on the internet) should merit such a large payment, it also suggests that, under UK law, abctales is NOT liable for what any of us write here, we are.

it is not dependent on where you are hosted - we are a Brtitish company and our terms and conditions clearly state that we are bound by British law. As for libel - luckily I am an expert on it. As a News Editor for many years I know how far it can be pushed and when it can't be pushed. I also know that the restrictions around the internet and our liability for it. I won't tell you as someone like Stephen d on a bad day will feel that it allows him carte blanche, It doesn't and I don't want it. So if you want to make libellous statements please make them somewhere else - they will be deleted from here as quickly as they possibly can be.

This is better than television.

yeah, I've suffered through US TV too RD, I feel for you.

I do watch television some times...I never turn it on mind you, I just sit on the sofa and look at it gathering dust. I've found it's a good place to sit my coffee when I answer the telephone.

http://www.freewebs.com/michaeljamestreacy/index.htm I watched telly a couple of weeks ago. It was an episode of 'American Idol'. That week's transmission just happened to come from Denver, Colorado. I was amazed that all the young rockers who turned up for the audition seemed to look like RadioDenver. I never saw any banjo players though.

Probably one or more of my illegitimate children in there. I have a cult following around these parts ya know.

I've been a member of half-a-dozen websites so far and I've managed to be kicked off one, suspended on another and warned on a couple more for making provocative comments which would be the bread-and-butter of ABCTales. The reason I'm prepared and willing to be an editor on this site is that I'm not expected to do the kind of idiot moderating to protect the ego of the chief editor/site supervisor or to stifle discussion of "sensitive" topics which a lot of other sites expect. Having said that, we don't have to risk falling foul of libel laws just to give unlimited "free expression", and a VERY small number of written pieces are rejected due to content such as racial hatred, paedophilia and extreme sexual violence, again this is (I think) a legal consideration rather than fear that "someone" might be offended. If you think your story might fall into these categories take a copy on your own computer rather than type it straight into ABCtales

Obviously a bunch of crunchy nuts