How do you all suppose I should handle this?
 

I have a site (one of many) that gets 1000 unique visitors per day, at least, without advertising it. An owner of a website contacted me in attempts to get me to advertise for his site. I wasn't too keen on it, so I passed.

3 months later, I get word back that this site owner is floating rumors regarding my sexuality as well as stating that I'm a stripper. I disregard it and correct anybody who comes to me with questions/accusations.

That was about 6-7 months ago. Fast forward to now.

I started getting multiple messages about my email advertisement to design their webpages. Funny that, I never sent such email. One person replied to the email. The sender went so far as to spoof my email address and advertise my site designing services yet linking them to their own site. The site? You guessed it, the one the site owner was trying to get me advertise for.

After some research in how I could handle this and some Googling I came to realize something...this site owner is a Senior Member of vBulletin.org that has had previous ummm issues here before. So, should I attempt to contact the site owner and request they cease and desist? I was thinking of what I could do as far as legal action re: identity fraud/theft but I don't know that a precedent has been set for a such a case like this. I don't if its that or just plain old harassment. Either way, do any of you have any ideas in what measures I should take?

Thanks in advance!

I don't really know what actions you could take but thats a pretty sleazy thing to do. I'm sure the guys here will help you with what avenues you need to pursue. Hope you get him and take him down

Contact this person directly and find out what is going on.

I'll try that again, but last time I tried that, it resulted in nothing but him calling me names etc.

Point out to them that they are in fact breaking the law - I think their tune will change...

Satan

Well, I got the full headers of the email today. The persons identity has been verified. I will contact them before going to their ISP.

*Edit to add* Hey there's a hidden reply in this thread. Cool!

Attempts to resolve this peacefully were unsuccessful. Person has suggested I'm slandering his name and he will be taking legal action. On to the ISP.

Inform the ISP and host. (Disclaimer - this is not formal legal advice. I recommend you seek legal advice if you feel it is required. :) )

I think Erwin has some good recommendations especially " recommend you seek legal advice if you feel it is required." I think that is what I would do if the problem continues.

Slandering his name?

Hah thats funny - And what he is doing to you is nothing of the sort, of course :rolleyes:

As far as I am aware you have done everything to protect the identity of this person from the public as to prevent them from being treated in the manner you were - Any legal action this user will be taking is defending himself in court if you persue a legal course - I recommend doing so, and I will even be your lawyer if you want - I have no legal standing, but I would so love to verbally rip apart the little snot-nosed punk in a courtroom ;)

Satan

In general, the people who threaten to sue are the least likely to sue.

Isn;t slandering one of the hardest things to prove anyway. Because don't they have to prove that you intentionally wrongfully tried to slander their name for personal gain.

POST HIS NAME ON HERE...>We'll show HIM Slander.

LMAO.

And that is something we will not allow. If we catch anybody doing what Jugo suggests, we will deal with that person.

Jogy, consider yourself warned.

Im pretty certain he was joking, mate ;)
Noone would be stupid enough to do exactly what hes threatening to sue for.

Anyways, what exactly is 'slander'? Posting insults on a webpage? Unless its more serious than that, then to me it sounds like a way to make people with spiked dildos up their rectums rich XD

perhaps he's kidding but who knows if I'll do it, hehe.

ok don't look at me like that Marco

seriously dude lighten up lol..he was obviously kidding if he put "LMAO" at the end of it...jeez :ermm:

Marco, I am kidding. Look at my age.... ;-)

Since it is written, it is actually Libel, not slander. And all you have to do is prove that the alligations are false and damages. Not that hard actually.

You guys forget to mention the most important thing, is it worth all the time and money your going to spend taking this to court?

Yea I know wrong reasons for taking or not taking a case, but it is something you must consider. Honestly I take food on the table over dealing with an idiot I can ignore any day of of the week.

Get a Lawyer that will take the case and is paid when you collect. There are thousands of them out there.

Have you ever looked into filing a lawsuit based on online activities :)? It costs that much that it is often not worth it.

No I havent. I just thought my idea might help.

Tis a good one, but the lawyer fee is often ridiculous regardless of a no-win, no fee clause :(

Yea generally 30-40%

Slander is verbal. Liable is written. So technically, it would be liable. :)

Assuming you both live in the states, serve him with papers to small claims court. You can hire someone relatively cheaply to serve the papers and he will be forced to show up to your court to defend himself or suffer a default judgement. Just keep the damages in teh small claims court range, typically 1k.

Therein lies a problem. He lives in Canada. The member of this site claims it is not him but a disgruntled ex user of his site. Whats interesting is that since this has begun, I've gotten rude AIM messages from random people and last night someone had the audacity to call my home. I think if this escalates, I will have to involve the authorities, at least for the telephone calls.

Yes, this can be defined as "stalking" - let the local cops know. Cyber-stalking is becoming more common.

I would also refrain from posting about the incident in areas that the offender and his buddies hang out in. To me, it's essentially egging him on for you to talk about him in a public forum. When somebody is doing something immature like this, if you aren't going to take legal action, the best thing to do is generally to ignore the person.

If you conduct yourself well, people will always know the lies about you aren't true. But, if you stoop to his level, people will do their best to escalate the matter because they love to watch a good fight.

Amy

I've ignored the person as much as I can. I've informed the ISP and they will warn the user. Not exactly what I wanted but it's a start.

You might want to go ahead and report this to the law while it is a recent event. If anything it will help you down the line if you want to take this any further. The officer probbly won't be able to do anything at this time, be it is helpful to have these things on file incase this goes to court latter.

Well its good to know that some people who do unto others is getting justice...
In time all the kids online will get a Silent bob treatment.
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