Naming businesses on the forum

[mr moose]

I have read a few threads of late were the name of a buisness has been removed. I have been thinking about this and I don't seem to understand how there can be any legal ramifications from personal opinions posted on public forums. I am thinking the same laws apply to online newspapers, facebook, msn, yahoo etc.

I also worked for Jayco, a company that was starting to get a lot of bad opinions expressed on similar forums, their response was not legal action but to hold a meeting with all production employees to illustrate how important it was in the internet age to do it right. I think this is a risk any buisness takes and if they treat the customers right and a be honest then surely we are not likely to see dishonest posts that are purely out to destroy a buisness. If there are personal moral reasons for not wanting a buisness named then that is O.K but if there are no legal concerns then can we have them named.

[MSF]

I can see both sides -

It's important to know who you can and can not trust and word of mouth is the cheapest and best form of advertising - both good and bad...

But being threatened with being sued is not fun. Sure, the case may not be won, or even go to court - it's a PITA to have to go through all the hassles because XYZ trading* hates people really telling people they suck at what they do..

*No reference to the real XYZ Trading (if there is one)

[Lance]

Anybody can get on to a public forum and bag a supplier of products or services with absolutely no verification of proof.

Do we all think this is OK ?

You or me don't like the look of the bloke, so we bag him on a public forum that he knows nothing about, and kill his business.

I don't really think that is good form and if the Admins here wish to Admin, good on'em.
They have their bums to protect as well as anyone who may be attacked for no valid reason.

Naming and Shaming is not on on a public forum in my eyes.

[goldnugget]

As a managing director of a number of XYZ companies (along with various ABC shelf companies) I am personaly hurt by references made to XYZ, or X or Y or Z in a negative manner..LOLZ.just kidding.
I guess there is the whirlpool forums where people can have a bit of a whinge (and I dont mean that in a 'take the piss way', obviously there are genuine concerns) about various businesses and products.
If someone wanted to name a business I guess it may be possible for the person to do a whirlpool writeup and then make reference to that post rather than naming the business here.
However as forum members we are often excited and able to share praise to a particular service provider so I woud like to be able to see a bit of a balance of opinions allowed as long as it didnt get personal eg 'the mechanic looked like a reformed alco on his fifth attempt at the second step of sobriety'.
...But if someone was to say 'I had an experience with 'xyz' today, pm me for details, then maybe that should be allowed.
Its a hard call that is only within the realms of control by the forum owner.
After all, when it comes to repairs of our machines it easy for people to get ripped off and be hard done by....I would think a heads up to these sort of operators would be in the interest of forum members, the trick is to find out a happy medium that would be acceptable.

[Pickle]

Not overly worried about the legal side of it but it's more the ethical side. As Lance stated unless the other version is on here as well then it is one sided.
I have actually had a member of this forum ask me to recomend a Mitsu dealer to do some work on his vehicle. I did send him to one and about a week later he publically bagged the dealer on this forum for apparently not doing the right thing by him. I went out to the service manager and questioned him on what happened. Seems like the forum member told a whole heap of crap and his version of what happened was totally different from the service managers .(and backed up by a few people who worked there and was privvy to the real conversation )
So to be fair they get deleted or edited out.
Dave

[mr moose]

fair enough, your point is well taken.

[Stroker]

We all need to be careful as to what we say because the previously mentioned Whirlpool Forum did in fact have legal action taken against them for a claim of loss of business due to what forum members posted

Cheers Glenn

[mr moose]

We all need to be careful as to what we say because the previously mentioned Whirlpool Forum did in fact have legal action taken against them for a claim of loss of business due to what forum members posted

Cheers Glenn

What was the outcome? did they loose?

[Rendrag]

What was the outcome? did they loose?

2Clix withdrew the suit after they got turkey-slapped by basically every media outlet on and off the internet, and then proceeded to go bankrupt Trying to sue a forum as public as whirlpool isn't a very good business move :-p

But of course whirlpool has a HUGE following and insane media access.. I wouldn't like to see the results of such a case against a smaller forum

[peter92]

hi dave, so are you saying that we can recomend some one but we cant bag any one. is this my understanding of it all
regards peter

[Pickle]

Sure you can bag them Peter, as long as they are registered on this forum and have the right of reply.
Dave

[peter92]

thanks dave for that, are ph no ok
regards peter