Briseis said:True . . . these kinds of lawsuits tend to go nowhere, but at least Barb and Scary Mary can't have their names googled without several pages of negative smear.
Yes, it is a more or less futile proposition in the U.S. However, in Europe, it's a little bit different.
Our current case seems to be winding up and when that is done, we'll be filing suit against the French dude who has been defaming us with the help of all these other folks. What makes it so interesting is that we can include all of them in the suit whether they are French or not because they are defaming us and we are legal residents of France/EU. So, that's what we plan to do. Oh, of course, if we manage to get them condemned in court (which is highly possible because our atty is Thibault de Montbrial (google him)), we won't be able to collect if they don't live in the EU. BUT, none of them will ever be able to enter the EU afterwards because there will be a court judgment waiting to grab them! Well, certainly, if they never plan to travel to the EU, it will mean nothing, but that's okay - at least we'll have it and can publish the judgment.
So, that's the plan. Early next year we'll be getting all the screen shots and details about home addresses, etc, together and I expect that our atty will be able to request that the court send out an order for server records, so we'll see what happens then.