Oregon court rules give 30-days limit for a defendant standing. And time flies. Guys in the fortress, are there other venues available for donations to QFG defence fund? i'm literally damn stuck in impassibility to help through cc donation on sott mainpage and have no idea why it doesn't work, whereas it should. Would Ark open his cict mailbox? Any other venue i'm not aware about yet?
Eric Pepin - Higher Balance Institute - Discussion
- Thread starter wilecoyote
- Start date
Yes, we need to do something soon. I've been in communication with several attys and it looks like we have to come up with a down payment of 15 K USD just to get the thing rolling. We seriously do not have that kind of cash.
I wish I could share further info about this but as ya'll might guess, legal strategy can't be revealed because the other side would then know it. Only afterward...
I wish I could share further info about this but as ya'll might guess, legal strategy can't be revealed because the other side would then know it. Only afterward...
"Get the ball rolling"?
Huh?
Im pretty sure you got the ball rolling a long time ago when you decided to make claims about Eric and the organization. Take some responsibility and face the courts, that is if you believe you have done nothing wrong. This mans life was subjected to absolute hell for well over a year because people wanted to profit.
I believe the court ruled he was not guilty because of insufficient evidence to prove he ever did anything wrong.
Im not sure what it is about the man that you fear so much.
Maye you should re-read this article:
_http://enewschannels.com/2008/02/21/enc2652_015341.php
...pfft... and yet you still try to slate him with the title "MASTER" on your home page? In order to make him look like a cult leader of some sort.
Pathetic.
And you still allow for your site moderators to make such claims
"Yes, it's the oldest story in the book - spiritual predators using sex for control and exploitation and masking it as a 'spiritual practice'. Sickening, really"
Im a student, been one for 3 years. I am happy and have no intention in doing harm to others. Unlike yourselves.
Its sad to know that people such as you have to learn the hard way. I only wish you will learn from your mistakes.
Goodluck.
Regards.
Andrei.
Huh?
Im pretty sure you got the ball rolling a long time ago when you decided to make claims about Eric and the organization. Take some responsibility and face the courts, that is if you believe you have done nothing wrong. This mans life was subjected to absolute hell for well over a year because people wanted to profit.
I believe the court ruled he was not guilty because of insufficient evidence to prove he ever did anything wrong.
Im not sure what it is about the man that you fear so much.
Maye you should re-read this article:
_http://enewschannels.com/2008/02/21/enc2652_015341.php
...pfft... and yet you still try to slate him with the title "MASTER" on your home page? In order to make him look like a cult leader of some sort.
Pathetic.
And you still allow for your site moderators to make such claims
"Yes, it's the oldest story in the book - spiritual predators using sex for control and exploitation and masking it as a 'spiritual practice'. Sickening, really"
Im a student, been one for 3 years. I am happy and have no intention in doing harm to others. Unlike yourselves.
Its sad to know that people such as you have to learn the hard way. I only wish you will learn from your mistakes.
Goodluck.
Regards.
Andrei.
Goindeep, please note, sott forum members are not interested in belief, but in objective facts.
Aren't you projecting here? Coincidentally enough you join sott forum right after Laura announced that the group is to get hold on Eric Pepin court manuscripts very soon. And sott DIE HARD researchers would make an independent enquiry into his court case. So, where 'fear' you wrote about is stemming from?goindeep said:
Zadius Sky
The Living Force
hi Andrei,goindeep said:
Have you read through this thread and the articles on "the man"? He is obviously dangerous to the innocent people and needs to be exposed as such. The exposure is not being done for any selfish reasons, but protection for the public.
Such claims were based on FACTS, as CarpeDiem pointed out. Did you choose not to see it?goindeep said:
Would it not possible that you would only be doing harm to others if you continue on this path and associated with "the man"?goindeep said:
fwiw
Color
Jedi Council Member
Interesting that you make such claims, when the only person proved to go after the profit/money is Pepin himself. That's what all the facts are pointing out, again and again, he's suing SOTT for MONEY.goindeep said:
But of course, if you're talking about other kind of 'profit' like... personal profit of being able to live with him/herself cause one tried it's best with sharing facts and so far published articles about someone who involves his students in sexual acts and earning money on it all, well...
Yes, you can put it that way - it must of been some kind of 'a hell for this man' to be confronted with it and somehow slowed down in his vision of 'enlightenment'.. But I'm not so convinced it was a hell, since he jumps into this new court session; usually people tend to avoid 'a hell', so... Go figoure.
It is a question of choice and free will. You can always state how students were willingly participating in all of this, but what exactly a free choice is? Do you think informing others of Facts provides better based choice or limits it? Cause all this fuss is about SOTT gathering and sharing facts published in news around the net and from the court and Pepin's own words of explanation how he 'works sexually' with his students.
You seem to be fine with those facts, but other people maybe want to be informed about it BEFORE they become students and get directly involved in it all. What's wrong, in your opinion, with sharing those facts?
About all that there's enough been reported and said here, just look at all the facts presented. Again, it may be all nice to you, some people think differently.goindeep said:
I'm not sure what it is about those facts that upsets you so much.
There are lots of words in today's world that took their own turn in interpretation, from what they use to stand for.goindeep said:
This site, it's creators and moderators were called a cult more than once. Laura was called a cult leader and master and all sort of things...
I'm no expert, but... Since I joined this forum I was never asked or ordered to participate in any sexual acts
or any other sort of activity involving something sexual.
I was never asked or ordered to take any of the things said here as facts, without investigating it on my own.
Nobody offered me any kind of enlightenment, not even in exchange for my money. Nobody asked me any money, ever.
I know one can donate, if want. But I'm here for almost a year now and nobody called my name to do so if I tend to participate here further.
Strangely, the only thing I experience here is to do the reading and searching for more informations, facts,
on my own, again and again. To question everything. Not to believe in anything, just cause someone said so.
Can you please share some of your experiences, regarding all that, with HBI?
I'm asking you with sincere heart and open mind, I want to hear some facts from someone who
has a personal experience, so that I can see a wider picture. So far, each person which comes
form HBI on this forum offers nothing but phrases and accusations, I haven't seen any informations about
what makes HBI a quality and positive organisation. Here's your chance, if you're sincere about it.
Those were said based on FACTS gathered here. Present other facts and change the perception.goindeep said:
It's as simple as that.
Personally, I don't know Eric Pepin. I don't know people which were/are his students.goindeep said:
I don't know Laura or Ark personally or any other person from this forum either.
I'm not emotionally or in any other way (profit) invested in this whole story.
I do read and I think and investigate more about what I read here and anywhere else on the net.
So far, I can only state how becoming a student of a person which puts a highlight
on my sexual involvement with him/her, in order to fulfill my 'spiritual goal',
doesn't quite fit into my perception of anything spiritual. Or something I would be thrilled
for my kid to get involved in. The money part also bothers me.
Those two examples I consider harmful to me or my kid. Not stating that you have to see it as such, also.
You obviously don't. So, this all is not anymore about 'no intention in doing harm to others',
as it is about different perception of what 'doing the harm' IS.
And here we come back to Facts... The more info, facts, one has - it gives him/her
more opportunity to decide if it's considered harmful or not, if it IS or it's NOT something one will get involved with.
Let it be a personal choice and a true free will then, just give us all Facts first.
When people are being sued for examining facts and Thinking and writing about it on the internet,
as in this example, sued for millions... Spending money and energy in proving their basic right of
performing their basic freedom... Sorry, you'll have to do much better than this to make your point
and being heard and accepted as a serious person - which means well informed and able to present those
informations. Until that happens, this is just a lil drop of personal opinion targeting the ocean of facts
and reasonable thinking which is based on examining facts. It changes nothing.
Please learn on your mistakes and present some new Facts here, so we can all benefit from it.
Thank you.
Fifth Way
Jedi Council Member
Hi Andrei,Andrei said:
You don't seem to be well informed as to the facts of the matter. It is probably a good advice to you to read up on them. There are plenty of links available in the public domain.
Anyhow, nobody "decided to make claims about Eric" but people on this forum exchanged knowledge and facts, that too are available in the public domain and then drew their own conclusions and formed their own opinions and that is perfectly alright. A principle that apparently is NOT shared at "Higher Balance". To the contrary: Clearly it is fought like the devil. Why is that?
First of all there is no choice here thanks to Mister Eric. But regardless, clearly nobody here did anything wrong. We all are standing for discovering the truth, getting to the bottom of things and looking at the FACTS. Freedom of speech is very very important to us. More important than protecting the questionable sexual escapades of whoever you chose to admire for whatever reasons.Andrei said:
As to what can be obtained in the public domain it seems that this gentleman caused other life’s to be subjected to absolute hell too. For the victims maybe even forever. Its not like it was unfairly brought upon him. What about his responsibility? Now he tries to cause even more lifes to be subjected to absolute hell. And why? Because people have a right to free speech.Andrei said:
That’s the problem Andrei. You "believe". It appears, due to what is known in the public domain, that the Judge was forced to rule the way he did because of a technicality (literally), a missing date stamp on video proof. It changes nothing in regards to the ordeal of the victim, does it? You really find NOTHING wrong with this?Andrei said:
There is no fear here. Its the sense of responsibility to warn other, so they may not become his pray. That warning by the way is important for you specifically.Andrei said:
Again: You not seem to be able to discern here. Its not "claims". I don't see no "contradiction" as to what is available in the public domain.Andrei said:
...unless of course there are FACTS out there. However, those facts are in deed sickening.Andrei said:
Sorry to hear it. Please be careful.Andrei said:
Hang on a second here. You are doing harm. You support somebody who is trying to kill freedom of speech in the Internet because that person doesn’t like opinions of people who do not admire him. And your reason to support him is the same as his. You don't like that people do not agree with their judgment on his character. Therefore you are willing to prevent countless millions of people in the aftermath of this suit (should it be successful for your idol) to never be able to speak up again.Andrei said:
Wow. You are doing harm!
Who will learn what remains to be seen.Andrei said:
We wish the same for you.Andrei said:
Peace.
Appollynon
Jedi Master
Andrei,
May I ask what your connection to this Eric Pepin is?
It just seems to me from your post that you have become very angry and lashed out at the Signs team, for no discernable reason. I have found that usually people lash out and show their anger or hatred towards others when they feel personally hurt/let down, aren't getting what they want, or are sticking up for someone or some belief they have invested emotional ties with. I just wondered if you had personal contact with Eric Peppin, as your anger and displeasure seem to me to sugest an emotional/personal connection beyond a mere passing dislike for what the well informed and objective moderators on this site have posted about this man.
May I ask what your connection to this Eric Pepin is?
It just seems to me from your post that you have become very angry and lashed out at the Signs team, for no discernable reason. I have found that usually people lash out and show their anger or hatred towards others when they feel personally hurt/let down, aren't getting what they want, or are sticking up for someone or some belief they have invested emotional ties with. I just wondered if you had personal contact with Eric Peppin, as your anger and displeasure seem to me to sugest an emotional/personal connection beyond a mere passing dislike for what the well informed and objective moderators on this site have posted about this man.
Andrei, you appear to be emotionally invested in believing that Pepin is the victim here...and that we have no legal right to criticise HBI...or Eric Pepin's methodology and behavior with his followers. Like him, you lash out at any criticism of HBI...and the fact that the head of HBI, Eric Pepin, was originally charged with having sex with an underage student...and that (gasp!) people are still discussing the matter.
When wishing it away, scrubbing the internet of any info or discourse on the past proceedings via emails, demanding removal of "objectionable comments and criticism," bullying tactics, and dispatching minions who arrive online not so cleverly attempting to guide forum conversations in a way to promote Pepin's innocent wonderfulness doesn't work, Pepin throws a fit and files a frivolous lawsuit at his critics that threatens free speech. Such tactics are selfish, vengeful, and ultimately foolish. It brings more attention to the situation.
Just because the original lawsuit brought against Pepin by a former student was not proven in court, doesn't mean that other persons can't comment on the proceedings...and choose to think that there may have been something to the plaintiff's case due to the circumstances and other behavior patterns that Eric Pepin has openly admitted to. The young man who originally charged Pepin was offered $250,000 to go quietly into the night. Why would an "innocent guy" like Pepin even offer such an amount? Why did the DA and Judge give such statements about Pepin...after the verdict was returned? Why didn't Pepin sue them? Or the newspapers and reporters who "got the facts wrong" according to Pepin's hilarious news release here: _http://www.send2press.com/mediadrome/2008-02-0219-003.txt and
_http://www.send2press.com/mediadrome/news_2008-02-0219-003.pdf
A few HBI fans have said that Pepin's sex life is no ones business...that it's a private matter of sex between consenting adults over the age of eighteen and has nothing to do with HBI's teaching. Yet, by Pepin's own admission, "crossing the abyss" is part and parcel of his "spirtual business." (To the lucky few recipients, that is. Were I a middle-aged male or female into HBI, I might not have that particular "opportunity" for "personal spiritual growth" with Pepin...at least when it comes to "crossing the abyss.")
Having a person in authority who claims to be a spiritual teacher (ie: master) tell another human being looking for spiritual guidance that having sex with him or her will lead to heightened spiritual growth is predatory. That's my take on it. Free speech allows me to state "Eric Pepin is a predator who uses some of his students for sex, convincing them that they will become more spiritually in tune by doing so...and I don't agree with such drivel. I'll also criticize some of the other HBI claims and spiritual methods I disagree with. I'm going to tell as many persons as possible about the practices of HBI and Eric Pepin, so that they can make a judgement as to whether or not such practices are in keeping with their view of gaining spiritual knowledge. Who knows..,perhaps some of my listeners would believe such a practice as "crossing the abyss" and "guarantees of increased spirituality" is a okay with them."
Is Pepin's behavior in regards to "crossing the abyss" with adults (ie: over eighteen years of age) illegal? No, not if the students "believe" and consent to it. Personally, I think it's predatory...and manipulative. That's my take on it. If Pepin wants to sue me for saying so...he's going to have to sue an awful lot of people...cause according to a brief search, there are other folks on the internet (not involved with QFG or this forum) and elsewhere who smell a self-serving rat with that "crossing the abyss" line.
When wishing it away, scrubbing the internet of any info or discourse on the past proceedings via emails, demanding removal of "objectionable comments and criticism," bullying tactics, and dispatching minions who arrive online not so cleverly attempting to guide forum conversations in a way to promote Pepin's innocent wonderfulness doesn't work, Pepin throws a fit and files a frivolous lawsuit at his critics that threatens free speech. Such tactics are selfish, vengeful, and ultimately foolish. It brings more attention to the situation.
Just because the original lawsuit brought against Pepin by a former student was not proven in court, doesn't mean that other persons can't comment on the proceedings...and choose to think that there may have been something to the plaintiff's case due to the circumstances and other behavior patterns that Eric Pepin has openly admitted to. The young man who originally charged Pepin was offered $250,000 to go quietly into the night. Why would an "innocent guy" like Pepin even offer such an amount? Why did the DA and Judge give such statements about Pepin...after the verdict was returned? Why didn't Pepin sue them? Or the newspapers and reporters who "got the facts wrong" according to Pepin's hilarious news release here: _http://www.send2press.com/mediadrome/2008-02-0219-003.txt and
_http://www.send2press.com/mediadrome/news_2008-02-0219-003.pdf
Are you claiming that Eric Pepin has never been called a "master," by a follower? An internet search negates that. Does that make such fans of HBI "pathetic?" Just off hand, there's a blogger who uses the term "spiritual master" when addressing Pepin. From the "Sunny Side of Truth" blog _http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=5698248088:goindeep said:
The aforementioned court case aside, do you believe that a spiritual master...or any human being charged with teaching others spiritual truths...should take advantage of young, impressionable students, telling them that having sex with the "master" or "teacher," (Pepin supposedly calls it "crossing the abyss") and possibly video taping an encounter, would lead to further enlightenment or spiritual growth? Can you defend such a practice?
A few HBI fans have said that Pepin's sex life is no ones business...that it's a private matter of sex between consenting adults over the age of eighteen and has nothing to do with HBI's teaching. Yet, by Pepin's own admission, "crossing the abyss" is part and parcel of his "spirtual business." (To the lucky few recipients, that is. Were I a middle-aged male or female into HBI, I might not have that particular "opportunity" for "personal spiritual growth" with Pepin...at least when it comes to "crossing the abyss.")
Having a person in authority who claims to be a spiritual teacher (ie: master) tell another human being looking for spiritual guidance that having sex with him or her will lead to heightened spiritual growth is predatory. That's my take on it. Free speech allows me to state "Eric Pepin is a predator who uses some of his students for sex, convincing them that they will become more spiritually in tune by doing so...and I don't agree with such drivel. I'll also criticize some of the other HBI claims and spiritual methods I disagree with. I'm going to tell as many persons as possible about the practices of HBI and Eric Pepin, so that they can make a judgement as to whether or not such practices are in keeping with their view of gaining spiritual knowledge. Who knows..,perhaps some of my listeners would believe such a practice as "crossing the abyss" and "guarantees of increased spirituality" is a okay with them."
Is Pepin's behavior in regards to "crossing the abyss" with adults (ie: over eighteen years of age) illegal? No, not if the students "believe" and consent to it. Personally, I think it's predatory...and manipulative. That's my take on it. If Pepin wants to sue me for saying so...he's going to have to sue an awful lot of people...cause according to a brief search, there are other folks on the internet (not involved with QFG or this forum) and elsewhere who smell a self-serving rat with that "crossing the abyss" line.
PepperFritz
The Cosmic Force
Interesting how it's only young and attractive students who seem to require that particular form of "personal spiritual growth"....NormaRegula said:
Yes indeed, and those baseless attacks continue to this very day. There are certain parallels between that situation and the present one: an apparent "drive to dominate."Color said:
If you go back and look at the beginning of this thread, what you see is that a forum member registered on May 2, 2006 and on May 3, 2006, created the thread about Eric Pepin. That is to say, he appears to have come here specifically to ask what the members of this forum think about Eric Pepin and the Higher Balance Institute. The same forum member subsequently opened threads on Alan Watt, Ramtha, Stuart Wilde, just to hit a couple of them.
See:
http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=1382
http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=1390
http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=1614
Now, in a general sense, this is the same thing as calling your neighbor up and asking him or her if they have ever used a certain product that is advertised and, if so, was it any good? Did it perform as advertised? etc. Can you imagine what this world would be like if people were not allowed to share their experiences with one another? If a company produced a product that included a deadly poison, you would not be able to say "don't feed that to your children, I did and it killed my baby!"
That's extreme, but you get the idea.
Getting back to the thread,
What is interesting is that the forum member who started the thread wrote in this post: http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=1360.msg8493#msg8493
So, you see, I was asked, as a specific individual, to offer my opinion.Man, am i confused. Who do i trust?
Laura, if you're reading this, please share your opinion.
I didn't have one. I had never heard of Eric Pepin. I figured that somebody else maybe had heard of him, would offer an opinion, and I didn't have to worry about it since I am generally quite busy.
The thread was silent for a month. Nobody had responded to this request.
A month later, another individual signed up apparently just to get the Eric Pepin topic going again. Right away, the individual who started the thread responded.
Then a third person. Since we have seen this dynamic play out again and again and again on different forums, it seemed pretty obvious what was happening: in response to a sincere question by an initial poster, "trolls" come onboard for a troll fest. In short, it looked like covert representatives of Higher Balance Institute came on our forum, which is set up for a very specific type of discussion, and wanted to use it for free advertising. The member who opened the thread noted this:
Then another HBI troll came onboard and the thing was off and running.
It was at this point that I paid a bit more attention to what was going on. I could see that someone was cruising to be deleted along with all of his posts. This forum does not exist to advertise those things its members eschew. This forum belongs to the Quantum Future School members around the world, the global researchers that collect data in an effort to discover the objective truth of our reality. The QFS members - who are, by the way, not the same thing as Quantum Future Group, Inc. - also create and maintain sott.net. It is a worldwide coalition of volunteer truth seekers who have formed a virtual laboratory for collecting and testing data. In my capacity as an administrator for QFS/sott forum, I came into the thread.
The next HBI troll introduced signed up and introduced himself right away with the following:
At this point, Ark, also came in and asked a simple question:
Things continued on for a bit, more trolls came, some were banned with their posts, and kept signing up under different identities, getting banned again, and so on. The Eric Pepin trolls were like popcorn. In response to this blatant violation of our forum and the forum rules, I posted:
I still didn't care enough about Eric Pepin or HBI to even do a search on him. I had heard enough, and the members of the forum and moderators just wanted them to go away so we could continue with our own interests.
At that point, a new poster signed up and "dropped the bomb," so to say, revealing that there was more going on with Eric Pepin than we even imagined.
Then, along came more Eric Pepin/HBI trolls. I don't think I've ever seen anything like the fanaticism of this crowd. Well, there is another bunch in the Netherlands - also promoting homosexuality and sexual techniques for spiritual mastery - that have the same "odor" about them.
So, that's basically how the whole thing got started. You could say that the Eric Pepin trolls invaded and violated our right to create a forum and discuss what we want to discuss, think what we want to think, and essentially, our right to free speech and freedom of association with those we choose to associate with.
And he has the nerve to sue me for anything?
Anyway, as I said above, the whole thing reminds me a lot of Vincent Bridges and our interactions with him and why he went on the attack. You see, it was simply because we did not want to be associated with the guy. By the time I realized who and what he was, I had already established a public association with him. He was promoting a conference where I was supposed to be "the star." He was supposed to be a publisher and was going to publish my book! (never mind that all of that was a pack of lies). He was a member of our discussion groups and was treated like a wise and knowledgable person. Even if quite a few of us had a few "small
issues" with his take on things, we figured that these differences weren't enough to worry about and we could work them out in the end, or come to some agreement or compromise.
The main problem was, of course, that I found out that he had some associations that were not just unsavory, but which were in direct opposition to my life's work. In short, he was the very kind of person that all my work was aimed at exposing!!!
So, how good was my work on exposing cult and new age nonsense going to be if I was publicly associated with someone who was into and doing all those things? How could I write books about new age nonsense when I was hooked up with someone who was so deep in it that it would make me look like a hypocrite! At the very least, I could be charged with just writing stuff to make money because I obviously didn't believe what I wrote! It was really more complex than that, but you get the idea.
So I was faced with a REAL PROBLEM.
Naively, I thought that I could just slip away unnoticed. We tried the "bifurcation of ways" thing. We cancelled our appearance at his conference and let him know that we would be withdrawing from any publishing
arrangements (he hadn't held up his end of the deal anyway, so that was easy). We just wanted to let him go his way, we would go ours, and that would be that. Just a peaceful agreement that our paths were not going in
the same direction. Pretty much the same thing we repeated over and over again to the Eric Pepin/ HBI trolls that invaded this forum.
But, oh no! That was not allowed. Just as the Eric Pepin trolls would not just go away and do their thing elsewhere, Vincent Bridge's "drive for dominance" dictated that he must either own me and my work, or destroy me and my work. Apparently, the Pepin Popcorns wanted to convert this forum to support them, or else.
And just as in the Bridges case, the unusual persistence of the attack-bots made us curious and it was then that we began to investigate Bridges background. Only after he had been on the attack for several months, did we publish a defense and point out that he was a liar and a thief and a whole host of unsavory things. I published all the email exchanges between us so that people could actually have data.
Long, painful, miserable story. The point being, it's not too different from this present situation, only, of course, Eric obviously has a lot more money from selling his highly dubious pills and sex. In Vinnie's case, he didn't have money to sue (though he swore almost daily in his online rants that he had filed suit and spent a fortune on lawyers; we never even got an "intent to sue" letter, so he must have had a pretty lousy lawyer or was lying. I vote for the latter), what did happen is that we received death threats, false police reports were filed against usour children were physically threatened, and in two cases, subjected to life-threatening attacks, our dog was poisoned, our names (including our children) and physical location was published on the internet with a request for "true believers" to go and "take care of" us (the implied intent was obviously to do physical harm, perhaps even causing death). And, keep in mind, that all during this time, I was in recovery from an automobile accident and was severely disabled. (I'm still not 100% and am facing surgery on my shoulder in the near future.)
So, if Eric Pepin thinks that somebody thinking that he's a pervert and talking about it with other people even on a public forum (he is trying to be a public figure, after all, it goes with the territory!) is rough, he shoulda been in my shoes for the past 7 years.
Frankly, looking back, I would not have acted differently. My work and what I believe and what I consider true and right was too important to me. It was "the principle of the thing," as they say. But we know that psychopaths simply do not understand this at all.
Now, let us consider my own reaction to some of the most horrific flaming, defamation, libel and slander that has been recorded on the internet up to the present time, and still continuing. I think I must hold the record for the most pages devoted to defaming me on godlikeproductions(dot)com.
Back when the whole Vinnie situation was in full bloom (not that it has changed much, I just don't let it bother me anymore. Like I said, if you are a public figure of any note at all, you are going to have attackers - it goes with the territory), I had a long conversation with a very nice and fair attorney in Clearwater, FL (my home area). After giving me about 4 hours of his time to get all the details, to read all the documents he told me: "Yeah, you can sue, and yeah, I can win this case, but is that really what you want to do? After all, even if you silence this one, there is going to be another. Anybody who is a public person experiences this; it goes with the territory. Think carefully. Do you REALLY want to silence people who attack you? After all, it IS free publicity! It doesn't matter what they say about you as long as they spell your name right."
I thought about it awhile and realized that he was right. But it was even more than that. I realized that I really don't want to try to stop Vinnie and his gang from saying what they want to say. I have the same right, too. So, let them say what they want on their websites, the forums they frequent, whatever. And I will do the same. I don't go to their forums and interrupt them and try to force my views on them, and I expect the same courtesy. The people who like their view, congregate around them; the people who like my view, congregate around me. It really is that simple.
Finally, let me make it clear that my personal views in no way represent the official views of QFG or sott. There are a number of administrators and moderators here on the forum and our work basically is exactly as described: the moderators moderate, the administrators administer in the sense that we are looking after the efficient operation of the forum software, that people's problems with logons and so forth are taken care of. Moderators see to the decorum. Both moderators and administrators can ban or delete users if they violate the forum rules.
PepperFritz
The Cosmic Force
I'd say it's very relevant.Cyre2067 said:
Bottom line: It is extremely unlikely that any judge is going to go against the prevailing attitude towards internet free speech. And if one were inclined to -- and thus create a precedent-setting new interpretation of free-speech laws -- he/she certainly wouldn't do so in connection with an admitted paedophile who got off on a technicality, and whom even the judge considered guilty regardless. He/she would pick a case involving a squeaky clean individual who had been very clearly and maliciously libelled.
