Defamation problem!

[ajmall]

I recently discovered on a forum untrue and defamatory remarks regarding myself, which is potentially very harmful to my reputation as a photographer if someone searches me on google for instance. The comments originated from an individual who doesn't even know me and made an assumption based on a complete misunderstanding. I have been in touch with her since and believed all to be resolved. Odds are my name has been tarnished elsewhere by the same individual... The forum itself is photography related though not exclusively and I have tried emailing the forum admin but to no avail. What can I do?

 

[rmh159]

... What can I do?

Honestly... I don't know that you can do much more than you've already done. IMO though I wouldn't worry about it. I wonder how much business pro's generate by the word of mouth on these forums and even if it's substantial... if it's just someone's opinion, who really cares. Without knowing the details or severity of the situation I don't think I'd be overly concerned.

 

[fmw]

You can understand that life has its ups and downs.

 

[Alex_B]

Honestly... I don't know that you can do much more than you've already done. IMO though I wouldn't worry about it. I wonder how much business pro's generate by the word of mouth on these forums and even if it's substantial... if it's just someone's opinion, who really cares. Without knowing the details or severity of the situation I don't think I'd be overly concerned.

Agreed, other Pros will probably not care much about forum opinions. And customers won't search the www I would guess.

Customers you usually get locally, not in an international forum.

You could actually start up a large campaign, but that requires you get a lawyer (money! ) and let him talk to the forum in an official way. If there are negative remarks regarding your person, which are not proven, you can go that way and be succesfull in the end. but it can be expensive.

i remember there was something were wikipedia had to remove some entries ...

 

[morydd]

IANAL, but, I belive to have any legal recourse the burden of proof would be on you to prove that this person's remarks contained information that was patently false, and not presented as opinion AND that you had proveable monetary losses because of it.