Two former Yale University law students have settled their suit brought against some 30-plus anonymous commenters who posted derogatory remarks about them on an internet forum called AutoAdmit. The comments, which ranged from standard insults to those of a more sexually explicit nature, were so vile they prompted the women to sue in order to out the identities of those doing the commenting. According to the plaintiffs, the suit was necessary because the discussion board, a site designed for law school graduates, was often monitored by firms looking to hire. Because the comments were associated with their names, the women claimed that it would hurt their chances of being offered a job.
[…]
In the end, the women’s attorneys were able to identify some eight or nine of the anonymous posters, according to the Hartford Courant and they settled with some of them.Because the terms of the settlement were confidential, the lawyers representing the former students, Heide Iravani and Brittan Heller, would not discuss them. However, San Francisco attorney Ashok Ramani, whose firm, Keker & Van Nest took the case pro-bono said that their clients were “very pleased with how the case went.” The women had sued for monetary damages so a settlement means they were likely awarded at least some of the amount they had hoped for.
DU has more than it’s fair share of trolls.
#31 – Alfred’s Dad
How old are you?
To any potential employers monitoring DU for unseemly postings by job applicants:
http://tiny.cc/BroSv
Troll? Moi?
Recently I heard a very interesting suggestion… US-Military Psy-ops does troll work on blogs.
Changing the discussion away from dangerous topics would be simple for a well funded, technically advanced adversary (speaking in a security vocabulary).
Any web based polls or delicious stories (or similar) ought be regarded a bit more skeptically. Of course the “rating down” part of it would be the most important bit.
DU is a wonderful site. There are a few inveterate trolls, but most give way once directly addressed.
I do love that DU is similar to the old style BBS threads. There is a lot of collective knowledge here. I’m up for spirited talk, but I have been seeing a lot personal nastiness over the last few months.
I have good friends all over the ideological/religious spectrum.
The problems facing any slice of governance(world, national, local) are serious enough that any viewpoint ought not be dismissed immediately.
We could all be a little bit nicer.
Wow Alfred, calling people “dickheads” really impresses me with your “big brain.” It is obvious that you and your views are pretty much despised by a lot of folks here. Maybe it is hard for you to see this with your head stuck so far up your ass.
Replace troll with Republican party member and you’ll have better understanding of current political and economic misfortunes.
so many of you smell like goats today…mmmm goats
Goats(e) fans:
http://tinyurl.com/65hcr8
Uh, isn’t this entire site basically a troll-magnet? And, isn’t that the point? To wit: the removal of the captchas? You ain’t gonna make me feel guilty with a troll moniker, which isn’t really appropriate anyway. I think we’re more like prairie dogs – heads popping up whenever someone posts topics covering religion, sex, abortion, etc. Except I don’t usually take the bait. I know the regulars here are wrong 90% of the time anyway. But I don’t trust my ability to persuade anymore either; too many hardheads. Hey – perfect whack-a-mole territory eh?
That’s it Alfred, you’re going to your room without dinner. And, you’re grounded for the next week you pathetic foul mouthed troll you. Now go!!!
# 33 – Jägermeister
I was 47 when we had little Alfredo Sauce. It’s all clear to me now. I always thought that when the teachers referred to little Alfredo Sauce being in special ed, they meant he was getting special attention because he was sooooo smart. I lived an illusion. Gosh.
Now, where is that bitch with my pie?!!!
The worst part of trolls is that they don’t understand the difference between your basic insult and an ad hominem fallacy.
Scare tactics, they settled but did not actually go to court. Smart girls vs. dumb people, good job identifying the actual people. If the trolls weren’t so easily scared, this wouldn’t have held up in court, such a shame.
No mention in the article of who these nasty commenters were. Or what position they held. Were they other law students, or just women-hating outsiders with time on their hands?
I suspect that they were male law students, or young law school grads. I’ve been around a few of these, on their lunch break, in public places. And they were surprisingly vile and gross. Like some standard of morality just doesn’t apply to them. And this article about the blog trolls, appears to reinforce my experience. So these are the kinds of human beings defending the rest of us, in courts of law. Think about it.