.
| Hearsay: |
Ed has a note up for an author who is threatening to sue him for something a commenter wrote on his blog. Thank god we don’t live in so litigious a society, or I bet I’d have been strung up long ago for something one of you guys did. You know who you are.
To Edward Champion / host of edrants.com,
It has come to my attention that your website has posted damaging and incorrect information about me as an author and my book on Kenneth Anger as solicited to you by a Mr Dagan of Berlin, whose accusations have proven to be fictitious, ie source material from authors who are duly credited.
http://www.edrants.com/?p=4023
I strongly urge you to remove it at your earliest convenience to avoid legal action against you. If the reference to me and the book are not removed by the end of the week, you will be hearing from my lawyers in Los Angeles.
Thank-you in advance,
Alice L Hutchison
Eds response tickles me to no end, mostly because he’s telling her to fuck off and get a life. But seriously, I try to encourage people to keep commentary above the belt, but every now and then a whacko gets through the grid (you know who you are… actually, you probably don’t). If something potentially libel comes in, what should the proper response be? Leave it until it’s noticed (when the damage might already be done) or quietly delete it and search for good karma in other places? In the end, my maxim about ignoring critics might have served Ms. Hutchinson well. Critics and accusations come and go in an instant, but a good dust-up draws a crowd and has legs.
January 2006
December
2005
November
2005
October
2005
September
2005
August
2005
July
2005
June
2005
May
2005
April
2005
March
2005
February
2005
January
2005
December
2004
November
2004
October
2004
September
2004
August
2004
July
2004
June
2004
May
2004
April
2004
March
2004
February
2004
January
2004
December
2003
November
2003
October
2003
September
2003
August
2003
Bookninja © Copyright
The opinions expressed on this site are those of individual participants
and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the site owners,
organizers, or other participants.
[powered by WordPress.]
January 29th, 2007 at 7:08 am
Let her rip, George. Name the guilty, the innocent need no protection. Any publicity is good publicity. Personally I have two lawyers on retainer just in case no one tells me to fuck off. My earliest convenience to remove such a thing would be the day after I was thrown in jail for speaking my mind.
January 29th, 2007 at 7:58 am
How ironic.
January 29th, 2007 at 9:14 am
I’m also waiting to hear back from Otto Penzler.
It amazes me how many writers don’t understand current law, much less legal precedents (which I am quite familiar with). It further amazes me how many writers want to take action into their own hands like this with threats, when all they need to do is leave a reasonable comment presenting their side of the story.
January 29th, 2007 at 10:51 am
sometimes reasonable authors do post resonable repsonses. Very often reasonable authors are then treated to anonymous personal abuse, which webmasters don’t mind and won’t remove. So reasonable authors stop lurking and get back to work.
January 29th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Sometimes reasonable authors need to grow a pair. If an author has enough fortitude to withstand the onslaught of rejection, she can just as easily ignore or dismiss (or even try to understand) the slings and arrows of outrageous flaming.
Then again, I’m pretty much inured to this kind of shit. If you can survive USENET, you can survive anything.