A new season warning about your postings

[Cars]

[QUOTE=Kazenga your going to jail now. FACT

 

[withdeanwombat]

Huh !

I've always posted rubbish on NSC and no billy big boots is going to stop me.

Archer is a bit of a willy.

 

[Justice]

Football league rules to the modern day football fan:

1. Sit in your little plastic seat and shut the f@ck up.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

In a recent meeting of Football League clubs, one discussion focused on social media (including message boards) and a growing trend of fans using these outlets to defame clubs and their key employees.

It could be the case that over the course of this season a test case is pursued to, at the very least, make other fans take a more considered approach in what they write. Criticism, strongly expressed or otherwise, is always fine and like most good clubs, I'm sure the Albion like to be told where something has gone wrong so they can try and make improvements. That does not excuse the use of unfounded defamation however.

I don't want NSC and/or an NSCer to be the subject of any legal action from the Albion or another party - it wouldn't be much fun. I do enjoy a positive working relationship with the club but that's certainly not going to make me, or you, immune if you go too far with what you post.

So please give thought to what you write and how you write it, particularly when writing about others. If you express something as fact, you should be 100% sure that what you are writing is correct. That someone told you something has happened or they saw something happened won't be good enough if you are put to the test.

Most people who use NSC have nothing to worry about, but there is a small minority who do need to take more care, and this is a gentle warning to do so.

I'll leave this thread unstuck and open because it's more likely to be seen by others if it's bouncing around.

Sounds fair enough to me

 

[severnside gull]

I really don't think it changes anything for most people where posts that could be taken as negative as they contain concerns or criticisms are either written very explicitly as opinion or based on first-hand knowledge they have.

As I say, there are a small number of people on NSC (and beyond) who seem to believe they are beyond reproach when, quite simply, they are not.

Totally agree with that. Forget football forums which are an irrelevace in the greater scheme of things. Social media per se have bred a sense of invulnerability to the normal rules that make living safely in a society possible. Bullying without repercussions and hiding behind a keyboard to abuse and slander others has become too acceptable. That is not freedom of speech which is the one thing that is ultimately at threat. People who use social media need to learn to do so responsibly.

 

[symyjym]

Can we have some quoted examples of past posts that fall foul of this new requirement as a guide please?

 

[Napier's Knee]

Can we have some quoted examples of past posts that fall foul of this new requirement as a guide please?

I guess the ones stating as fact the 'real' reasons why a recent goal keeper left the Amex shortly before kickoff, lost confidence and left?

 

[spring hall convert]

Oh give over with the moaning. Isn't this just about presenting unfounded opinion as fact, which far, far too many people do on this forum?

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Seems a perfectly reasonable reminder to me.

Bozza is the guardian of NSC and would be a rather conspicuous target for any legal fallout if inappropriate material is allowed to be posted unchallenged on his forum. It is great to have a forum where we can robustly exchange views on a whole range of issues but there is a line that should not be crossed. There are other less well governed forums out there that ought to be more obvious targets and sooner or later the lawyers will want to make an example of some ill advised armchair warrior. However we should not be complacent. It may not be an Albion related matter. There have certainly been some very questionable posts on threads re about individuals or ongoing legal cases that were sailing very close to the wind.

TBH I don't particularly care if there is an individual poster on NSC who is stupid enough to make defamatory statements and then gets taken to the cleaners in a court of law, but it would be a sad day if NSC got shut down.

If Bozza feels the need to give an occasional and reasonable reminder then he is merely doing his duty and understandably covering his own backside. That doesn't make him an apologist for the Club. Plus he cannot always rely on our generally diligent and reasonable Mods to keep the peace, something might slip through the net.

So it is down to us all to think twice before pressing 'Enter'......which I suspect 99.9% of NSCers understand and do, without hesitation.

 

[Tooting Gull]

Oh give over with the moaning. Isn't this just about presenting unfounded opinion as fact, which far, far too many people do on this forum?

Thing is, everyone seemed to want it, so now they've got it. The internet/Twitter/Facebook awash with opinion presented as fact. In the 'old' days when what you read was normally written by trained journalists, opinion was clearly presented as opinion (often on a page helpfully headed 'opinion' just in case anyone didn't get it) and the news/sports pages were mostly fact-based apart from columnists.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't hate this aspect of Twitter and to a lesser extent on here, having as outrageous an opinion as possible just for the sake of it. But the 'celebs' that do this have huge followings on social media, so who are the real mugs?

 

[severnside gull]

Can we have some quoted examples of past posts that fall foul of this new requirement as a guide please?

It is not a "new" requirement.
Thinking that it is may be the essence of the issue when it comes to understanding and accepting personal responsibility for our behaviour towards others.

As a guideline I find that if I would hesitate to say something to someone's face I should hesitate to write it.

 

[Albumen]

Thing is, everyone seemed to want it, so now they've got it. The internet/Twitter/Facebook awash with opinion presented as fact. In the 'old' days when what you read was normally written by trained journalists, opinion was clearly presented as opinion (often on a page helpfully headed 'opinion' just in case anyone didn't get it) and the news/sports pages were mostly fact-based apart from columnists.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't hate this aspect of Twitter and to a lesser extent on here, having as outrageous an opinion as possible just for the sake of it. But the 'celebs' that do this have huge followings on social media, so who are the real mugs?

The people that believe it.

 

[symyjym]

It is not a "new" requirement.
Thinking that it is may be the essence of the issue when it comes to understanding and accepting personal responsibility for our behaviour towards others.

As a guideline I find that if I would hesitate to say something to someone's face I should hesitate to write it.

Surely that would cramp Ernest's writing style?

 

[studio150]

Do we need to get the Private Eye lawyers in, and now preface every post will 'allegedly'.

For the avoidance of doubt this is a sensible and timely reminder of the perils of typing and posting before thinking.

 

[TomandJerry]

Barber OUT!

 

[Kumquat]

I showed the opening post to my girlfriend and asked if she thought she was one of the minority that Bozza was referring to. She looked horrified and said "but I don't even post on there." I told her that I begged to differ and the internet history showed she was. She started crying and saying something about must be some mistake...couldn't make out the rest because of the hacking sobbing noise....while I just stared at her. When she'd calmed down/ran out of breath, I just said "Go and have a think about it. I'm not angry, just think about it." She's been good as gold since.

 

[rcf0712]

I'm starting to wonder if anyone has ever written an entirely reasonable opening post on an NSC thread and had everyone who posted on it agree with them..........

 

[Notters]

Football league rules to the modern day football fan:

1. Sit in your little plastic seat and shut the f@ck up.

Very true, though entirely irrelevant to this thread as far as I can see?

 

[Trevor]

Bozza is right to remind us. I think we should all understand that posting things that are false and insulting represents libel. Don't post drunk is my advice. There is plenty of scope for fun on NSC

 

[The Merry Prankster]

But there is a fine line between stating an opinion about someone and saying something libellous. I once described someone involved at the club as a "corporate liar" which resulted in NSC closing for a couple of hours and a bollocking from Bozza. Obviously I respect NSC so won't be so forward with my opinions again, but libellous - really?

Libel - 1) n. to publish in print ............. an untruth about another which will do harm to that person or his/her reputation: so calling a businessman a "corporate liar" would fall within that.