Deleting Posts
I did something this morning which I haven’t done before, and which I have said in the past that I wouldn’t. I deleted several posts from this site. The posts in question concerned a specific individual’s business. Some time ago, I wrote an uncomplimentary opinion about some aspects of the way this business was being marketed. The response was a flurry of emails and comments threatening legal action for defamation.
Besides being opinionated, I’m stubborn too. I consulted some lawyers I know, determined that there was no case against me, ignored the threats, and let the whole thing play out. Others emerged from the blogosphere, including someone purporting to be a former girlfriend, and another purporting to be a former landlady with outrageous things to say about this person. He responded in kind, and the whole thing took on a surreal and unbelievable twist. It was as if I had the Jerry Springer show going on in my blog comments — trashy, larger than life, and completely over the top.
Last night, I received a piece of email which included these two sentences:
What I kindly propose is that you pull all references to me off your blog, it is doing great harm to me… I also would like to meet with you the next time you are in the area, and have you actually learn about who I am. Thanks. It’s done, we all make mistakes, and I’m happy to have that coffee and conversation. As so many others have said, blogging is about conversations. A phone call, or an email like the one I received last night could have resolved this very quickly. The threats only amplified my initial opinion.
