You CAN get sued for blogging.

[Mark Madsen]

"I'm gonna sue you unless you remove that post!"

It seems like we hear that threat every time one of our members exposes someone's shady business practices.

Well, a real estate blogger is being sued by eperks.com as a result of an article he wrote on his blog.

You can read the full story at Bloodhoundblog.

Support the Vlad Zablotskyy Legal Defense Fund: A real estate weblogger is being throttled by corporate bully ePerks.com. The free speech rights you will be fighting for are your own…

Wanna Network is joining the effort to help raise money and awareness. Please let us know your thoughts and show your support by donating to the fund.

Thanks,

mm

[TheHarrimanTeam]

Mark, we just learned of this networking site so we joined up. We're gratified to see that you have brought word of Vlad Zablotskyy's plight to WannaNetwork. It's a shame to see how badly ePerks is acting in this situation, and it will surely come back to haunt them, but some people never learn.

We would like to reinforce Mark's message to show your support for Vlad by donating to Vlad's defense fund. You can do so at my blog, BloodhoundBlog, RSSPieces, or any other of the myriad blogs that display the donation widget. As I've said in many other comments on other posts and in my own blog as well, just Do The Right Thing! The blog you save may be your own!

[carlhmartens]

So, how do you and can you protect yourself from being sued? I hired a contractor to install a pool liner at my house and he has "taken the money and run"...can I blog about that and can I mention his company and his personal name? I want the whole world to know what a crook he is so he doesn't scam any others like me.

[OG]

I went through the web site were they asking for money, but I can not find what it was that was posted that eperks is angry about, it does say something about that eperks denies involvement with some other web site.

So the question is this, is eperks being falsely accused of something they did not do?

I certainly have my websites hijacked on a constant basis, so spamers can send out spam. Before we send any money to this cause we should look and see if there is any reason to defend it.

[moneyluv]

"WILL I LIVE TO ENJOY THE SPOILS?"
There are those who make a go at filing suit. Then there are those
who make a go at less savory underworldly type of dealings. The gamble
is, one never knows who's connected where. The best advice is
to stay prayerful and to wisely choose your battles or there's a chance one
may fall into the hands of an awesome and eternal Go_.

Let's MAKE MONEY.

[rburns]

The only legal defense advice I can give is to stay away from lawyers.

Haven't come across one yet who could find their way through a revolving door
if there wasn't someone behind pushing.

[RickGrant]

You can absolutely get sued for writing a blog post. Or for giving a speech to your church or pontificating at the local pub. In America, we have the freedom of speech, but we do not have the freedom to use that speech to do intentional harm to someone that doesn't deserve it. The courts are going to have to sort out who got hurt here and who deserved it, but it looks like it's going to be messy. You have what appears to be (see how we word these things) a snake on one side and a stubborn person on the other.

I've been a blogger for years and I was a journalist for years before that and I can tell you that if you want to protect yourself you'll go buy a copy of The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual. Even then you're not safe from going to court, which is itself a safety mechanism to keep innocent people from going to jail.

Web 2.0 has made it possible for folks who know about a topic to blog about it, attracting an audience and becoming, for all intents and purposes, real journalists. Many bloggers are desperate to be treated like real journalists and become annoyed when their status is challenged. But you can't have it both ways. If you are going to attract an audience and speak to them, you have to start behaving like a real journalist. There are plenty of books on this, but for starters: tell the truth; tell them when it's just your opinion; get the other side of the story, even when they suck.

So, Carl, in response to your question. If your pool guy screwed you and you can prove it, blog about it. But trot on down to the courthouse and file it in small claims first so you can talk about the fact that you've filed a lawsuit and not just about the fact that you think he sucks. Makes a better story anyway.

[Mark Madsen]

Rick,

Great to see you on the forum. Thank you for the insight from a professional journalist. Very good information about the Libel Manual.

mm

[CashHomebuyers_com]

Of course, now that eperks has made a big deal about this, they will rank all over the place for this lawsuit, so they just made bad publicity a nightmare that won't disappear.

[judyo]

OG - If you go to Bloodhound Blog you can get all the links and information at ePerks Sues Blogger.

In a nutshell, Vlad was a paid blogger for ePerks, who spread the word utilizing that kind of system (paying bloggers). Vlad's first post was positive. However, he received many negative comments from ePerks subscribers that were very unhappy with the company.

After reading all of those negative comments, he made a second post that was kind of "in the middle" and asking for others to tell him if ePerks was a gem or a scam? He only did this in response to the negative comments he received from his original post (where he was not negative in any way).

He was asked by ePerks to remove the negative comments and they even requested him to remove his own comments from other people's blogs! He started complying but then changed his mind. I mean, why should he be bullied into removing posts from others telling their side of the story?

So when it was apparent he wasn't going to perform the censorship requested of him, he found a very nasty comment about him on Yahoo. The person who made that post used the same (or very similar) name as comments he received that seemed to have come from ePerks ip address. He called ePerks out about this very libelous post and they denied it came from their company. This is what the lawsuit is based on - the fact that Vlad suggested that this slanderous mention came from an ePerks employee.

Only Vlad and his attorneys know whether they can get the ip address from this remark from Yahoo and if they can figure out who actually did post it.

Again, please follow all of the links as Bloodhound Blog has enough to really get you to understand what is truly happening.

I personally donated to Vlad's defense and I've never met him. But I think he has been treated terribly by ePerks and we'll see how the case progresses.

RickGrant - I'm wondering if you have the entire story as I don't see at all where Vlad was ever being stubborn. He seems like a very nice person and this is affecting his family and him very badly. In fact, the papers were filed in CA & Vlad lives in New Jersey. That in itself has added even more stress and financial needs.