firehsefan asked this question on 4/26/2000:

I am on a mailing list, and all of a sudden this one person said things about me including that I have warrants out for my arrest which are not true. This is not done thru private email, but thru a mailing list. Another person on this list says he works in the sheriff's dept and is going to file a report and tell them where to find me. I know it's not true, and I know there is nothing to find, but noone else on the list does, and it makes me look like a criminal. Is there anything that can be done????

Thanks.. I am tired of being scared to get my email...

NataliePratt gave this response on 4/27/2000:

This is always very difficult when something like this happens. You do have a few options, however.

As far as legal action for you to take, you can consult an attorney if wish. But, be prepared for high costs and not much likelihood that they would win a case of this nature, unless there was a very obvious case of defamation of character, and you were able to prove damages.

If you have not broken any laws, then you can rest easy, because people can threaten all they want. But, if you have done nothing wrong, then the police won't be coming after you.

Now, lets move on to some solutions. First, since this was on a mailing list, there should be a moderator for the group. Write a "private" letter to the moderator (do not post it to the group), and ask for his help. Most moderators watch for this type of occurance closely, and take it very seriously. They can contact the parties in question, and ask them stop posting threats to a public list.

Another option that can try, if they are making threats, is to report it to their ISP, at abuse@theirprovider.com (put in their domain name in place of "theirprovider"). Every ISP that I know of, will take any complaint very seriously. And, they could lose their account.

When signing up for mailing lists, you may want to use a "free email account". This way if something happens, you can always, just stop the email account, and your personal email is not cluttered with threats.

As far as other people on the list, people take "flaming" with a grain of salt lately. Most people realize that not everything said is true. And, as devastating as it is to you, I bet most of the other people have forgotten about it already. I can think of many "flame wars" that I have witnessed, but I can't recall a single name or email of either party. If you find it really intolerable, then maybe you want to unsubscribe for a month or so, and then sign back on after things cool down.

Good Luck, and I hope this helps Natalie Pratt Midwest Investigative Consultants

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