Is this Slander / Libel?

[Smoote]

What is the name of your state? Florida

I posted the following criticizms online about a particular website;

"Welcome to our group!

Here's an example of what this group is all about;

I began this group as a result of my experience with Savvy.com online
men's magazine which runs a monthly "Is She Hot"* contest for models.
In this contest subscribers to the site vote on a scale of one to ten
for the contestants of their choice.

The site in question, Savvy Men's Lifestyle Portal** , has a rather
interesting way of counting the votes that are cast by the
subscribers for a given model. A figure which is purported to be the
total number of votes for any given girl is listed on her contestant
page. However that figure is false because every time a single vote
is cast for a girl the total number of votes indicated for her goes
up by as much eighteen votes. And that number fluctuates therefore is
no way of knowing how many votes have actually been cast for a
contestant by looking at her total number of votes they list. How
ridiculous is that?

The managing director of Savvy is Jonathan Gravenor. When challenged
to explain this discrepancy Gravenor explained it as follows;

"I am one of the Xposed Staff - and no you don't get 18 votes for
every vote. <snip> …the truth is i won't tell you much about how Is
She Hot works because we don't want to leave ourselves open for
cheaters to try and fudge the system."***

This is a rather convenient explanation in that it allows Savvy to
withhold the exact process by which the votes are counted. While this
may or may not discourage the contestants from "fudging the system"
it without question puts Savvy into a position where they can "fudge"
the results themselves without anyone knowing that they are doing so.
Are they fudging? We cannot know and that is just the point.

So friends I would discourage any of you who are thinking of entering
this contest until you know how the votes are counted and therefore what it takes to win.

Bill "Cookie Monster" Green


* Ref: "Is She Hot" - http://www.savvy.com/is_she_hot/default.aspx

** Ref: "Savvy" - http://www.savvy.com/

*** Ref: Quote source -http://friends.savvy.com/forums/thread.aspx?id=130

And;

"I've only been a member at Savvy for a few days. But I'm stunned by how bizarre this "Is She Hot" contest is they have and just how poorly this website is run. It's amateur hour around there 24 hours a day it seems. I've never seen a website with so many server errors. Savvy may be number two in visitors among men's lifestyle websites but it has to be number one in website server errors. If they can't afford a better server than what they've got now they might as well lock the doors and save themselves from the agony of a slow and painful death because they ain't going to make it.

And it's a mystery to me why anyone would bother to enter the Is She Hot contest. The ladies don't even know what it takes to win. They may think that whoever receives the most votes wins right? Wrong. Because what they don't know is how those votes are going to be counted. Here's a news flash for you ladies one vote cast should equal one vote counted. Is that the way they count them here? No! Ok well just how do they count them? No one knows because they won't tell you! So in fact you don't know what it takes to win at all!

From what I read in the Is She Hot Forum they won't tell them how the votes are "counted" because Savvy is afraid that THEY will cheat. And they let Savvy get away with that! Don't they see that their not disclosing how the winner is judged, and that's just what it amounts to, is all that Savvy needs to enable SAVVY to cheat? Use your heads ladies! How could your knowing how the votes are counted possibly enable you to cheat? Someone tell me that please because I would really like to know. What a crock! I thought the hanging chads voting fiasco of 2000 would be tough to beat but Savvy has certainly managed to top that mess. LOL!

And to add insult to injury now the votes have apparently been lost. And again from what I've read in the forums this is not the first time this has happened either. How can they trust the outcome of the contest this month now? They can't even trust them not to lose the votes! Everything they've worked for this month has been for nothing at this point. They lost everything they worked so hard to gain all month long when Savvy lost the votes. I don't know what happened but right now according to the figures no one has enough votes to win this month. The girl in first place has less than 5,000 votes and over 23,000 are needed to qualify for a win. LOL what a joke!"

The second quote above has also been posted on their own website for quite some time with no complaint. They could easily remove it if they found it the least bit libelous.

The manager of the website claims that his attorney has said that the above comments constitute slander and or libel if I don't remove the remarks. There are no factual mistakes in any of the above. Both comments have not even been posted a month yet and there is no way I can think of that the site would have been damaged yet by anything that I wrote. Your opinion please - should I be worried?

And if they file a suit against me to harrass knowing full well they aren't going to win would I have grounds to counter sue?

Thanks,
Bill

 

[Quaere]

The quotes you’ve given here are all opinion. Under the First Amendment you are free to give your opinion.

No, you should not be worried. Send them a copy of the First Amendment and tell them to kiss your vote policing ass.

 

[Smoote]

The quotes you’ve given here are all opinion. Under the First Amendment you are free to give your opinion.

No, you should not be worried. Send them a copy of the First Amendment and tell them to kiss your vote policing ass.

Thank you that's the best possible answer that I could have hoped for!

 

[dallas702]

Heck, that's nothing. You should see some of the comments that have been made about the phony, text message producing (read $$$$) voting scam that lures millions into participating in the American Idol debacle every year.

But, no one complains because they think they are responsible for making $million stars out of shower singers who ordinarily couldn't fill a small town lounge.

Just don't accuse the other guys of being child molesters or worse, being religiously intolerant. Then you might have to pay. Hmmmm, actually only the religiously intolerant would be prosecuted in France or the Netherlands.

 

[Smoote]

I've been threatened again.

I've been threatened again by the manager of this web site. Supposedly he is going to instruct his lawyer to file a suit against me on Monday. my question is this - I'm tired of him threatening me this is the thrid or fourth threat over aperiod of about four months. If he doesn't go through with the law suit this time can I sue him for all of the threats?

Thanks,
Smoote

 

[HomeGuru]

I've been threatened again by the manager of this web site. Supposedly he is going to instruct his lawyer to file a suit against me on Monday. my question is this - I'm tired of him threatening me this is the thrid or fourth threat over aperiod of about four months. If he doesn't go through with the law suit this time can I sue him for all of the threats?

Thanks,
Smoote

**A: why don't you just stop visiting that website.

 

[Smoote]

**A: why don't you just stop visiting that website.

Well that is sound advice no doubt. But let us say that my question above is a hytpothetical then. If you are a lawyer can you tell me if it is possible to sue for such threats?

 

[stephenk]

from reading the actual postings you made it seems you aren't really liked by anyone on that forum. Again, why are you so obsessed with online voting for women you will never meet?

 

[john123456]

Well that is sound advice no doubt. But let us say that my question above is a hytpothetical then. If you are a lawyer can you tell me if it is possible to sue for such threats?

Posters volunteer their time trying to help others. Take your "hytpothetical" issues to another forum.