Sometimes it is necessary to reveal truths inconvenient to other people ( an abuser) to protect our community from abuse. The people (the abusers) discomforted by this usually do try to get these messages removed from the forums by putting pressure upon the admins. Three months ago a discomforted person who in my opinion caused the revelations about his personal and unprofessional behavior himself even went as far as trying to have this forum shut down by putting pressure upon the host we used then. Obviously things did not smooth down again and people don't seem to give up this fighting: some were just hurt too deeply. It goes back and forth; attacks come again from each side, and it's not just one side who always starts it again. Reconciliation doesn't seem very likely at this point. Suppressing these disagreements won't solve the problem in my opinion neither.
As to calling me or sending emails demanding to remove certain posts I will only remove posts that are either
- clearly defamatory, i. e. stating something about a clearly denoted person or business as fact that is most likely not true and not necessary for the community's information,
- personal insults and attacks,
- flaming or teasing beyond friendly limits; to use the words of the law: what is posted in Bad Faith. The right of the community to uncensored information to their advantage like info for avoiding damage limits the interpretation of Bad Faith very much. Please think about that when you try to explain me that a post had been made in Bad Faith only and could only be considered defamation.
We will not remove posts that clearly state personal opinions only. Posts not made by registered members with confirmed email address but by guests posting over a proxy-server could easier be considered posted in Bad Faith. Please register and confirm your email address before you post anything that might need a closer look whether it was posted in Bad Faith or not, so you can be notified and asked to supply evidence in case of somebody complaining again.
It might be discomforting to some what we need to talk about and expose, but after the experience of three months ago it seems very necessary that we do talk about our communal affairs and expose what needs to be exposed. If we do not talk about them, it will be discomforting the other persons damage was caused to; suppressing these occurrences from surfacing will not cure the problem but rather increase it. But please be diplomatic. Not everything needs to be exposed and to the full extend.
And you might also just make a fool of yourself by "exposing" something that turns out to be unfounded. The threats of law suits are still there. But judges will hear both sides; and as both sides in these conflicts seem to have been "active", it's not very likely that only one side is given the "right to feel hurt". You have to make up your mind how far you can go with your posting. From the viewpoint of administering this forum I will remove what I deem not suitable or violating the laws and the rights of other persons. But I do also have to protect the public's right to true and complete information and the right to free expression of our users. Please don't get me into the conflict of having to think about what to leave and what to remove so often. And the people who keep complaining should think about the term "pettiness", under which most defamation suits are thrown out of court, unless they're very severe etc. And "proving damages" also needs clear proof that you didn't cause this damage yourself by causing or even challenging a reaction to your own action by defamation etc. It's difficult to redo what has been done before by both sides. And even if it cannot be forgotten, it doesn't need to be dug up again and again.
To solve our problems in the Korat expat community we need concessions from both sides. They're made a little too slow.
