Message board courage

[JayFarrar]

This has nothing to do with SportsJournalists.com.
But come all you Learned Hands (super geeky legal reference) and all you opinion leaders and tell me your thoughts.
The interwebs have these called message boards, those fan sites where anonymous people, who hide the courage of their convictions behind screen names, post all manner of things. *
Like if the coach won't listen to what we have to say, let's go after his wife and kids, put the pressure on them, maybe that will make the coach leave or hope that a star player gets hurt so the team won't make the tournament or have a bad season so the coach will get fired. **
But what if a public school said enough is enough. Went on the sites, did some digging, found out who the posters were and cancelled their season tickets and gave back their contributions.
Would the school be justified in doing that? Would it be legal? If you were a columnist or beat writer, how would you cover it?

* PS: I noted the irony.
** PPS: I'm lazy as hell, but I clicked on a couple of fan sites at two different schools and easily found posts describing my examples.

 

[henryhenry]

if that actually is happening, and not a hypothetical, it is a FABULOUS story.

it's so meta.


are you saying that journalists are posting on the fan sites - or people within the school - or just fans? what if an assistant coach, hoping to push out the head coach, went on the fan site and dished? i love this story - i would be all over it.

a comedic twist: what if the CIA or NSA is tipped that the site contains terrorist code, and starts monitoring - and under the Patriot Act of course they would know who is who - and the whole thing blows up into a national security incident

there's a script in this

 

[BYH]

Jay, if you don't stop posting this ****, I'll hunt down your family. I can make things miserable for you. Don't test me.

I mean, uhh...my alma mater yanked someone's season tix for threats he made on a message board. Apparently he was quite unhappy with the ticket office and went into great detail the things he'd like to do to the person to whom he spoke. Dude was real unhappy when the tix were pulled right before an NIT game.

 

[ECrawford]

Rick Pitino about 3 years ago found out a certain booster was posting insider recruiting info on the boards, so he and an assistant took the guy out to dinner and gave him the name of a fictitious recruit, who made it all over the boards before they let him in on the deal.

 

[Bob Cook]

The thing schools have to be careful of are anti-SLAPP laws. SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, and a lot of state passed anti-SLAPP laws when corporations started subpoenaing Yahoo, AOL and other stock-board message operators to see who was saying nasty things about them. (Legally speaking, you are not anonymous here -- you are pseudonymous, and Yahoo and the likes will turn over your info in a second.) But what you can do is ask for the name of a specific poster and get that person's identity, if that person is divulging proprietary info (legally speaking) or committing libel.

 

[Write-brained]

The thing schools have to be careful of are anti-SLAPP laws. SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, and a lot of state passed anti-SLAPP laws when corporations started subpoenaing Yahoo, AOL and other stock-board message operators to see who was saying nasty things about them. (Legally speaking, you are not anonymous here -- you are pseudonymous, and Yahoo and the likes will turn over your info in a second.) But what you can do is ask for the name of a specific poster and get that person's identity, if that person is divulging proprietary info (legally speaking) or committing libel.

But schools can still nab you for doing something "unbecoming" off school property ... such as drinking (even if you're not charged) ... what's to stop them from kicking you off the team? Or suspending you?

 

[Bob Cook]

Sure, they can kick you off the team. But if a guy says "Coach sucks" on a message board, and a team decides to yank his tickets, then you have a case where the school might get bitten for its actions. What, you're going to revoke tickets for anyone who doesn't worship the ground your coach walks on?

 

[Write-brained]

Sure, they can kick you off the team. But if a guy says "Coach sucks" on a message board, and a team decides to yank his tickets, then you have a case where the school might get bitten for its actions. What, you're going to revoke tickets for anyone who doesn't worship the ground your coach walks on?

No, I think it's completely wrong. They should just ignore it. If it's criminal then it's criminal. If not, so be it. There's too much **** on the internet to worry about.

 

[Starman]

Jay, if you don't stop posting this ****, I'll hunt down your family. I can make things miserable for you. Don't test me.

I mean, uhh...my alma mater yanked someone's season tix for threats he made on a message board. Apparently he was quite unhappy with the ticket office and went into great detail the things he'd like to do to the person to whom he spoke. Dude was real unhappy when the tix were pulled right before an NIT game.

If they really wanted to punish him, they should have forced him to attend the NIT game.

 

[Tom Petty]

Rick Pitino about 3 years ago found out a certain booster was posting insider recruiting info on the boards, so he and an assistant took the guy out to dinner and gave him the name of a fictitious recruit, who made it all over the boards before they let him in on the deal.

Awesome.

I love when people go on Internet message boards and claim insder information. I hate, HATE fan boards; there is no reason for their existence other than to give the average uninformed, overcaffeinated moron an outlet for blaming the refs for every loss.

rasp - what's your point here?

 

[I'll never tell]

if that actually is happening, and not a hypothetical, it is a FABULOUS story.

it's so meta.


are you saying that journalists are posting on the fan sites - or people within the school - or just fans? what if an assistant coach, hoping to push out the head coach, went on the fan site and dished? i love this story - i would be all over it.

a comedic twist: what if the CIA or NSA is tipped that the site contains terrorist code, and starts monitoring - and under the Patriot Act of course they would know who is who - and the whole thing blows up into a national security incident

there's a script in this

I would so write that screen play

 

[RokSki]

Jay, if you don't stop posting this ****, I'll hunt down your family. I can make things miserable for you. Don't test me.

I mean, uhh...my alma mater yanked someone's season tix for threats he made on a message board. Apparently he was quite unhappy with the ticket office and went into great detail the things he'd like to do to the person to whom he spoke. Dude was real unhappy when the tix were pulled right before an NIT game.

Can always count on BYH for a good, legitimate LOL moment.

 

[JHaugJr]

A lurker checks in. Anti-SLAPP suits have significant hurdles to leap before they can proceed. Any season ticket holder who violates his contract with a ticket issuer would be very unlikely to succeed with such a suit in an attempt to hold on to his tickets. Anti-SLAPP laws are usually crafted to protect participation in the political and judicial processes.

 

[henryhenry]

The thing schools have to be careful of are anti-SLAPP laws. SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, and a lot of state passed anti-SLAPP laws when corporations started subpoenaing Yahoo, AOL and other stock-board message operators to see who was saying nasty things about them. (Legally speaking, you are not anonymous here -- you are pseudonymous, and Yahoo and the likes will turn over your info in a second.) But what you can do is ask for the name of a specific poster and get that person's identity, if that person is divulging proprietary info (legally speaking) or committing libel.

i'm confused.
are you saying Anti-Slapp allows you to get the name of a specific poster - or prevents that from happening?

and who decides what is proprietary and libelous?

ECrawford - did the Pitino thing get into print?

 

[leo1]

don't know a thing about the slapp laws but nothing stops the school from revoking - or more likely, not allowing a renewal of a ticket. it's a simple contract so if it can't be revoked, you just don't renew it.

 

[I'll never tell]

let's say for a second that I signed up with a e-mail address that I use strictly for spam. AND when I signed up for that address, I used bull**** everything.

Would they then have to track me down through my IP address? Finally, isn't there a way you can mask that?

 

[Double J]

Besides, even if it can be determined that the comments in question were posted on the very computer I am currently using, how does anyone prove it was actually me who did it? Maybe I've stepped across the office and am using someone else's work station for a couple of minutes. Maybe I'm at home, where there's only one computer but several people who have access to it.

 

[Tom Petty]

double j - i used your e-mail just last night.

 

[BillyT]

Besides, even if it can be determined that the comments in question were posted on the very computer I am currently using, how does anyone prove it was actually me who did it? Maybe I've stepped across the office and am using someone else's work station for a couple of minutes. Maybe I'm at home, where there's only one computer but several people who have access to it.

In the case of many of these posters, they are living in their mother's basement, and don't let anyone else in.