Plain Dealer outs judge as anonymous poster

[TheSportsPredictor]

There's a thread just below about this judge. Not long ago she tried to have a PD reporter hauled into court to out an anonymous source. The source -- a fellow judge -- outed himself before any more came of it.

Now The PD has outed the judge as author of dozens of anonymous posts on its Cleveland.com website. Or at least the judge's email address. The judge's daughter is claiming to have authored some of the posts.

Of course the judge is only on the most high-profile case in recent Cleveland memory, that of an accused serial killer who had about a dozen bodies buried in his yard or walled up in his house.

PD site going nuts today over this.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/03/plain_dealer_sparks_ethical_de.html

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/03/post_258.html

PD says it didn't know the judge's email address was linked to the posts until the poster put something about a PD reporters relative on a post, which has since been deleted. At that point, a PD editor looked up the email address of the poster. The PD is now saying access to the email addresses of posters will be taken away from PD staff.

My opinion -- PD has completely abused its power in a personal vendetta.

 

[LongTimeListener]

As soon as anyone can find documentation that the P-D promised anonymity to those who post on its Web site, I will care. Until then, consder it a victory for those of us who would like to see some measure of accountability from the racists and hate-mongerers who troll those sites.

 

[Bubbler]

My opinion? Newspaper need to get rid of comments at the end of stories.

 

[JakeandElwood]

My opinion? Newspaper need to get rid of comments at the end of stories.

Word.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

As soon as anyone can find documentation that the P-D promised anonymity to those who post on its Web site, I will care. Until then, consder it a victory for those of us who would like to see some measure of accountability from the racists and hate-mongerers who troll those sites.

I tried to do a story on this a few weeks ago and was shut down by the EE, but not because of the promise of anonymity.
The EE thought there still too many yet unresolved issues about outing posters on our website and he didn't want to be the trendsetter.

We have a council member and their spouse (a judge) who routinely anonymously post on stories in which they were quoted and use their posts to bash the mayor and other officials.

 

[D-3 Fan]

Wow, this is messed up. I need to read more on how the P-D handled it before I can offer an opinion on them. But I can initially say that the judge would be wise by removing herself off the case, regardless if she posted the comments or her daughter was posting them, as the daughter claims.

This brings back the Kurt Greenbaum fiasco: http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/76152/

 

[D-3 Fan]

My opinion? Newspaper need to get rid of comments at the end of stories.

Seriously, Bubbler is right. Newspapers online need to start shutting comments down.

There are far too many ****ing idiots who'll post anything derogatory, insulting, and nonsensical comments. And then there are instances like this in Cleveland.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

My opinion? Newspaper need to get rid of comments at the end of stories.

Word.

For Word.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

My opinion? Newspaper need to get rid of comments at the end of stories.

Seriously, Bubbler is right. Newspapers online need to start shutting comments down.

There are far too many ****ing idiots who'll post anything derogatory, insulting, and nonsensical comments. And then there are instances like this in Cleveland.

But .. But ... But they generarte web hits and all the huge Internet ad dollars that comes with those hits.

 

[HanSenSE]

My opinion? Newspaper need to get rid of comments at the end of stories.

Seriously, Bubbler is right. Newspapers online need to start shutting comments down.

There are far too many ****ing idiots who'll post anything derogatory, insulting, and nonsensical comments. And then there are instances like this in Cleveland.

And it wouldn't totally surprise me to find out that the same nut jobs, operating behind the cloak of anonmyous screen names, were further encouraged to act out in public as well on some of their threats. No proof ... just sayin' .

 

[apeman33]

My opinion? Newspaper need to get rid of comments at the end of stories.

Seriously, Bubbler is right. Newspapers online need to start shutting comments down.

There are far too many ****ing idiots who'll post anything derogatory, insulting, and nonsensical comments. And then there are instances like this in Cleveland.

But .. But ... But they generarte web hits and all the huge Internet ad dollars that comes with those hits.

Even though I get the joke, I couldn't help fixing this to bring it closer to reality (or perhaps, exactly as reality is).

 

[novelist_wannabe]

The way I understood it on the other thread, the personal vendetta initiated with the judge, who was extremely unprofessional.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

You knew this was coming ... judge sues. For $50 mil. Anonymity and privacy have their price!

http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/judge-files-%2450m-suit-against-plain-dealer

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

You knew this was coming ... judge sues. For $50 mil. Anonymity and privacy have their price!

http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/judge-files-%2450m-suit-against-plain-dealer

Good luck.

If the P-D's comment agreement is anything like most, the judge has a tough row to ***. The information is NOT confidential.

Methinks, she's not a very bright judge.

 

[Armchair_QB]

You knew this was coming ... judge sues. For $50 mil. Anonymity and privacy have their price!

http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/judge-files-%2450m-suit-against-plain-dealer

Good luck.

If the P-D's comment agreement is anything like most, the judge has a tough row to ***. The information is NOT confidential.

Methinks, she's not a very bright judge.

Hey, somebody had to graduate last from judge school.

 

[Tarheel316]

Seriously, Bubbler is right. Newspapers online need to start shutting comments down.

There are far too many ****ing idiots who'll post anything derogatory, insulting, and nonsensical comments. And then there are instances like this in Cleveland.

You are preaching to the choir. We have that same problem at my shop. I hate the forums. We have plenty of morons posting on ours. It was nice to see that judge taken down a peg.

 

[Rosie]

When we went to paid online, our comments plummeted to near nothing.

 

[tapintoamerica]

Here's the money graph, if you will:

"In addition, we reserve the right to use the information we collect about your computer, which may at times be able to identify you, for any lawful business purpose, including without limitation to help diagnose problems with our servers, to gather broad demographic information, and to otherwise administer our Website."

I'm assuming the phrase "including without limitation" is just a new way of saying "including but not limited to ..." If I'm right about that, I doubt the judge has a case unless she wrote them a letter (per terms of the user agreement) that specifically said she didn't want them to disclose anything about her.

If anybody smarter than I am -- and that includes most you -- has a different take, please do share.

http://www.cleveland.com/privacypolicy/

 

[Point of Order]

Don't get rid of comments -- charge for them. $7.95 for the first 25 words and $4.95 for each additional block of 25. Require the commenter to identify himself and conduct identity verification, in part by using the poster's credit card information.

 

[D-3 Fan]

Seriously, Bubbler is right. Newspapers online need to start shutting comments down.

There are far too many ****ing idiots who'll post anything derogatory, insulting, and nonsensical comments. And then there are instances like this in Cleveland.

You are preaching to the choir. We have that same problem at my shop. I hate the forums. We have plenty of morons posting on ours. It was nice to see that judge taken down a peg.

I blog online for a site that publishes weekly for a niche audience. I shake my head in disbelief on how inaccurate, blatant, and juvenile the comment section is. But what gets my goat is that some of these people think they wrote such a great (****ty) comment, they click on the 'recommendation' button to gloss themselves.

I am more than willing to pay to read and comment on my newspaper online. $7.95 for the first 25 words? Where do I send the check?!