Brian Burke Wins Judgement Against Online Commenters

[Oling_Roachinen]

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/ri...998/story.html

Originally Posted by The hunt for CamBarkerfan begins: Brian Burke wins judgment against anonymous online commenters

The five defendants -- who are only identified by their online surnames NoFixed Address, CamBarkerfan, Lavy 16, Tulowd and Naggah -- had failed to file and serve a notice of response to Burke’s lawsuit within the time allowed.
....
The court also ordered that the defendants pay Burke damages that are to be assessed and to pay the plaintiff legal costs to be assessed.

The best "I can't believe this isn't the Onion" part:

One individual, believed to be a commenter identified as “Mowerman” was tracked by a process server to a home in Ontario in June.

The process server noted a man mowing the lawn of the property and asked if he was the individual in question.

NBCSports article on it as well: http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2...ne-commenters/

[carom]

So does this mean poonerman is off the hook? What happened to the rest of the trolls he was trying to sue? And why did so many people come up with the same story and post it in so many different places? Is this some sort of conspiracy, or just a bunch of people making the same speculation? Seems kind of odd that so many people (unless of course it is just a couple people with many alias') came out with the same story at the same time? Did I just answer my own question?

[Oling_Roachinen]

I'm not sure what happened to the other 'named' defendants, obviously it sounds like they tried to track down Mowerman but he wasn't named as one of the 5. Neither was CP's own Loob who was originally named.

As for the rumours themselves. Rumours in general spread like that. Certain rumours, especially when someone is traded unexpectedly or fired like that, seem to make gossip spreading pretty easy. I'm going to be very vague considering the topic but I'm sure 99% of hockey fans have heard unsavory rumours about one hockey player or another at one point in time, some of the stories just seem to stick better. And of course it's always from people who heard it from a friend who works at Orange Julius who heard it from his brother who works at concession at the Dome with a guy who's overheard management talking about it with "someone in the know."

In this particular case, it may be that the defendants went on different websites and copy-paste the defamation article.

[Jay Random]

Some people are afraid of shadows. Some people ignore them. It takes a special kind of weird to sue them.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

I assume CamBarkerfan was the easiest to identify as: a) Cam Barker or b) Cam Barker's Mom.

[sun]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

I assume CamBarkerfan was the easiest to identify as: a) Cam Barker or b) Cam Barker's Mom.

Post of the month lol.

[Hells Bells]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

I assume CamBarkerfan was the easiest to identify as: a) Cam Barker or b) Cam Barker's Mom.

or c) cowtown75

[Regulator75]

What did they say that was so bad?

Can't be much worse as to what's posted on here.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by Regulator75

What did they say that was so bad?

Can't be much worse as to what's posted on here.

Thanks to the Streisand effect (probably the reason we're changing the goal song ) that information is readily available (page 3). The fact that a new-born child was brought into the mess was pretty low.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

Thanks to the Streisand effect (probably the reason we're changing the goal song ) that information is readily available (page 3). The fact that a new-born child was brought into the mess was pretty low.

Yeah, and it was Brian Burke who created this particular Streisand effect by taking a bunch of Internet trolls to court. I suspect he did more damage to his own reputation by publicizing these idiots than the idiots could ever have done on their own.

[McG]

nm.

[Red Ice Player]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

Yeah, and it was Brian Burke who created this particular Streisand effect by taking a bunch of Internet trolls to court. I suspect he did more damage to his own reputation by publicizing these idiots than the idiots could ever have done on their own.

I actually like Burke more for going after these scumbags, his reputation hasn't suffered with me a bit.Its not like I believe their "rumour" now that I've heard it. It would be truly hilarious if they actually identified some of the posters. Just making them crap bricks now that judgement has been passed against them should give Burke some satisfaction. Who hasn't wanted to roast notorious internet trolls? Burke had the means so he did. Good for him.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Red Ice Player

I actually like Burke more for going after these scumbags, his reputation hasn't suffered with me a bit.Its not like I believe their "rumour" now that I've heard it.

No, but thousands of people have now heard that rumour who would never have heard it otherwise. There are many people in this world who follow Jim Hacker’s advice from Yes, Minister: ‘Never believe a rumour until it’s been officially denied.’ The whole court case will, I fear, give new life to this silly story in the minds of people like that.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

No, but thousands of people have now heard that rumour who would never have heard it otherwise. There are many people in this world who follow Jim Hacker’s advice from Yes, Minister: ‘Never believe a rumour until it’s been officially denied.’ The whole court case will, I fear, give new life to this silly story in the minds of people like that.

Some will believe it when they hear it. Some will believe it when it's denied. Some will believe it because he took them to court. And some will believe it simply because he is in a position of power and therefore they don't trust him. Doesn't matter.

It was still the right thing to do and I applaud him for it.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

No, but thousands of people have now heard that rumour who would never have heard it otherwise.

And everyone knows it's not true now. I don't have any problem with it as if you are going to make up false rumours about a prominent hockey person having an affair and post them as truth you should be taken to task. It's real lives (Burke, the female reporter, and their families) that are being effected by the false rumours and why shouldn't the offenders pay?

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

It was still the right thing to do and I applaud him for it.

Considering that he still doesn’t even know who the defendants are, and has basically zero chance of ever collecting any damages, it strikes me as a pretty useless thing to do. And to the extent that he gave publicity to the original claims, it was downright counterproductive.

That sort of thing is hard for me to applaud.

[Badgers Nose]

If it causes just a few more anon' cowards to crawl deeper into their holes and disappear, all the better.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Badgers Nose

If it causes just a few more anon' cowards to crawl deeper into their holes and disappear, all the better.

Nah, it’ll just cause them to pick on people who aren’t millionaires and don’t have the resources to sue everyone who bothers them.

If even that. I mean, all those trolls have to do is ditch their accounts and make new ones, and they’ll probably never be tracked down. Then they will have lost nothing, and they’ll be able to go on defaming people under their new screen names. I doubt Burke will ever collect a dollar in damages.

[schteve_d]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

I doubt Burke will ever collect a dollar in damages.

I know that, he knows that, and I would assume that everyone else knows that. I don't think he was ever after a dollar.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by schteve_d

I know that, he knows that, and I would assume that everyone else knows that. I don't think he was ever after a dollar.

Then what was he after, and what will it matter to the defendants? They can just change handles and go on libelling people.