Libel law and the net?

[sam100]

Hi i desperatly need some advice on behalf of my friend. She joined an internet discussion forum and had a falling out with the admins who run it (dont know what over)..she asked for her account on the forum to be deleted and it was. Now the admins of the forum have posted a subject on why she decided to leave and that she was aggressive etc.

As she is no longer a member she cannot post to defend herself and she feels mortified to think that people will think badly off her as she says she has done nothing wrong. Its also not explained in the info provided by the admins.

What rights does she have a) to reply b) to have it removed etc

Any help would be great. She's terribly upset

[pink-kittens]

Its not handbag.com is it? One of my friends joined there and had a disagreement with one of the forum moderators and this moderator posted my friends address details! Thankfully her modertor status was removed
Anyway, that does not help your friend. Personally, after initial upset, I would forget about it. Goodness, it is only a web site, she doesn't know these people and if they are prone to stunts such as this why would she want to bother with them anyway? She may well be 'terribly upset' but once she has slept on it, she will feel differently. They really are not worth bothering about.
Is it one of those free forum groups that are set up when a member gets banned from another, proper and professional site?
If she is not a member how come she can see what is written?

[redcrx]

why cant she re-register and reply? many do, unfortunately.

hi pink :)

[Richard1966]

What country is it as their laws will apply.

If she is thinking of a liable action she will need to be very well off as they are expensive and lengthy. She will also need to think about what loss she has actually suffered. Has it lost her a job or work or is it simply self respect or hurt feelings

By far the best thing is if she just forgets about the whole matter and moves on.

[Twenty20]

Surely there has to be bigger more important things in this person's life than a comment on an internet discussion forum?

[sam100]

Its not handbag.com or any of those. She doesnt want to take it further she just wants her name removed or any of the biased info taken off that she cant reply to!

[Nhozu]

depending on the content, i would mention 'malicious falsehood' to them. obviously she would need to back it up.

another thing is if she threatens to go to court over it (which would be unbelieveably expensive for both) they would probably take it down to avoid the trouble