Am I going to get sued?

[Pirate]

I want to run a competition to find Australia's most shit house ISP. It will be called "Australia's Most Shit House Award".

Would I get sued?

[Norm]

I doubt it, other forums can the shit out of ISP's.
Places like whirlpool etc..

[Pirate]

cool

[stinky]

I think it's obvious, from the legal expertise that the replies to this thread contain, that you're 100% in the clear to go ahead with said competition.

[ShinymetalASS]

As your attorney I advise you...... NUP!

[Up_All_Night]

at uni we were told the shittest is DoDo.

You should be fine as long as you have something to back up your claim. Such as prices for service provided, average number of drop outs etc. Then if shittest is sued as a defamitory term, it becomes an issue of free speech and profanity, which you should be cool, its a commonly used and understood word in our society.

[Icky]

i have no idea about this but since pirate is god there might be laws against it.
but do it anyway and if you have sources to back you up they cant do nothing. so use lots of sources comparing prices and peoples opinions and comments about the service

Remember none of this actually is from legal knowledge but you should do it.:D

[ShinymetalASS]

Seriously, perhaps you might be open to a defamation claim, but provided the information purported to be defamatory is either true or in the public good you are all good.

[tomsyman]

Don't we do similar things every time there's a poll? I didn't get sued when I won the sexiest man in the universe poll...

[iceepee]

Is She Pregnant?

[ShinymetalASS]

Don't we do similar things every time there's a poll? I didn't get sued when I won the sexiest man in the universe poll...


Misrepresentation?

:D

[muppet]

add a disclaimer at the end:

The results of this award are purely based on the opinion of a whole bunch of zGeek weirdos and in no way should be taken seriously. Even if you do lose a whole bunch of business around the time of voting, that's more than likely just a co-incidence, and nothing to do with this award.

[Ic3]

As a non-registered practising lawyer, doctor, pilot, heart surgeon and various other occupations that i haven't actually trained for, I recommend you run this competition, purely for entertainment. And if you do get sued, then at least we have more entertainment.

And isn't that what you are about Pirate? Entertaining the masses? And geeks?

[Boobmeister]

Would I get sued?

Sued for what? What are they gonna do? Take your pants? Wouldnt that make you happy???

[Aardvark]

Why run a competition? Telstra would win using their anti-competitive suckness

[gyro]

I believe that we are all entitled to our opinion
Here is an exsample

Opinion: Telstra are shit

Defamation sample only probably not true: Telstra are shit because they run at a slower speed and cost more than all other isp's.

I say lets have it

By the way I know jack shit about law, I am probably breaking some laws just being in the law forum.

[jak]

Already been done.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=491198

[Iceman]

Since you're not hosted in Australia IIRC you should be ok.. but seriously.. we all know it's telstra :P

[mjolnir]

well, if you DO get sued... i'll donate $Z100,000 for your legal costs

[Sanura]

Heh, run it anyway. Since it will be done in humour, I think you'd be in the clear as certain allowances are made for the sake of comedy ;)

[kleph]

this sounds like a job for lionel hand.

[cranky]

what are they gonna do... sue you??

oh yeah, thats what this thread is about.

then yeah, you probably will get sued but fuckit mang. it will be worth it for the free advertising alone that this site will get in the press.

sure you may end up broke and destitute but at least you will have lots of online love to fall back on from your e-homies :D

mang.

[Chocoholic]

Would it be worth their while sueng you?
Did you win the lottery or something?

[Felix]

Since you're not hosted in Australia IIRC you should be ok.. but seriously.. we all know it's telstra :P
No. This was tested a while back by Joseph Gutnick suing some US publisher for having a go at him online and found not to be the case. You can sue for libel based on where stuff ends up, not where it comes from.

Just checked the Wikipedia Article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libel#Australian_law). As far as I can make out, you can certainly get away with saying it's been voted the shittest by Zgeek members and therefore ISP X is the shittest.

And the Zgeek members can get away with voting since, as gyro said, people have a right to an opinion (provided it's reasonable).

As for why they might bother suing you, it wouldn't be to reclaim money off you, it would be to a) get the content taken down and b) to get punitive damages so that people wouldn't have a go at them in future.

Note that part b of the reason means that they might well try and seriously fuck you up if you go too far with your crazy statements.

PS. I know this is a bit late as the topic has already gone up.

PPS. It's BigPwnd.

[ThraX]

Are we talking nationally covering ISP's ?
Cause I got a GREAT one in mind for the comp :P

[Sagacious]

Unlikely priovided you don't run it as a poll but ask people to submit their opinion in an unlead fashion (as opposed to a manner in which the answer is suggested in the question).

Once you have the winnar you could try contacting them for comment and then post their comment on the website or a line saying 'We tried to contact <WINNAR> for comment but have yet to recieve a response to our many many many emails'

Be careful as this is how stalking starts.

[Sagacious]

It's not about whether or not you get sued it's whether you win or lose that counts.