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I was speaking of what must be shown in court to prove an allegation of libel. Unfortunately, anybody can file suit against any of us, whether or not it's justified.

You have no choice. If you don't defend against the suit, you lose. If you can't afford an attorney, you probably lose.

There's no solution to that problem on the horizon. I'm sorry you were on the receiving end.

"I was speaking of what must be shown in court to prove an allegation of libel. Unfortunately, anybody can file suit against any of us, whether or not it's justified."

There's a wide gulf between the theoretical and the practical. Unfortunately a lot of people seem to fall on the latter side of that equation, so I tend to go into argh!-mode when I see someone explaining how there's no reason to worry so long as "the truth" is on their side. For better or worse, it takes "the truth" plus a lawyer, and that knocks a lot of folks outta the ring right at the start of the process, "being right" notwithstanding.

"You have no choice. If you don't defend against the suit, you lose. If you can't afford an attorney, you probably lose."

Well, there is a third option: since most of these lawsuits are basically little more than attempts to get people to shut up and go away, it's often possible to get an out of court settlement deal. The upside is that you escape with most of your life (if not your stomach-lining) intact; the downside is that you learn to self-censor, be extremely circumspect, and become a living example of the effects of that which is designed to (and succeeds at) chilling the expression of opinion on the Internet. (Does it seem like I'm choosing my words very carefully in this post? That's what happens when one finds out the hard way that his RL ID is but a subpoena away...)

"There's no solution to that problem on the horizon. I'm sorry you were on the receiving end."

Hey, me too! :)

There's a quasi-solution, i.e., SLAPP laws; but they won't help "the little guys" until the Big Guys get SLAPP'd often enough to develop an aversion to go after the Little Guys. Until then, the LG's will continue to get knocked in the head, with damn little they can do about it, regardless of whether they're right or wrong.

That's life.