If in fact this email notice was a hoax, a fake, whatever, why would Admin/Jim Robinson allow us to continue on our merry way, believing it to be true? If that's the case, then it's Jim Robinson/Admin who have pulled the hoax on US (say 'prank' anyone?). I simply don't believe that could be. I would lose all faith in them as even handed moderators. And I think, so would a lot of other people.
As I posted to Hot Tabasco; there's an easy way to confirm/deny this. Post a message to Jim Robinson. Ask him whether he received the email. I would expect he would be forthcoming about that. After all, this thread WAS reintroduced. Also, to backup their hoax, did they get HotAir and the radio station to 'go along' with it to cement the deception?
One further thought: Hot Tabasco's sole premise is that it must be bogus because C & R's are not delivered via email. What is to say that an initial email wasn't delivered due to the quick response requirement of 24 hours or less, with a certified original mailed at that very same time? I think Hot Tabasco's premise is on the weak side.
Hot Tabasco: Before jumping all over everyone else, go to the source.
That's a silly reply. The story is true. The poster heard the statements on the radio. The underlying events have not been verified but that's what investigative journalism is for.
Why is it the moderators job to determine the factuality of a news story? More to the point, this one as opposed to the hundreds of others posted daily?
There's no liability here, period. The statements are not slander/libel, even if they were to a 'normal' citizen - they don't rise to the level required for a public figure, and even still it's a Constitutional free speech issue.
Please don't throw me in that brier patch, Mr. Dean!
I'd say that another poster has mentioned this could be a setup. Maybe. The point would be to enforce the fairness doctrine against conservatives and attack the web at the same time. But it's not going to work, and will backfire.