I recently noticed a huge spike in reading of my blog. Upon investigation, I discovered the following post on ALL CraigsList Legal Forums, nationwide!!! Wow!
"I stumbled across this a few days back. < futuresot > 06/18 14:43:04
Im not sure if any of you have seen it, so I'll post it anyways. Sorry if it's a re-post.
Im not sure if any of you have seen it, so I'll post it anyways. Sorry if it's a re-post.
http://cclemens.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/03/craigslist-lawyers-cyber-bullies-or-helpful-hints.html
In addition to many new readers, this resulted in two comments on my blog entry about my entry, linked above "CraigsList Lawyers: Cyber-bullies or Helpful Hints":
Laura L. said:
With a subtitle like "Creative Communications Commentary", I would assume that your blog deals with communications issues. As such, you ought to understand a very basic rule of online forums: read before you post. A casual perusal of the CL legal forum makes it very, very clear that the primary function of the forum is entertainment, usually at the expense of thin-skinned posters. Don't call Car Talk if you don't want to hear jokes about your car, your city, your wife, etc. And don't post in the CL legal forum if you can't take a little abuse. Seriously... "cyber bullies?" I'm not at all surprised you got dumped on.
and
Joe Bleaux said:
When you access the Legal forum on Craigslist, the very first page has a large disclaimer, which reads: "DISCLAIMER - craigslist is not responsible for, and you may not rely upon, the accuracy of any information or advice posted here - this forum is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only - you should consult with an attorney prior to acting on any information found here." What part of "entertainment purposes only" don't you understand? And unless you've only been accessing a forum of any kind on Craigslist or elsewhere for 5 minutes, you should already understand that when you post, you're going to receive a mix of good information, bad information, and abuse. The fact that you're actually surprised at receiving negative feedback is frankly amusing. I agree with the poster above.."cyber bullies?". How old are you, 12?
**
I responded as follows:
"Candace Clemens said:
Hardly "dumped on." As per my response to Joe Bleaux: "no, I have never heard Car Talk maliciously expose anyone's identity. Howard Stern, maybe. I'm fine with what CL is and provides. I just thought it darkly humorous that someone felt it obligatory to expose my identity to the forum, rather than dropping me a note telling me that I was exposed. Now THAT might have been a lawyer I would have hired."
Kind of like the answer to "why does a dog lick its private parts..." -- is the default setting to act irresponsibly and potentially abusive to "innocent" individuals who seek help from the Legal Forum? I only ask a question....I do not make a statement. If this kind of behavior is entertainment to the participating lawyers, then I am happy to have provided entertainment."
**
Remember...I was only asking a question, not making a statement.
What originally troubled me the most was the underlying ethics. AND Lawyer Beek's illogical conclusion that a) because I ride and train horses, I must be rich; and b) because I am rich, I therefore am obligated to pay top dollar for legal advice, on all matters, large and small. Having scored fairly well on the LSAT's myself, and being a lover of logic, Lawyer Beek's faulty logic still troubles me. While I agree that the distribution of wealth is increasingly problematic in today's society, I am not sure this "Robin Hood" conclusion is copacetic with capitalism or free enterprise. (I doubt that the members of the legal forum would like to see all lawyers forced to price their services on a sliding scale to match their clients, or to be obligated by law to offer a certain percentage of their time as pro bono).
The CraigsList Legal Forum is obviously a form of social networking and entertainment, apparently for lawyers. I had no problem with having had my identity exposed to the group, and having my physical appearance mocked and taunted, especially since it resulted in more blog readers. But this entire incident does raise a question to me about our society in general, but particularly the group of professionals whose role is supposed to be part of a system that protects citizens from wrong doing.
The question of ethics -- specifically within this group of professionals -- and that a large group of professionals finds it "entertaining" to publicly humiliate anyone who unknowingly enters their domain. Again...happy I could provide some entertainment to this esteemed group. I do NOT feel "dumped on." It was harmless fun at my expense and/or my advantage.
But for someone else, it could have been MORTifying. Which was the question I posited in my blog. A thin-skinned person (or someone pretending to be thin skinned) might have reacted in such a way that a good lawyer could claim damages from Cyber-Bullying. Which, as our legal system has already established, is illegal. And such a suit could impact the freedom and advantages of CraigsList. IMHO, that would be really bad.
But for someone strictly litigious, the ends justifies the means, and such people don't care about the Big Picture. Just short term, selfish gains. No worries here. I'm just asking questions. It was harmless but thought provoking. And apparently I struck a nerve...enough to provoke someone to re-post my blog entry nationwide.
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