A note about defamation

In making comments about other people or their work on this site you must avoid defamation. This applies particularily to the Yahoo Groups web group.

What is defamation?

Sally Bercow’s tweet about Lord McAlpine is a good example. It said: “Why is Lord McAlpine trending? *Innocent face*”.  That was defamation because: “ … words are defamatory of a claimant if (1) they refer to that claimant and (2) they substantially affect in an adverse  manner the attitude of other people towards the claimant, or have a tendency so to do.”

Don’t repeat defamatory statements

Someone who repeats a defamatory allegation made by another is treated as if he had made the allegation himself, even if he attempts to distance himself from the allegation.