So exactly when was "naming names" banned?

All I can remember about the "no naming names" rule is that is began sometime before this thread was started by me.

Well its really about the public defamation of someone's character when there is really no proof.

If you use your own anaology, by posting to the forum and "naming names," your not just saying to your wife or husband... "Hey that jerk next door is having sex with our dog again!" you are doing the equivalent of taking out a an advertisement to that effect in the local newspaper.

That's defamation of character in the RL (which is illegal), and if everyone was allowed to do that then the world would be a pretty screwed up and hate-filled kind of place. Your ruining someone's reputation and perhaps their business on the basis of an accusation that most of the time is going to turn out to be just your opinion. You could also get sued if you didn't have concrete evidence to back up your claims.

In both the RL and the SL situation, if you *do* have proof to back up your claims, like a videotape of that guy having sex with your dog or whatever, then the thing to do is to take the tape to whatever local authority exists, not to publish it in the newspaper or shout on the forums about it.

Doing that, is just more of the same kind of childish behaviour that your accusing the other person of and won't actually solve anything or stop the fellow from doing it.

The rule says "threads that are addressed to a single individual or group are inappropriate", then provides some examples, one of which is "naming names in a post's title".

The use of this example does not limit the rule to forbidding only the naming of names in a post's title, the rule is "threads that are addressed to a single individual or group are inappropriate", the addressing can occur in the title or the body of the post, the signature area, or anywhere in the thread.

Hi Suezanne,

A thread addressed "to" someone or a group is a different concept than one addressed "about" someone or a group. It might be a nitpick over wording. The author of the "private discussions" passage may have meant "about" instead of "to". As-written, it's unclear.

Regardless, as with anywhere on the internet or in real life, not everyone in Second Life is nice and reasonable. I believe there needs to be a way for people to make publically known their opinions of other users (good OR bad). An eBay style rating system might work out quite well. It's not the best, but the forum provides a way for public complaints to be made, as well as, rebuttals.

I realize lifting the "naming names" policy on the forums may cause more drama and, therefore, more work for moderaters, but keeping it also causes the sillyness of dancing around and eluding to the actual name.

HP

Yes, and defamation, libel and slander have very specifc legal definitions. It's not defamation unless its a false accusation. (as an aside:
At least in the US, insults and epithets are not generally considered dematory. You also generally have the right to express an opinion, as long as it doesn't have given stated facts that can be proven untrue. Most jurisdictions also recognize "opinion" as a defense and the distinction of fact vs opinion can depend upon context - whether the person making the statement would be reasonably perceived by the community as being in a position to know whether it's true our not. i.e. If you shrink accuses you of being a nutcase thats one thing, if some random yahoo on an internet forum says it, thats another kettle of fish.)

But all the lawbook thumping aside.... The premise of my initial post is the same. That the "naming names" prohibition seems to often gets construed to mean you can't say anything negative about someone by name...or can't be critical of someone by name. Which I think is ridiculous.




Well, for the dog sex example which was clearly indicated to not be a serious example, it would hardly be worth the effort to publish in the local newspaper even if it were true and you had a set of 8x10 photos to prove it. But as to the general case of stating something negative or critical about someone specifically named in the forum, and a blanket Forum moderation policy the forbids saying anything negative or critical about someone specifically by name, I personally think that is silly and just a plain bad idea. Of course I'm also of the opinion that it would be much more childish behavior for someone to sue for defamation based on something posted in one of these SL forums. But childish or not, if they feel THAT personally injured over it, let them take it to court and be settled there. It (the court decision) would certainly make for an interesting read.