this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2024
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A group of scammers is retaliating against me for exposing them and the Reddit admins and legal department completely ignore it.

I consulted with lawyers who told me that my only option is to spend tens of thousands of dollars trying to pursue each individual reddit account that's doing it.

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[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 39 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Is your reddit account tied to your real life information? Why are you consulting lawyers for trolls taking the piss out of you on reddit?

[–] MaximilianKohler@lemmy.world -2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Yes, I was a public figure on reddit. And even if I wasn't, it's irrelevant. You don't need to have a reddit account for scammers to post libel about you and your business.

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

And what damages can you calculate caused by the libel?

[–] MaximilianKohler@lemmy.world -1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That would be quite difficult due the nature of my project. But certainly I could calculate some; monetary and reputation.

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

And can you prove the comments were false/lies/intending to mislead?

For example, if you made a product which accidentally explodes and hurts someone, and they post about it on reddit, it wouldn’t be libel.

If someone is telling lies, that would be grounds. But only worth it if theres significant repetitional harm.

Also, what if people are in a different country? Different laws on libel?

[–] MaximilianKohler@lemmy.world -1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

And can you prove the comments were false/lies/intending to mislead?

Yes, very easily.

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

But financially and reputational damage is next to nothing?

[–] MaximilianKohler@lemmy.world 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

Financially, how much in damages? Im assuming its not worth anywhere near as much as you think

[–] voracitude@lemmy.world 17 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It's not up to Reddit to decide what is libel under the law (yet), that's the court's job, but even if it were on Reddit what would you expect them to do? Ban the people? They'll make new accounts. IP ban? VPN.

Your real goal here is to make the people stop posting what you say are lies, and the only real recourse is legal. Find a lawyer, you might be able to get someone to work on contingency if your case is solid.

[–] fiat_lux@kbin.social 14 points 9 months ago (1 children)

5 months ago, mod, Removed Post Reddit is dangerous. The admins are out of control. Humanity needs a viable alternative. – Blog covering the Reddit admins retaliating against me, reason: rule 4

I thought I recognised your name. I happen to be experimenting with my own gut-brain axis, so I recall skimming your project.

Here's the problem.

Reddit will not act on people insulting your personal project unless they consider it a legal, financial or reputational risk not to do so.

Lawyers will not take on your case unless they think there is a solid chance of financial or reputational gain beyond the standard hourly fee. They are telling you in the most professional way possible that they see no merit in spending their time on your theory's reputation. My suspicion is that they feel your... zeal and passion for your theory is bordering on fanatical. They don't want to work with fanatics.

Without substantial and demonstrable effects on your finances, what you are left with is just some low level insults on the internet, and one or more relatively anonymous individuals who know that trolling you will get them the reaction they desire. If you continue to react like this, they will continue to try to get a reaction from you.

These concepts have been explained to you previously.

I understand that you believe you have found answers that have previously been ignored by medicine. I know how that feels. But research is already being done in this area and will take time to bear fruit.

Additionally, continuing to post your site as a response to threads that lightly touch on adjacent topics does not do much more than highlight you as a self-promoting spammer who might be fun to troll. It also does not endear you to admins or mods, let alone anyone who might positively engage with the topic. Threads like this let trolls know their efforts to annoy you are working extremely well. Using your real name to do so just makes it much easier for them to harass you.

I do not like victim blaming, but I hope you are able to reflect on how your reactions and inability to let minor insults slide might be compromising your ability to have your project and theories taken more seriously and treated with respect. If you are very serious about legal recourse, then regrettably you need to monetize your project and accurately document negative effects caused by specific people.

[–] MaximilianKohler@lemmy.world -5 points 9 months ago

Interesting. As soon as you posted your dishonest comment and it got 100% upvoted, the other comments in this thread seemed to have been vote-brigaded by the same people.

Lawyers will not take on your case unless they think there is a solid chance of financial or reputational gain beyond the standard hourly fee. They are telling you in the most professional way possible that they see no merit in spending their time on your theory’s reputation

My suspicion is that they feel your… zeal and passion for your theory is bordering on fanatical. They don’t want to work with fanatics.

This is entirely false and dishonestly fabricated by you. A lawyer never said anything remotely like that, and in no way was such a thing insinuated in previous comments in this thread. No lawyer turned me down.

This is blatant pro-reddit astroturfing.

Without substantial and demonstrable effects on your finances, what you are left with is just some low level insults on the internet, and one or more relatively anonymous individuals who know that trolling you will get them the reaction they desire. If you continue to react like this, they will continue to try to get a reaction from you.

your reactions and inability to let minor insults

You have no clue what you're talking about, and are just making things up. You're the one trolling now.

These concepts have been explained to you previously.

Oh yeah? When was that?

I understand that you believe you have found answers that have previously been ignored by medicine. I know how that feels. But research is already being done in this area and will take time to bear fruit.

Another completely nonsensical troll comment.

[–] Grimy@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Expose them harder, it's that simple.

[–] MaximilianKohler@lemmy.world -1 points 9 months ago

Well, it's not that simple because when people search for my project they see a bunch of disinformation and libel that these people are spreading.

[–] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 5 points 9 months ago

Yep, reddit sure does suck at reporting, enforcing rules, and just being a company.

[–] PlasterAnalyst@kbin.social 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Just use the block button. Eventually they'll get bored.

[–] MaximilianKohler@lemmy.world -4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I actually assumed that they'd give up once they were exposed, and move on to their next grift, but apparently they are very dedicated to this one. And blocking their accounts does nothing to stop them posting libel about me.

[–] PlasterAnalyst@kbin.social 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] MaximilianKohler@lemmy.world -5 points 9 months ago

I care because they're harming my reputation, business, and more.