Collyn wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 07, 2019 7:04 am

Lance

Whilst what you say is true the probability of a forum being sued is low simply because the costs of launching a case are enormous, and the damages (even if won) are unlikely to cover the cost (that is literally in the hundreds of thousands of dollars). It also usually requires a court to issue a subpeona to obtain the alleged offenders identity, but that can be done relatively easily with ‘detective’ work.

Hint: look for consistent mispellings or idiosyncratic phrasing (or known membership on another forum) and Google – entering them as terms to search for. Works surprisingly well.

Collyn

Collyn wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 07, 2019 7:04 am

Lance

Whilst what you say is true the probability of a forum being sued is low simply because the costs of launching a case are enormous, and the damages (even if won) are unlikely to cover the cost (that is literally in the hundreds of thousands of dollars). It also usually requires a court to issue a subpeona to obtain the alleged offenders identity, but that can be done relatively easily with ‘detective’ work.

Hint: look for consistent mispellings or idiosyncratic phrasing (or known membership on another forum) and Google – entering them as terms to search for. Works surprisingly well.

Collyn

Collyn wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 07, 2019 7:04 am

Whilst what you say is true the probability of a forum being sued is low simply because the costs of launching a case are enormous, and the damages (even if won) are unlikely to cover the cost (that is literally in the hundreds of thousands of dollars). It also usually requires a court to issue a subpeona to obtain the alleged offenders identity, but that can be done relatively easily with ‘detective’ work.

diesel wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 07, 2019 4:04 pm

Collyn wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 07, 2019 7:04 am

Lance

Whilst what you say is true the probability of a forum being sued is low simply because the costs of launching a case are enormous, and the damages (even if won) are unlikely to cover the cost (that is literally in the hundreds of thousands of dollars). It also usually requires a court to issue a subpeona to obtain the alleged offenders identity, but that can be done relatively easily with ‘detective’ work.

Hint: look for consistent mispellings or idiosyncratic phrasing (or known membership on another forum) and Google – entering them as terms to search for. Works surprisingly well.

Collyn

Do people actually do that and why would they bother?

From your comment, it would appear that you have traced somebody’s identity and I am interested to know why you would do such a thing. Is it simply because you don’t agree with their point of view or something more sinister like owing you money, stole your dog etc?

It doesn’t sit well with me that a member of a forum would attempt to expose the identity of another member, let alone succeed in doing so. We are all entitled to the anonymity that our username provides.

Jeff