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A clearly and lengthily defamatory and false series of forum posts have appeared in a single thread of an online forum. My real longterm nickname, my address, my wife's real first and last name and real nickname, are all included in the thread. I'm American, my last residence in the US was Oregon, the defaming party is an American living in Michigan, and I've lived in the Philippines eight years. I am the defamed party. I was no longer active in the forum when the posts appeared so they were online for almost four years before I found out they existed. The defaming party is married to my wife's niece. I am an American but I can't afford to hire a lawyer.
The forum has a lax policy about discouraging bullying. My demands and requests to have the thread deleted are being ignored. I have a visible online presence in general, in fact I own a website and a forum myself, as well as an online business, so I feel that I am more than just insulted, I could sue the defaming party for libel, but I don't want to and can't. I just want a thread removed from a forum. As I understand it, I cannot force the forum administrators or owner to do anything since they can't be sued and aren't afraid of me. If I sue my nephew-in-law, my wife's family will shun me and blame me for causing a disturbance in the family.
What can I do to get the nephew-in-law to go to the forum administrator and have the thread removed? Is there some sort of legal notice or official-looking procedure that doesn't involve incurring attorney fees?
I haven't spoken to the defamer about this yet, except to answer his online posts in detail with the facts. He has said many untrue and defamatory things, lies and repeated gossip, which undermine my character. He has a lot of status on the forum and in the family so people believe what he says. His wife holds a permanent grudge against me for some perceived insults that were not intended to be a problem to her, starting with when she was sending her father to me to borrow money, and ever since then she has apparently been telling her husband lies about me and he repeated them online in 2009. Now I need to get the thread removed so my reputation and my online presence isn't damaged any more.
The forum has a lax policy about discouraging bullying. My demands and requests to have the thread deleted are being ignored. I have a visible online presence in general, in fact I own a website and a forum myself, as well as an online business, so I feel that I am more than just insulted, I could sue the defaming party for libel, but I don't want to and can't. I just want a thread removed from a forum. As I understand it, I cannot force the forum administrators or owner to do anything since they can't be sued and aren't afraid of me. If I sue my nephew-in-law, my wife's family will shun me and blame me for causing a disturbance in the family.
What can I do to get the nephew-in-law to go to the forum administrator and have the thread removed? Is there some sort of legal notice or official-looking procedure that doesn't involve incurring attorney fees?
I haven't spoken to the defamer about this yet, except to answer his online posts in detail with the facts. He has said many untrue and defamatory things, lies and repeated gossip, which undermine my character. He has a lot of status on the forum and in the family so people believe what he says. His wife holds a permanent grudge against me for some perceived insults that were not intended to be a problem to her, starting with when she was sending her father to me to borrow money, and ever since then she has apparently been telling her husband lies about me and he repeated them online in 2009. Now I need to get the thread removed so my reputation and my online presence isn't damaged any more.
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