A couple of times per year, the very hot topic of free speech on the internet comes up in The Ring, thanks to our local Bridal Chat forums. The debate - usually spurred on by the deletion or editing of negative posts regarding local companies - takes about ten seconds to go from a luke-warm status to an on-fire status.
- Brides don’t want their posts to be moderated.
- We don’t want them (or us) to be sued.
- Reputable vendors don’t want to be trashed without just cause.
- The few actually horrible vendors that exist don’t want to be trashed either (who have lawyers ready & waiting because they’ve likely been through this before).
Chat forums give a false sense of privacy. Brides in The Ring form lasting friendships so it’s only natural for them to feel safe venting to their peers. But, the internet isn’t anonymous anymore, and it hasn’t been for a long time. When you post something controversial, you may as well be standing in the middle of the street, shouting your complaints because the result is the same. Your message has the power to make (or break) a business.
We’ve gone to bat (legally) in the past on behalf of brides in The Ring, simply because we felt a responsibility to brides to do so, thinking they couldn’t afford a lawsuit on top of a wedding. We learned a unjust but true lesson from that experience, Slander is only slander if it’s not true. And if it’s not slander, you better be prepared to prove that it isn’t.
So the bottom line here is that an online wedding forum offers the opportunity to use a huge source of bridal girl power for good. The right to freedom of speech on the internet will be argued for years to come. Unfortunately brides (or vendors or The Ring for that matter) aren’t likely to win the argument today.
- Jenn @ The Ring
