Online Libel

[EliteComputerProgrammer]

Colorado

A blog has an area for reader comments in an online newspaper forum for anybody to comment on a story of much interest in the community. When does online blog name calling become libel defamation?

If I were called an overweight jumbo barrel of fat that looks like a overweight slug with no brains.

Just when does calling me non racial names but physically bad names calling rise to the level of defamation.

Note: Any financial losses are non provable without huge resources to proove very small losses if that. Yes I am overweight.

Absolute truth in your answers is appreciated, thanks.

[LawResearcherMissy]

Online assholery isn't necessarily defamation. Sometimes, it's just assholery.

So someone called you fat. And? You admit you're fat. Hey, me too! Guess what you do?

You grow a thicker skin or you get off the Internet. I promise you, the former is much more fun if you learn to be more clever than the people trolling you.

[EliteComputerProgrammer]

Online assholery isn't necessarily defamation. Sometimes, it's just assholery.

So someone called you fat. And? You admit you're fat. Hey, me too! Guess what you do?

You grow a thicker skin or you get off the Internet. I promise you, the former is much more fun if you learn to be more clever than the people trolling you.

That is about what I thought. Live with it I guess. I constantly hear conservative radio hosts, teabaggers, and the likes beat up the left side of politics including our president with far far worse than I have been called and I have called a few online people some narly things, no profanity but definitely narly usually in retalition to their first words against myself. I have wondered about lawsuits from politicians against many who use every word in the book against the ones they disagree with.

While I have been beat up verbally pretty badly online for just for posting a simple opinion which may be against the beliefs if the majority of the blog how far can I go to hit back at them? Just what is the line that I can go up to before somebody could call it libel and a lawsuit against me for attacking back?

Note: some of these blogs and forums can get extremely intense with extremely harsh words on some of the subjects. They can get addictive to a point.

[cbg]

Just when does calling me non racial names but physically bad names calling rise to the level of defamation.

It doesn't. Name calling is not defamation the vast majority of the time.

Defamation occurs when an untrue statement is published to a third party and you suffer actual damages as a result. It does not happen when someone expresses their opinion of you, to you. No matter how nasty they get.