Quote-Mining Social Media and a Serious Breach of Trust

[Cartoonist]

What this all boils down to is, you want the right to speak as you please, but you don't want other people to have the same right.

I’m sorry, but that could not be further from the truth. The other site can have their right to speak as much as they want, but when they tell blatant lies and gossip about me without getting to know me and/or leak information that they promised me they’d keep private, that’s where I draw the line. You don’t see me running around the Web spreading gossip about this site.

[Mark47n]

It's hard to be professional when dealing with someone with a secret church.

Secret doings of secret churches in the gloaming of the wood. This certainly inspires confidence and a desire to respect your privacy, a privacy that you surrendered when you spilled about your secret church....ssseeecret....

So now what? Does the secret church take a finger? your first born? Oohhh, let's get seriously Old Testament! Are the going to stone you?

Proverbs 21:23: Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.

[Cartoonist]

Where did you get the idea that PM's are legally required to be kept confidential?

Actually a good question. Long ago, I was banned from an old forum because I thought one of its female administrators was interested in me and I became so repentant in light of this misunderstanding that I made everyone around me there too uncomfortable to keep me. I then began sharing my story with other forums, including some private details of the admin I falsely thought was interested in me (she shared them in a PM), in hopes of gaining sympathy. However, the posts were heavily edited and/or deleted, and I found myself pursued and threatened by a stranger known only as “Jack Doe,” who somehow gathered my contact info and parents’ contact info without their permission. He threatened to report me to the police and/or call my parents if I didn’t remove any and all public direct references to the administrator (to whom he is not related but extremely loyal, even to the point of saving her life when she was younger) or her forum or her private information.

I’ve long since outgrown my old forum, but the memory and mystery of “Jack Doe” still linger. It’s why I never use any PDNs of members of my old forum, or any images mimicking their avatars, without their permission.

Secret doings of secret churches in the gloaming of the wood. This certainly inspires confidence and a desire to respect your privacy, a privacy that you surrendered when you spilled about your secret church....ssseeecret....

So now what? Does the secret church take a finger? your first born? Oohhh, let's get seriously Old Testament! Are the going to stone you?

Proverbs 21:23: Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.

You’re not a real lawyer, are you?

Because most lawyers don’t talk that way and expect to keep their jobs.

[cbg]

Different forums can have different rules, but there is no legal requirement to keep the contents of PM's confidential.

[Cartoonist]

Different forums can have different rules, but there is no legal requirement to keep the contents of PM's confidential.

So, I never actually committed a legally punishable crime in telling the world about the administrator’s personal life that she shared with me privately?

Okay, then…

[Mark47n]

So, I never actually committed a legally punishable crime in telling the world about the administrator’s personal life that she shared with me privately?

Okay, then…

AS usual, that may depend on the details. That's where the devil always is.

Am I a lawyer? no. I'm not. The vast majority of posters here are not either but are experienced in particular aspects of law. As such we don't deliver legal advice but are able to intelligently discuss the law. As to whether or not lawyer's speak the way I do? Yup, they do, unless you're paying them for legal advice and/or services. I was raised by them and, as surprising as it may sound, they're just like you and me. There are racist pillock lawyers and Atheist religion hating lawyers. There are vegan lawyer and biker lawyers. A lawyer for you. A lawyer for me. I don't know a lawyer that will work for free.

BUT...if I were a lawyer I'd still probably say the things that I do now because I'm a Jewish, left wing, pro-labor, anti-Trump biker. Being a lawyer is just a job albeit it a highly educated one.

[Cartoonist]

“ The vast majority of posters here are not either…” Well, then this site has a misleading name.

Since you’re dying to know, there’s nothing in my church that forbids sharing it publicly. I just come from what I think is one of the world’s most private families, which passionately hates social media. And yet, I’m the odd man out. Worst that could happen if the family finds out about my social media activity is that they disown me.

Guess I’d better go find a real lawyer to pay. See yah.

[Mark47n]

“ The vast majority of posters here are not either…” Well, then this site has a misleading name.

Since you’re dying to know, there’s nothing in my church that forbids sharing it publicly. I just come from what I think is one of the world’s most private families, which passionately hates social media. And yet, I’m the odd man out. Worst that could happen if the family finds out about my social media activity is that they disown me.

Guess I’d better go find a real lawyer to pay. See yah.

I wasn't dying to know anything. I asked you no questions. You chose to divulge everything.

YOU said your church is secret, that was no ones assumption.

Let's go over your OP:

In the years I've been operating anonymously online, things have been particularly rough for me since this past summer.

If people are able to track you down you're not terribly anonymous. You are foolish to assume anonymity online.

See, there's a Website for religion-hating and conservative-hating atheist liberals whose members have been persistently following me and sniffing around my other social media accounts besides this one, looking for any excuse they can to take what I write out of context to mischaracterize me with dehumanizing labels like racist, sexist, homophobe, transphobe, etc., and rip apart my writings on their own echo chamber of a site.

There are many websites for people of any political or religious stripe or another and they all tend to be echo chambers. Your characterization of those who "sniff around" for you says far more about you than them. Furthermore, What you write characterizes you. If your writings are indicative of you hewing to beliefs that succor the various "isms" than perhaps you are a practitioner of those "isms" and you don't want to cop to it or don't realize it.

Despite attempts to negotiate with them peacefully, explaining why I'm not as bigoted as they think I am and even entrusting them with my church's private denomination, they refused to remove from their site any social media posts of mine that they've quote-mined, even after I delete or modify them. Things got worse last month when one of their members, whom I trusted to keep my denomination private, publicly revealed it and encouraged others to slander it (and me).

Why are you bothering to negotiate with them at all? Why do you care what they have to say to you? Are you so thin skinned that you don't have the courage of your convictions? Why would you think that they'd remove any posts? Moving on...

Again, note the bolded and underlined bit. It's an interesting statement, isn't it? Your not as bigoted AS THEY THINK YOU ARE. This indicates that you ARE a bigot and you know it. Any further discussion about that particular subject is wrapped up. you're a bigot, just not a huge one, like Archie Bunker. Of course, I don't know if you're old enough to know who Archie Bunker was. The point is, you are a self-admitted bigot.

In the first sentence of your OP you say you were anonymous but then you volunteer personal info. Admittedly, not knowing the content of your posts in question you may have left plenty of breadcrumbs.

I'm not so much upset by the fact that they disclosed my family's secret church without my permission so much as I am upset that they broke my trust at all, which adds insult to the injury of quote-mining me to make me look like a modern Hitler or something. Considering I once nearly faced legal trouble for disclosing some sensitive personal info about a former colleague before I voluntarily redacted that information upon realizing how private it was, I'm also upset that the user who disclosed my denomination has gotten off scot-free for doing the very same to me without either comeuppance or efforts towards redaction of the sensitive information.

No one on social media owes you confidentiality. And why would you trust others, who've had a go at you, with any trust? What did you think they owed you and why?

You're not a modern day Hitler. Hitler was able to accomplish the unthinkable and didn't care what anyone else really thought about it. you whine because your feelings were hurt on social media.

From what you posted about this "colleague" you doxxed her. You shared private information about this person who then felt threatened by you, or others, and was harassed. Given that it was only 'nearly' it doesn't really matter. It's like nearly getting in a car wreck.

Disclosing you religious denomination would not be considered sensitive. Posting your home address, phone number(s), place of work, and making threats may rise to the level of crime...but it's irrelevant as that's not what you've described.

I won't bother with the rest other than to say that you seem to be able to dish it out but not take it. You've compromised your position in your family and that's no ones problem but your own. No one's stopping you from being a garden variety meathead, you're just sore that you're being called to account by those that oppose you.

Slander or defamation would require your reputation to be harmed using false information. Given that you wrote the things that are being used against you I'd say you've got nowhere to go, especially since you want your doings to be ssseeeecret from your family. I can guarantee you this, though, if you pursue legal action your family will learn abut your dirty little secret.

So, as I've said before, scuttle back to wherever you came from and stay offline...since your tender feefees can't take it.

[cbg]

Fine. Post the criminal statute that was violated. Or the one that required forum PM's to be kept confidential.

[CONNOR99]

I wasn't dying to know anything. I asked you no questions. You chose to divulge everything.

YOU said your church is secret, that was no ones assumption.

Let's go over your OP:

If people are able to track you down you're not terribly anonymous. You are foolish to assume anonymity online.

There are many websites for people of any political or religious stripe or another and they all tend to be echo chambers. Your characterization of those who "sniff around" for you says far more about you than them. Furthermore, What you write characterizes you. If your writings are indicative of you hewing to beliefs that succor the various "isms" than perhaps you are a practitioner of those "isms" and you don't want to cop to it or don't realize it.

Why are you bothering to negotiate with them at all? Why do you care what they have to say to you? Are you so thin skinned that you don't have the courage of your convictions? Why would you think that they'd remove any posts? Moving on...

Again, note the bolded and underlined bit. It's an interesting statement, isn't it? Your not as bigoted AS THEY THINK YOU ARE. This indicates that you ARE a bigot and you know it. Any further discussion about that particular subject is wrapped up. you're a bigot, just not a huge one, like Archie Bunker. Of course, I don't know if you're old enough to know who Archie Bunker was. The point is, you are a self-admitted bigot.

In the first sentence of your OP you say you were anonymous but then you volunteer personal info. Admittedly, not knowing the content of your posts in question you may have left plenty of breadcrumbs.

No one on social media owes you confidentiality. And why would you trust others, who've had a go at you, with any trust? What did you think they owed you and why?

You're not a modern day Hitler. Hitler was able to accomplish the unthinkable and didn't care what anyone else really thought about it. you whine because your feelings were hurt on social media.

From what you posted about this "colleague" you doxxed her. You shared private information about this person who then felt threatened by you, or others, and was harassed. Given that it was only 'nearly' it doesn't really matter. It's like nearly getting in a car wreck.

Disclosing you religious denomination would not be considered sensitive. Posting your home address, phone number(s), place of work, and making threats may rise to the level of crime...but it's irrelevant as that's not what you've described.

I won't bother with the rest other than to say that you seem to be able to dish it out but not take it. You've compromised your position in your family and that's no ones problem but your own. No one's stopping you from being a garden variety meathead, you're just sore that you're being called to account by those that oppose you.

Slander or defamation would require your reputation to be harmed using false information. Given that you wrote the things that are being used against you I'd say you've got nowhere to go, especially since you want your doings to be ssseeeecret from your family. I can guarantee you this, though, if you pursue legal action your family will learn abut your dirty little secret.

So, as I've said before, scuttle back to wherever you came from and stay offline...since your tender feefees can't take it.

OMG! And you say I post a lot. You and Mr. Payday need to get a life.

Like I said, you guys are here just to "F" with people...and boy you found another one, huh?

FWIW - Try pushing the keyboard away and getting some exercise. When's the last time you did that?