hgm wrote:carldaman wrote:So, my first question is -- where the heck are the moderators? Aren't they supposed to intervene when a member is slandered??
IIRC what you are referring to was not a direct accusation of stealing, but just the statement that someone would not be surprised if this had happened. Which IMO says something about the person making that statement, leaving everything else entirely hypothetical. And that person was shamed for his ill thoughts in public by mr Houdart himself, so I did not really see any reason to intervene.
Not a direct accusation of stealing? It was very thinly veiled to say the least.
But, then what about these subsequent statements?
"I don't believe at all that you purchased Houdini 5 twice. What's the email address you used to make your purchases?"
and
"Just as I expected, you pretended to be willing to prove that you purchased Houdini 5 twice but when asked to provide proof to back up your claim you run away from it."
http://www.talkchess.com/forum/viewtopic.php?
topic_view=threads&p=703800&t=62898
So, the false accuser continued to bait Norman until both he and Robert Houdart had to substantiate that Houdini had indeed been legally purchased.
Please note that the allegation was submitted with no proof whatsoever, (as if such proof were even possible from the accuser); instead, the *target* of the attack bore all the burden of proof -- in other words, an automatic case of "guilty until proven innocent". This is in itself was/is outrageous.
You say the attacker must have felt shamed, but people capable of feeling shame usually do not resort to such unwarranted accusations in the first place. It looks a lot more like he got off scot-free for defaming the good name of a member, just because this forum allows it.
What it comes down to is this: it is not right for this moderated forum to demand that members register with their real names, and then leave these same members 'high and dry' to be abused by vicious trolls, as a result of little or no moderation.
Because of its real-name policy, the forum bears the responsibility of protecting the members from serious abuse, and especially any form of slander.
[OK, HGM, I understand being a mod is a thankless job, but as they say, someone's gotta do it.
]
CL