censorship here??? post removed by who????

Liabilityc an be a b*tch for a small business owner.

Certainly there is a need to convene to other concerns about certain businesses or people here. I do think that the bamboo telegraph, where no one faces liability is a better forum for negative comments than exposing the owner of the forum to liability because of negative comments, even if they are valid. Sometimes the world sucks.
Having been in a professional service business for over 45 years, I can understand the forum’s owner’s concerned. I was sued numerous times, usually almost always having a lawsuit open during the 10 year period of ligatious times in the US. Never lost a suit, but paid over $20,000.00 a year for insurance so I could stay in business and provide money for the attorneys to take their mistress on nice vacations and put kids through college. The typical suit cost me my $5,000.00 deductible plus my yearly insurance premiums for attorney fees, even if I did not lose. So any suit cost me a minimum of $5,000 and exposes my @ss to bigger losses. It really is not much different than here, you can be sued for anything, you must hire an attorney to talk to their attorney in the US and you cannot talk to your advisory directly. That aspect alone makes lawsuits expensive. Even when you win a frivolous lawsuit against you, you pay you owner defense attorney fees, and there is little you can do to get them back as most attorneys will not represent you against another attorney who has filed a frivolous lawsuit against you. It is called the Attorney self-employment act. There is also the uncertainly of your future… will the site/business be worth keeping open when you are a sitting duck for law suits. In the case of the forum, the owner is a sitting duck as he offers anyone who wants to say anything they want. He asks us to follow a few rules to protect his @ss. If you want to indemnify him (meaning you pay for all expense he incurs because of your actions then you have a legitimate complaint), however if you are not going to cover his @ss then he as a right to decide how much he wants his @ss exposed, and how much he wants to enforce the rules we all agreed to here. If he decides to remove a post maybe the poster should be thankful he is covering his @ss… because the posters @ss may be the next one exposed to a lawsuit. It may not be the US, but it is even worst here in many regards if you are discriminated against foreigner.
To let you know how badly it is in the US, consider what happens when an employee leaves a business and the x-employer owner get a request for a recommendation. If the x-employer gives a positive recommendation, and the employee was bad, the x employer can get sued by the person who then hires the ex-employee based on the recommendation. If the x-employer tells the truth and gives a negative recommendation then the x-employer gets sued by the employee. A recommendation is a “no-win” situation for an x-employer. The only question most x- employers will answer in the US, unless the x –employee is perfect is “Is the x-employee eligible to be rehired?” This non-sense answer/situation occurs because of lawsuits. The same situation has occurred here to the forum because of lawsuits the forum cannot risk negative comments because of the lawsuit threats. If you want to complain act like a Filipino politician, whisper it in someone else’s ears and then deny it later. O-|

 

IF the owner read and did not learn from gerrys thread he or she is well on the way to going to the wall,
cheers, happy new year to all

 

I do understand your point of view taking the risk being sued and the possibility of getting a fine which can be more the DI can ever make.
It's a pity that some business owners cannot consider any critics just as a sign that says: be alert better adapt changes or else you will loose customers.
I am curious what will be the result after you have consulted your attorney.
Till that time only positive postings from my side; if any, about what kind of bussiness related problem or misunderstanding.

 

True, but if there is any question, delete my thread also. Even having to consult your lawyer on something wouldn't be worth the hassle for me to keep a free forum running.

On the one hand, it's nice to be able to review restaurants here. On the other hand, some of my favorite places to eat both here and from home have been places which would get horrible reviews. In the Philippines, you have to be a bit of an explorer.

Personally, I wouldn't even complain about a restaurant here except that I view McDonald's as having an international standard of their food (you could argue if it's good or bad, but at least you always know what you are getting) and the local places seem to have broken that standard. For some reason, that strikes me as worse than bad service from a local restaurant.

 

You beat me to it Charlie

 

Might be an option, however wondering how many people living in and around Dumaguete city will really visit or post on that site. But it's worth giving it a try.

 

I can't answer how many, but I have referred to Trip Advisor many times and have written several reviews on places both here and the US. I don't take TA as gospel but if you ignore the extreme reviews, good and bad, you can get an idea of what a place is like. It's a useful travel tool imo.

 

I confess I have not read the entire thread, but I do know that internet forums are not public places.
There is no right to free speech here.
Forum owner is King, rightly so.
Just my 2 pesos.
Happy New Year to all!

 

It isn't slander or libel if it's true, but yet in the Phils the rule of law does not exist as who wins a court case is based on who paid the judge last/most. This is all the reason any website needs to keep the website hosted in any country other than the Phils and the website owner NOT a resident of the Phils. Posting negative views on most forums is allowed as long as it can be backed up with fact. This is not the case in the Phils...