I hope someone here can assist me.
I live in Texas and, since 2002, I have been a member of a worldwide parenting forum and message board system. Sometime in the summer of 2004, one of the members (a woman in Boston, MA who is a pre-law student and a paralegal) began targeting me on the message boards and saying things about me that were completely untrue. I do not know this woman at all (I know her name and her location), and some of the women that have met her say that she is mentally unstable and has very serious anger issues. She continued targeting me and attacking me on the message boards until the website administrators banned her from posting and deleted her account in early 2005 after she attacked several other members. Until that time, I ignored her remarks publically and forwarded all written attacks to the site administrators for recording and action.
Recently, it has come to my attention that this person has started e-mailing members of the message board community and attacking me again. She has said some truly horrible things, such as accusing me of mistreating and abusing my children and other lies along those lines. She even sent out an e-mail that stated that I kept my youngest child in a cage and allowed her to play in dirty litter boxes. She has threatened (I'm sure falsely) to call Texas Child Protective Services and report me, initiating an investigation. I doubt she would do that, though, as I assume that she could get in trouble for filing a false report. But I have no idea how far this woman will go.
While I know that this person has some serious mental problems and her accustions are completely ridiculous, they are blatant personal attacks on me and my character - and my family. These attacks are 100% unprovoked and, to this date, I have never personally responded to her or acknowledged that I am aware that she is doing these things.
The women on the parenting site have forwarded her e-mails to me and I, in turn, attempted to send them in to her ISP. But she uses a Hotmail account and their Complaints Department said that since the e-mails were not addressed to me originally, I could not report them. So the original recipients forwarded them in and they were told that, since the e-mails were not directly related to them (the recipients) that they could not take action. It's a Catch-22 situation.
What recourse do I have in this situation? This is a clear-cut case of slander and defamation of character, but I cannot afford a lawyer to pursue this, and this woman's e-mail provider refuses to assist me.
Can someone here please give me some advice? I'm about at the end of my rope.
Thank you,
TSkye
I live in Texas and, since 2002, I have been a member of a worldwide parenting forum and message board system. Sometime in the summer of 2004, one of the members (a woman in Boston, MA who is a pre-law student and a paralegal) began targeting me on the message boards and saying things about me that were completely untrue. I do not know this woman at all (I know her name and her location), and some of the women that have met her say that she is mentally unstable and has very serious anger issues. She continued targeting me and attacking me on the message boards until the website administrators banned her from posting and deleted her account in early 2005 after she attacked several other members. Until that time, I ignored her remarks publically and forwarded all written attacks to the site administrators for recording and action.
Recently, it has come to my attention that this person has started e-mailing members of the message board community and attacking me again. She has said some truly horrible things, such as accusing me of mistreating and abusing my children and other lies along those lines. She even sent out an e-mail that stated that I kept my youngest child in a cage and allowed her to play in dirty litter boxes. She has threatened (I'm sure falsely) to call Texas Child Protective Services and report me, initiating an investigation. I doubt she would do that, though, as I assume that she could get in trouble for filing a false report. But I have no idea how far this woman will go.
While I know that this person has some serious mental problems and her accustions are completely ridiculous, they are blatant personal attacks on me and my character - and my family. These attacks are 100% unprovoked and, to this date, I have never personally responded to her or acknowledged that I am aware that she is doing these things.
The women on the parenting site have forwarded her e-mails to me and I, in turn, attempted to send them in to her ISP. But she uses a Hotmail account and their Complaints Department said that since the e-mails were not addressed to me originally, I could not report them. So the original recipients forwarded them in and they were told that, since the e-mails were not directly related to them (the recipients) that they could not take action. It's a Catch-22 situation.
What recourse do I have in this situation? This is a clear-cut case of slander and defamation of character, but I cannot afford a lawyer to pursue this, and this woman's e-mail provider refuses to assist me.
Can someone here please give me some advice? I'm about at the end of my rope.
Thank you,
TSkye
