04/19/24
February 22, 2007
Fuzzy Zoeller Sues Over Libelous Wikipedia Page: The golfer has filed suit against a Florida company whose IP address was used to add "false and defamatory" edits to his Wikipedia entry. For some reason, Zoeller objected to the claim that he was a Jack Daniels-swilling, Vicodin fiend who "viciously beat his wife Dianne and their four children."
Seems like the law firm of Josef Sliny and Associates needs a good lawyer. For all you boys and girls out there who regularly use your employer's computer resources to post things to the web, be very, very careful. It could cost your employer millions, and you your job and career, if you post the wrong things about the wrong party. The assumption is that some employee of Josef Sliny did what is alleged. Even if it was the custodial staff messing around after hours, it is still incumbent on the employer and his employees to protect computer resources from unauthorized use. In other words, Mr. Sliney, you are screwed, and your electronic finger prints are all over the crime scene.
posted by Howard_T at 01:43 PM on February 22, 2007
Hmmm. This will be interesting. Can they successfully sue these people? Wiki is the 'publisher', but it's share-ware (forgive the term). If wiki works as intended, this sort of thing should be self-correcting. Poor Fuzzy. Couple dumb comments can really hammer the shit out of your career for, like, ever.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 02:13 PM on February 22, 2007
I've never put anything up on Wikipedia so I'm unfamiliar with their policies. Do they make it clear that your IP address is logged, or are there privacy issues here? Also, could this suit have an effect on blog postings?
posted by SummersEve at 02:22 PM on February 22, 2007
IP address owner takes the blame eh... Once that's out, every Boss/Owner/CEO whatever... is screwed.
posted by 2 time mvp of the shittiest team ever at 02:34 PM on February 22, 2007
Seve: I believe Wikipedia tracks contributors in two ways. One is by way of a formal registration, by which they get all your info and attach edits and changes you make to your account. Anonymous guests, though, I believe, are told that they can contribute editorially to the site, but are told up front that the changes will be linked to their IP address. I'm not an expert on the site by any means, but I have edited a few pages. It's been a while since I registered, but I believe that was the shpiel they gave me. As far as blog postings go: again I'm no expert, but I would guess that it would be significantly harder to go after somebody on an opinion-oriented site like a blog than it would Wikipedia, which has a stronger pretense of presenting factual information (as well as, I would guess, a substantially larger user base than a large majority of blogs). I think you're off the hook for all those nasty things you said about Scott Rolen. For now. I recently read an interesting perspective on people who tend to criticize Wikipedia for issues like this one. Now, where did I see that. Oh, yeah. Here.
posted by The Crafty Sousepaw at 02:35 PM on February 22, 2007
Yeah, everybody knows Fuzzy drinks Jim Beam..... He should have just hired ReputationDefender to go to battle for him, they're probably alot cheaper (and alot less effective) than lawyers. I wonder what Fuzzy thought about the bit about his comments about Tiger?
posted by fenriq at 03:13 PM on February 22, 2007
I could be wrong, but I seem to remember Jay Mariotti get into squabble with Wikipedia over his page too. Me, I'm just glad I'm not famous (oh, the skeletons that can be found in my closet.)
posted by forrestv at 03:17 PM on February 22, 2007
"I could be wrong, but I seem to remember Jay Mariotti get into squabble with Wikipedia over his page too. Me, I'm just glad I'm not famous (oh, the skeletons that can be found in my closet.) posted by forrestv at 3:17 PM CST on February 22" If you do become famous, become a quite recluse and stay away from excessive liquor and drugs. You can do excessive women, but be circmspect about it and deal with ones that do not spill the beans afterwards. You will be ok because people will view you as too boring to bother with.
posted by Cave_Man at 04:47 PM on February 22, 2007
Oh, Sousepaw, you flatterer.
posted by yerfatma at 04:49 PM on February 22, 2007
you flatterer. I promise to darken your doorway with unflattering responses complete with pro-Jeter rhetoric to disavow anyone of that particular notion, tout de suite.
posted by The Crafty Sousepaw at 05:17 PM on February 22, 2007
'Scuse me; but, if DHCP the IP addresses are leased. Meaning everytime a computer is rebooted or after a certain amount of time they change. On your PC, go to START, then highlight RUN type in CMD, at the command prompt C: type in C:ipconfig /all -do an- C:ipconfig /release -then an- ipconfig /renew and you'll change your address. So it would be like someone playing putt putt golf and the KGB figuring who shot what with which particular putter handed to then at the check in desk (at least that would be my defense). BTW: Fuzzy doesn't drink Jack Daniels and it's percocets.
posted by burghfan33 at 05:57 PM on February 22, 2007
I don't think Fuzzy's nemesis will be hard to find, given the other edits he made on Wikipedia. How many hair metal fans could there be at one company? Zoeller got some bad advice on how to deal with this. The lawsuit was filed as "John Doe" to keep his name out of it, but that didn't work at all. He probably could have gotten the company to turn over the libeler's name by sending his lawyers after them prior to filing a suit.
posted by rcade at 06:19 PM on February 22, 2007
I don't think Fuzzy's nemesis will be hard to find, given the other edits he made on Wikipedia. How many hair metal fans could there be at one company? Should I be embarassed to say that I'm going to a Vince Neil and Quiet Riot show next month?
posted by louisville_slugger at 06:57 PM on February 22, 2007
Should I be embarassed to say that I'm going to a Vince Neil and Quiet Riot show next month? Yes. Yes, you should. As for Fuzzy, I expect he'll celebrate with fried chicken and watermelon all around if he wins. I should also add that he once threaten to punch me in the penis if I didn't hand over my Mr. Pibb.
posted by wfrazerjr at 07:07 PM on February 22, 2007
Should I be embarassed to say that I'm going to a Vince Neil and Quiet Riot show next month? Yes. Yes, you should. No. No you shouldn't. But, if you were Vince Neil or Quiet Riot, that would be a different story altogether.
posted by forrestv at 07:15 PM on February 22, 2007
if DHCP the IP addresses are leased. Meaning everytime a computer is rebooted or after a certain amount of time they change. It's not like your router at home. Regardless of whether you have a static IP or not, the provider knows who owned an IP at a certain time. Theoretically.
posted by yerfatma at 07:50 PM on February 22, 2007
I should also add that he once threaten to punch me in the penis if I didn't hand over my Mr. Pibb. Perhaps he felt he had dibs on the Pibb?
posted by The Crafty Sousepaw at 08:05 PM on February 22, 2007
FWIW, go to wikipedia and change the entry and most wikipedia people will recognize this as edit war and the rest of the world won't care. Sue the living shit out of the person who wrote it and many more people will read what you didn't want them to read in the first place and will maybe even think "he must have something to hide." Not saying any of that is true about Fuzzy. Just saying if his goal was to stop the spread of these lies, there were quieter, more effective ways he could have done it.
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:09 AM on February 23, 2007
I note that the lawsuit does not name the Wikimedia Foundation as a defendant, demonstrating a degree of cluefulness from Zoeller and/or his lawyers.