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1. Emmett O'Connell (emmettoconnell@mas.to)'s status on Tuesday, 21-Feb-2023 11:29:07 JST Emmett O'Connell

   My #section230 story:

   I write a personal blog hosted on blogger dot com talking about the history and politics of the town I live in. One time, some anonymous commenter came by and called a local serial pro se litigant a "knucklehead"

   That pro se litigant, who is famous and well regarded for taking local governments to court over PRA sued me for "defamation"

   He also sued my work, which was super not connected to personal blog /1

   • Adrian Cochrane repeated this.
   • Emmett O'Connell (emmettoconnell@mas.to)'s status on Tuesday, 21-Feb-2023 11:29:11 JST Emmett O'Connell

     in reply to

     I was lucky he did, because in the most embarrassing meeting I've ever been in, our in house counsel and insurance company counsel said they'd pay $300 an hour to defend me. It was a bullshit case and they were kind of offended it was happening

     I went out and found an attorney, who quicky wrote a brief to remove me from the case, citing Section 230. Not that being called a knucklehead wasn't defamation or that I had some sort of first amendment right. But section 230 was the quickest route /2

     Adrian Cochrane repeated this.
   • Emmett O'Connell (emmettoconnell@mas.to)'s status on Tuesday, 21-Feb-2023 11:29:41 JST Emmett O'Connell

     in reply to

     I still write that blog and do some other online projects. But that experience of being dragged into some sort of personal gripe almost made me quit. There's some value to my work, and I'm glad 230 was there

     /3