SMALL JUSTICE Richard Goren attorney lost, Ripoff Report wins again: United States District Court, District of Massachusetts Court concluded Xcentric's copyright ownership in posted reports is valid. Attorney Richard A Goren legal theories were among the most inventive and twisted, as he sought to corrupt both copyright and consumer protection laws to serve his own interests. Federal courts upheld freedoms of speech on the internet, and upheld Ripoff Report’s carefully structured consumer protection programs against a lawyers self-serving attack. 

As you are aware, Ripoff Report strongly believes in the First Amendment, especially when consumers are truthfully warning other consumers about potential frauds, scams, rip-offs or the like by shady individuals or businesses.  Ripoff Report is by consumers, for consumers…and we want to keep it that way!  Unfortunately, sometimes people feel the need to abuse our system that is put in place for legitimate reasons – that is – to help consumers from being scammed and ripped off.

Based on experience over the years, Ripoff Report believes that most fake and/or harassment type Reports/Postings are being done by individuals who already have a Report/Posting about them; many of whom do not like Ripoff Report.  Experience also suggests that SEO/Reputation Management Companies try to squeeze money out of businesses and make things worse for those that make contact with them.  Anyone thinking of hiring an SEO company should read what others have experienced with SEO/Reputation Management companies so you know what to look out for.

Ripoff Report is working hard to combat tactics that are perceived to be cyberharassment, cyberstalking, cyberbullying and/or what is generally considered a “revenge post” as we do not condone such behavior.  If you plan on being mean, nasty and hateful – you might as well go somewhere else because your posting will likely be rejected.  These kinds of “harassment/revenge” postings are generally identified by what is perceived to be predominantly personal attacks on a person rather than a business.  We are also working on combatting postings that make what are perceived to be serious criminal allegations without any proof being offered with it.  We consider this postings to be “questionable”.  If you plan on making a serious criminal allegation – you should have documentation in hand to support your allegation or have an explanation ready when your Report is flagged for questionable content.  Failure to provide supporting information when an author posts a Report may now be subject to rejection or redaction as well.

Ripoff Report has already been testing/implementing these policies and we have been flagging and rejecting tons of Reports/Updates/Rebuttals.  You would think that many people would be pleased to see such preventative actions (potentially saving authors from being sued for defamation and saving others from such allegations being posted to the internet), however, for every person that is happy that a Report/Posting was flagged and/or rejected there is another person pissed off because we flagged and/or rejected a Report/Posting.  As true with every business, Ripoff Report cannot please 100% of the people 100% of the time and thus we too are subject to ridicule and critics for the positive steps we are taking...but that’s not going to stop us from trying to do the right thing!

HOW DOES RIPOFF REPORT HANDLE NEW INCOMING REPORTS/POSTINGS?

While we started testing some policies early this year, in an effort to give more clear guidance to users and help combat these problems Ripoff Report updated its Terms of Service on February 12, 2015 to provide more guidance to users as to the kind of online conduct that we expect to see from authors.  Section 2 regarding Online Conduct provides a host of information that an author should use as a guideline when filing a Report/Posting.  There are plenty of ways to “fight fair” on the internet without violating our Terms of Service.  However, if an author fails to follow the Terms of Service, their posting is now subject to rejection or redaction as Ripoff Report deems appropriate.  These Terms of Service apply to ALL NEW POSTINGS including new Reports, Updates to older Reports, Rebuttals to existing Reports and other Comments to existing Reports.

HOW DOES RIPOFF REPORT HANDLE THE OLD REPORTS/POSTINGS?

Believe it or not, Ripoff Report has been redacting harassing commentary and false statements of facts for years.  You can research this for yourself, see a small sample  HERE.   Old Reports/Postings that were filed prior to February 12, 2015 were subject to a different set of review standards.  Yes – we still have our general policy against removing Reports in their entirety.  So what does Ripoff Report do to help people who feel they have been wronged by a “harassment/revenge” post or a posting that has otherwise “questionable content”?  Ripoff Report, as resources allow, will do a “Second Review” or a “Second Look” and will compare the old/existing posting with our most current Terms of Service.  If Ripoff Report perceives the existing Report to grossly violate the current Terms of Service, depending on the nature of the posting, Ripoff Report may e-mail the author of the original posting to seek further information and/or simply redact and update the Report.  Examples of how Ripoff Report has been handling Harassment/Revenge postings can be viewed by clicking HERE.  Examples of how Ripoff Report has been handling Questionable Content postings can be reviewed HERE.  As you will see, Ripoff Report will make what we deem to be appropriate redactions and will update the title of the Report and/or the content of the Report body with an Editorial Comment to explain why we did what we did.  In this link you will see over 16,000 Ripoff Reports where we (((REDACTED)))  all kinds of words.

If you believe that a Report/Posting grossly violates the Terms of Service (we are talking about stuff that is clearly “over the top”) you can e-mail the Customer Service and Support Department by e-mailing support@ripoffreport.com asking for a “Second Review”.  It is imperative that any requests for a Second Review are sent with the specific URL to the individual Report(s) and the requesting party provides the exact text/content that is concerning.  Failure to provide this sort of information will only slow down an already slow process.   It is also imperative that any requests for a Second Review come with a courteous tone.  Demands, threats or other rudeness and un-pleasantries will NOT be tolerated!  Remember – you are asking US for help in addressing a problem that WE DID NOT CREATE.  If you cannot be courteous, your request will be disregarded – simple as that. 

It is also important to drive home the point that this Second Review service is being done ONLY as resources allow.  We do not have a full time staff designated to conducting nothing but Second Reviews.  We wish we could address every request rapidly, however, that takes more resources that you can imagine.  If you think this is a worth-while endeavor, we would greatly appreciate it if you could make a donation to Ripoff Report.  The suggested donation is generally $100.00 per Report, however, we would appreciate any contribution that you can afford (be it more…or less).  Even $10.00 will help!  Of course, this request for a donation is 100% voluntary and will have no bearing on whether or not we address or handle a Report/Posting review in any particular order or level of importance.  Unless or until we change the way we handle these matters, all reviews will be handled equally and as resources provide.  Nevertheless, through donations, like the one we hope you will consider making, we can expand the resources that we can devote to this project and other positive, forward thinking, initiatives.  You can make a non-tax deductible donation by clicking HEREor learn a little more by visiting the following this URL:  http://www.ripoffreport.com/ConsumersSayThankYou/Donate.aspx.  We are hopeful that you will soon be able to also make donations to one of our two foundations - to be announced shortly.

CAN I USE THE HARASSMENT/REVENGE POLICY OR QUESTIONABLE CONTENT POLICY INSTEAD OF GETTING A SPECIFIC COURT ORDER OR GOING THROUGH ONE OF YOUR PAID PROGRAMS?

The short answer is NO.  It is not Ripoff Report’s intention for every single person to be able to challenge the validity of a Report about them based on the Harassment/Revenge or Questionable Content policies that we are beginning to implement.  Unless the Report is super over the top personal harassment and or we are provided with clear and convincing court documentation (such as a criminal conviction for cyber harassment/cyber stalking/cyber bullying and a written admission by the perpetrator to writing the specific posting and affirmation that the information is false) or riddled with serious criminal allegations, it’s probably not going to qualify.  For one, Ripoff Report doesn’t have the resources to handle such an influx in work.  Secondly, and maybe more importantly, Ripoff Report is NOT a judge and jury and we are not here to determine who is right and wrong.  If you have a dispute over regular business or other general “he-said/she-said” issues – even if you think the person wasn’t a customer and/or is a competitor - those kinds of issues, are far better left to the professionals, i.e., the traditional court system or through one of the professional neutral arbitrators which may be utilized through our VIP Arbitration Program.  Ripoff Report, under its Court Order Policy, will redact specific findings by a court when both parties have appeared and defended the case on its merits.  More information about the Court Order policy can be received by e-mailing the Legal Department at legal@ripoffreport.com.   Similarly, when one of our Arbitrators through our VIP Arbitration Program has rendered a decision, finding certain challenged statements of fact to be false, those statements will be redacted pursuant to the VIP Arbitration Program Rules.  Beyond that, there is always the benefits of, among other things, one of the other paid programs like the Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation and Customer Satisfaction Program or the ability to simply sign up for a free user account and write your own response and provide your own proof…FOR FREE!  You don’t have to pay money in order to fight fair on the internet!  Calmly worded explanations often go a long way!  Of course, if the information is really false and defamatory, the author of the posting may have liability and you may have a claim against the author of the false and defamatory posting.  You are always encouraged to seek legal counsel of your own if you have any questions about such issues.

We are always working on finding better ways to handle things.  We may will share more policies that we are testing here in the future.

ED Magedson - Founder Ripoff Report



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Our mission:

• Empower consumers
• Defend the First Amendment
• Expose wrongdoing
• Help companies regain control

ED Magedson: Founder, Ripoff Report
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