*I'm not mentioning the blog yet because the blogger has requested discretion 'till they figure this out
One of my favorite Real Housewives bloggers, has recently received a threatening registered-letter from a lawyer concerning some material on her blog. The blogger is refraining from action 'till they can get professional legal advice.
The blogger has also stated, in so many words, that had they been asked nicely, they probably would have deleted upon request.
I agree with this blogger, because that is the same policy that I have with my Housewives blogs. (*I have never been asked to delete/remove anything about the Housewives here, and only asked to delete something else, which I did upon request, as stated.)-And really in all of my blogs, and I have been directly asked by public people to delete things, and the requests were granted.
But this is different. This has caused the blogger in question, to go to the time & expense, and the personal stress of being financially threatened by "deep-pockets", of responding to a legal summons.
Yes, I suppose sending a personal request carries the risk of further personal embarrassment, because such a request could be posted online & mocked, but its the right thing to do. The thing not to do is send your legal henchmen to scare and threaten a blogger who's biggest mistake is being interested in your client.
With that being said, I have some bullet-point advice for Bravo-lebrities, and anyone holding themselves out to the public as an onscreen representation of real life:
Whatever the blogger in question decides to do, they have my support. It isn't fair to ask someone who doesn't even run ads on their site, to fight a Goliath, even-though ALL of our First Amendment rights are being trampled-on here. I honestly don't know what I would do if someone approached me with the big guns in an instance like this. I resent that a fellow blogger is being threatened like this, and I'm kind-of hoping that they picked the wrong blogger to mess-with!
One of my favorite Real Housewives bloggers, has recently received a threatening registered-letter from a lawyer concerning some material on her blog. The blogger is refraining from action 'till they can get professional legal advice.
The blogger has also stated, in so many words, that had they been asked nicely, they probably would have deleted upon request.
I agree with this blogger, because that is the same policy that I have with my Housewives blogs. (*I have never been asked to delete/remove anything about the Housewives here, and only asked to delete something else, which I did upon request, as stated.)-And really in all of my blogs, and I have been directly asked by public people to delete things, and the requests were granted.
But this is different. This has caused the blogger in question, to go to the time & expense, and the personal stress of being financially threatened by "deep-pockets", of responding to a legal summons.
Yes, I suppose sending a personal request carries the risk of further personal embarrassment, because such a request could be posted online & mocked, but its the right thing to do. The thing not to do is send your legal henchmen to scare and threaten a blogger who's biggest mistake is being interested in your client.
With that being said, I have some bullet-point advice for Bravo-lebrities, and anyone holding themselves out to the public as an onscreen representation of real life:
- This was what you signed-up for
- You don't get to choose which reality the public wants to focus-on
- Reality TV is different from drama or fiction. Think-of it more like politics. YOU are choosing to put yourself, AND your family, in the public arena.
- If you want something deleted/removed ASK NICELY, and BE HUMBLE, this is YOUR FAULT!
- IF the Blogger is nice and deletes the material, it is their right to let their readers know that an omission has occurred, at your request.
- If something is said about your life, or your family, because you are presenting yourself as, "real", you do NOT have the expectation of privacy that even an actress or actor has. You are asking for attention from the public, and you don't get to decide what is said.
Whatever the blogger in question decides to do, they have my support. It isn't fair to ask someone who doesn't even run ads on their site, to fight a Goliath, even-though ALL of our First Amendment rights are being trampled-on here. I honestly don't know what I would do if someone approached me with the big guns in an instance like this. I resent that a fellow blogger is being threatened like this, and I'm kind-of hoping that they picked the wrong blogger to mess-with!
