Death Threats and Internet Lawyers on the COS Forums
Came across this at The HMS STFU. A poster on the Mugglenet-affiliated COS forums claims to have received a death threat and is threatening to sue the other poster, Mugglenet, and "and the atmosphere that condones it."

On this
thread in the COS(Mugglenet) forums.

This post.

MRSTJ1 posted this:

This is not a good day to talk about how this board operates and how tolerant it is. There is a thread here about HbP where people can rate it. I was critical of it. (Surprise! Surprise! I don't think Jo Rowling is GOD.) Last night a poster said that people as stupid as I am should die, and the next poster up agreed and said that was a beautiful post. This is where it is, and part of what it said:

Re: Half-Blood Prince: How do you rate it?
http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=3515105#post3515105
Posted by: HBPrincess2
On: Yesterday 9:40 pm

Stupid, brainless people like you should just die. That way the world can be made a better place one less stupid person at a time.

Legally, that statement as presented on a public board, that is, a board that is not by invitation only, can be construed as a threat, and I am in the process of looking into legal action against it, and the atmosphere that condones it, which is certainly evident in this thread as well. That kind of attitude is what you have all been condoning.

Whether you like a character or not is an opinion. Whether you feel one character has better motivation than another is an opinion. Whether one character is better developed than another is opinion. You can't misinterpret fiction canon, because fiction is seen by the reader each in their own way. This is not a biography, or a documentary, where facts are simply presented as facts. It is a work of fiction, which anyone can interpret any way they want. And that's the last word I have on the subject, pending further developments.

The 'death-threat' has been deleted by the COS forum mods, if anyone's wondering and the poster banned. But that's not enough now, is it?

NM

ETA. MRSTJ1 (whose user profile incidentally has her as fifty years old with four children) is discussing further details of her lawsuit against Emerson Spartz and Mugglenet. Details here. And it is pointed out that Emerson doesn't even own or mod the forums in question, so this woman is even further out to lunch than I thought.

ETA 2. The litigious one says hello.

"Hello to all of the trolls out there in your electronic enviroments.

If the post wasn't out of line, then why did the poster get banned and the post deleted?

And the fact is, that crap goes on because Emerson allows it be be connected to Mugglenet."