digg

Join DiggAbout

Discover the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.

Founder of Whirlpool discussion forum being sued

news.com.au — ...Users of the Whirlpool forum are now donating money to help pay the legal costs for creator Simon Wright, who set up the website to help internet users discuss problems with broadband services.

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • Hellman109, on 10/10/2007, -2/+91www.whirlpool.net.au is the site in question. Its an unbiased source for all things Broadband and PC in Australia. Biased to the point of no advertising except for one small ad for the hosting company that hosts it for free, which there are many negative comments about around on the site, EG no 'posative comments only' bias in play.

    Ill be sure to warn everyone I know not to use the products the supplier pushes, if they cant handle negative comments how do you think there customer service and quality control is?
    • bitcloud, on 10/10/2007, -1/+30whirlpool is one of the most valuable sites for australians... I regularly consult it. I can't comprehend why anyone would want to sue the founder over comments on the site unless they were a) dense b) rude or c) all of the above...

      I'm sorry, but this sort of treatment of your fellow citizen doesn't wash in australia.... 2clix can expect the karma that they deserve...
    • CyberBlade, on 10/10/2007, -32/+3most valuble? please?

      discussion condemming an isp because the user cant comprehend the TnC or they didnt read it?
      mods who abuse their powers and anyone who disputes that point with validity is banned?
      ISP's who discuss on there yet "whirlpool is no a support platform" and yet you get so many whiney little bitches on there who refuse to stay on the phone more then 3 seconds?

      for crying out loud, society will benifit without that site, no i object to suing simon, but im all for suing the site that has become a hellfest of ISP hatred of non-constructive criticisms.
      • Drahkar, on 10/10/2007, -0/+19So you are saying that the guy who runs the site should be able to sue you then? I mean all you are saying is negative and non-constructive comments about him. So he should obviously be able to sue you for large sums of money.
        • CyberBlade, on 10/10/2007, -17/+2where in my comment was it directed at simon, and yet i also said "i object to suing Simon"

          god, your as bad as every other user on that site that seems unable to comprehend the English language!
          • sockpuppets, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Please, call me Jesus.
          • Drahkar, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1You said you objected to suing Simon and then completely negated the comment by saying you supported the suing of the site. Simon -IS- the site. He runs it himself. Its not like he's a small employee for a major corporation. And as to every other user on that site, I wouldn't know. I happen to have never seen the site. I was just commenting on how your perspective regarding the handling of the situation is fundamentally flawed.

            Now as to my understanding of the English language. I think I have a fair grasp of it. I certainly seem to have a better grasp of the portions dealing with grammer and punctuations than you do. But that's not the point. The point is that the site is heavily used by lots of people. There will always be negative nancies who have nothing good to say about things. Hell, you are a prime example of the ones that troll around Digg. Just because a company has lackluster service and someone calls them on it should not give them a blank check to do whatever they want. If a company screws up, they deserve to get called on it and they should fix it. Suing your critics doesn't resolve your problems. It just creates new ones.
      • Aciesethon, on 10/10/2007, -2/+0Substitute "you" for "digg" in Drahkar's post and your retort becomes just as irrelevant as your original point.
    • Dregga, on 10/10/2007, -0/+20Here's a screenshot of their software:

      http://www.consensus.com.au/SoftwareAwards/CSAarchive/CSA2004/CSAart04/2Clix.2.jpg
      • Archon810, on 10/10/2007, -1/+21Windows 95 called, they want their window design back.
      • schoate09, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Nice resolution!
      • lobbster, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12i think that they deserve to be sued for haveing a ***** program
      • gfnw, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Holy crap, is this that new fangled "256 color" I've been hearing about? Who would possibly need so many colors?
    • Domza, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2Gah. Every one knows its GUWPCT at its finest!
    • millerftw, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Whirlpool is an irreplaceable resource for Australians. I have used it many times not just for news on Australian broadband but the incredibly friendly forums that have helped me a few times now.
    • Zettabyte, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3If it wasn't for Whirlpool, I will be on hellstra or optus...

      I feel like taking a dump in 2clix's mailbox. But oh wait! They moved to a Tax haven, rotten bastards.
    • SebHughes, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3This seems like something that would intrest EFF. www.eff.org
    • brjndr, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Am I the only one who was wondering why a company that makes accounting software was suing a forum about washers and dryers?
      • gfnw, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2No you weren't.
      • Ozherbie, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0The name of the site came from the fact the national telephone company Telstra released their broadband product under the name Bigpond.
  • Hellman109, on 10/10/2007, -1/+67It looks like ISP's are starting to get in on the act of backing Whirlpool too, as the story is only new I presume it will take a bit for them to act, but the owners of two of the larger Aussie ISP's (iinet & internode) regularly post themselves on the forums... Pipe (Aussie player in dark fibre and large networks) look to be already getting in on it too.

    In other words, companies MUCH larger then the scum suing whirlpool may help cover all costs in defending themselves, which kicks ass.
    • GeckoSlayer, on 10/10/2007, -0/+16"I personally pledge $10,000 towards their legal fund if required by form of conditional donation." - Owner of PIPE.

      I respect that guy so much.
      • Aciesethon, on 10/10/2007, -5/+1Conditional? What is he asking in return?
        • Yazilliclick, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Conditional on them actually requiring it?
        • shaka999, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Probably saying that if they need it they can use it.
    • EbilPhish, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10Quite a few ISPs in Australia use the forums practically as their official support forums.
      I just wish there was a way to get uncapped internet in Australia rather than 20gb permonth plans, 10 times the cost of most other countries with 1/5 the speed, hopefully the new 650 Gb/s tube their building in 2008 to Guaum will increase the plans somewhat and remove some of southern crosses monopoly on data flow.
      Unfortunately with Australia being geographically in the middle on nowhere, without much of a population vs land undersea size cable maintenance is a bitch and we pay heaps (although I'm sure a lot of that is monopoly).
  • Natronomonas, on 10/10/2007, -6/+26This is the main, earlier Digg link...
    http://digg.com/tech_news/Software_Company_Sues_Australian_Broadband_Site_For_Forum_Comments

    Digg it!
    • Mike89, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I believe this got buried, though I don't know why.

      Hi, fellow Whirlpoolians :)
  • kitkatsavvy, on 10/10/2007, -5/+13aww come on! i didn't think the awesome whirlpool forum is THAT influential enough to drive customers away...well if whirlpool is that good,well thats awesome!

    lol i know i dont make sense but i read whirlpool several times a day and leave comments.. i just hope if there is a case that Simon wins outright! i hope this doesn't make other idiots wanting to sue Australia's best broadband forum just because we deservedly bagged out a product that was *****..

    come on..where the hell has free speech gone to? buggers me mate
    • fkr3, on 10/10/2007, -0/+13WP is probably the biggest forum in Australia. It's the 48th most visited site in AU according to Alexa, and even internationally it's quite high on the list (especially considering it's almost entirely AU-only).
      • maccainthehole, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Not to mention a Google for 2Clix at google.com.au comes up with the company website first, followed by 4 Whirlpool posts.
    • iamjackslibido, on 10/10/2007, -4/+10Sorry k, but if you live in Australia you have no legally enshrined right to free speech :( Just have a look at the sedition laws...
      • drlog, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9Can you please provide details? I'm from Oz and I have been under the impression that there is free speech here - just look at what that stupid islamic leader can get away with saying!

        Note to anyone offended by the last statement - if you heard what he said, you would probably agree ;)
        • ojk007, on 10/10/2007, -0/+13Dont digg him down hes right. Unlike america who have freedom of speech in their constitution(sp?) we have no such implication.
          We are legally liable for our words. However litigation, as its known, is a long and costly process, hence why it is rare.
          • Profitsee, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6I am not an expert in Austrailia constitutional law, but its seems unusual that a country which is "legally liable" for opinons can be subject to litigation. It seems unrealistic. A google search would reveal a TON of Austrailian negative opinons. How likely would litigation even be engaged? Like you concluded, there is a long and costly process. But I'm sure it would be magnified under such conditions that the internet presents.
          • smacksaw, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Yeah, I have to say that's one of the things that has truly soured me on both Australia and the UK.

            It's just not that difficult. Canada has a Charter of Rights and Freedoms - Even PM Stephen Harper was in Oz saying how similar you two are.

            FFS, if Canada can have a law that guarantees rights, Australia can do it.
        • Tenoq, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9Victorians have a Bill of Rights covering free speech (as of 1st Jan, 2007). No other Australian state does - but I think the ACT might (territory, not state). But no, Australia itself has no Bill of Rights - but the right to free speech is a international right according to the UN.
        • Spanca, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5There's a freedom of political communication in Australia (although even that has limits) but there's no constitutional or statutory "right" to free speech in Australia, other than the aforementioned Victorian and ACT Bills of Rights. With regard to the UN declaring that free speech is an international right... well that's great, but UN declarations have ZERO legal effect.

          All that said, there's no chance in hell 2Clix will win this.
      • Rooster99, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4He is right - There is nothing really 'concrete' that gives us Aussies the right to free speech. Thats why we have possibly one of the worst track records for banning all kinds of media. But then again the fact that we all think we do even though we 'technically' dont is a pretty good sign too. We sort of accept is as a given rather than having to set it in stone.
      • whitehornmatt, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I think the normal legal opinion is that free speech is implied by the constitution.
      • daftman, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2There's no such thing as the bill of rights in Australia. Therefore, things American takes for granted such as free speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion and freedom of assemble are scatter all over the legal system.
        Furthermore free speech guarantee you no backslash from the government charging you with a criminal offense. It doesn't guarantee that you would be "free" from civil lawsuit.
        • zzap, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1There's the Victorian Bill of Rights from January 2007, as mentioned above.
    • Rooster99, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7I used to do tech support for Bigpond (Australias biggest ISP) and trust me, Whirlpool is a powerful website. People post complaints there about service and a lot of people read them. The big-wigs at Telstra are constantly browsing the forums to see how they are represented in the real world. There were many cases where employees were fired for posting information that was seen as detrimental to the company (despite the fact that it was (most of the time) all accurate).

      I personally used Whirlpool to find the best ISP to use when I moved into a new area. I found out about service levels, customer support and pricing structure all in one hit.
    • redwire, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7I already stated this in the other post on this topic but its worth saying again:

      2clix have really shot themselves in the foot anyway.

      Every IT company and IT support tech worth their salt in Australia including me either use or consult whirlpool from time to time at the very least to see the changing states of ISP services. Anyone that attacks a service so important to us is an idiot frankly, we are the ones that make recommendations to accounting firms and everyone else they might have as customers as to what software to buy, and I guarentee of all my customers which range from fortune 500's to large accounting firms not a single one is going to get a comment in favor of 2clix any time soon.

      Lets see if their rubbish software can assist they in calculating how long its going to take for them till they have to file for bankruptcy.
    • daftman, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2If you think American are gunho about lawsuits, Australia are not that far behind, especially when it comes to negative reviews. I remember the Teacher federation was going to sue a site that is used to rate teachers performance by parents and students. Luckily that site is outside Australian jurisdiction (the US) so they can't do much about it except block the site to the school.
  • Lylepalooza, on 10/10/2007, -1/+26Whirlpool has helped me, and many others out on many occasions. I can't help but feel a sense of glee thinking about how many people just blacklisted 2clix. There is nothing better than an internet revolt to start the morning.
    In fact, Digg owes them some kudos. When a routing problem erupted and most of Australia (not an understatement) could no longer access Digg, Whirlpool was the only site available to allow us to join together and help solve the problem.
    http://whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/696912.html
    If there is any way Digg users can support this group, do it. I know I will be donating or finding another way to support them.
    Digg this up!
  • OZDICKO, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Much like the glut of liablity suits of recent years have driven up the price of insurance to the point of being ridiculous (and put many small businesses on the scrap heap), this suit has the potential to make forum owners run and hide.
    The public forum that the internet provides should be used by companies as a positive opportunity for feedback. If 2Clix product sucks (and I don't know that it does), surely the companies best way to fight that is to fix it and then use the publicity to show that they are a progressive forward-thinking organisation that values public feedback. This lawsuit is dangerous. And it's potential effect on forums around Australia (if not the world) is HUGE.
    • Dregga, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5"If 2Clix product sucks (and I don't know that it does)"

      *snicker*

      I worked there. I know the answer to that question, but I won't divulge it.
  • dwaton, on 10/10/2007, -17/+8Already posted

    http://www.digg.com/tech_news/Software_Company_Sues_Australian_Broadband_Site_For_Forum_Comments
  • theBlackCloud, on 10/10/2007, -0/+19Whirlpool is an excellent forum for consumer advice from consumers. One would hope that the courts will not allow a company to censor its unsatisfied customers, I can't even begin to imagine the implications of setting such an example.
    • crazycatter, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I can't imagine this being held up in court, but even if it's thrown out, much of the damage has already been done - threatening action like this has a chilling effect on free speech. I wonder if the only way to discourage complete bs like this is to make the costs of bringing a frivolous lawsuit like this unbearable to the initiator - more than just attorney's fees.
      • alphgeek, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2There is a possibility that this case could be upheld under defamation laws. There was a recent case in NSW where a jury found a food critic had not defamed a restaurant by publishing a critical review. However, the NSW court of appeal, and later the High Court set aside the jury's finding and ruled that the review was defamatory. Here's a link to an article about the case:

        http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21934311-32522,00.html

        A quote from the article:

        "Even more troubling, the majority judges said community standards were irrelevant in determining whether the review amounted to defamation of a business."

        So much for what the Australian citizen, and the juries that represent them, think of freedom of expression.
  • gthau, on 10/10/2007, -14/+2This is a duplicate - see link above.

    Buried.
  • bwad, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10
    Go Whirlpool you have been of great service to Australia for many years, common sense will prevail. As an IT professional I will have no hesitation in expressing my thoughts with 2Clix as a result.
  • sloppychris, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Sounds like another Tucker Max / Antnee Dimeo mess.

    "Someone said something bad about me?"
    Logical Conclusion:
    "Nobody should be allowed to say anything at all!"

    http://www.tuckermax.com/archives/entries/the_dimeo_lawsuit_and_the_need_to_protect_our_freedoms.phtml
  • Fantom, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5There is no GUWPCT
  • Tephra, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9so if I say 2Clix sux on digg does that mean they will sue digg too?
  • tikalal, on 10/10/2007, -10/+1Why would you post something that takes from the original digg story!?

    http://www.digg.com/tech_news/Software_Company_Sues_Australian_Broadband_Site_For_Forum_Comments

    Digg that!
  • sdlee, on 10/10/2007, -1/+15This lawsuit is rubbish. I hope that 2Clix goes bankrupt.
    • karmah01, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0huh! I think thats about to happen! Every time the owner of this company gets ***** off, he sues EVERY time! He's a regular litigator! This time I reckon he's done himself in tho!
  • wush, on 10/10/2007, -1/+9That forum kicks ass. I often stumble across it when searching for info on Google.
  • grungegbunny, on 10/10/2007, -1/+112Clix thinks they had it bad before trying to sue.. wait till the Digg crowd gets ahold of 'em.
  • Fantom, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1This is obviously an outrage.
  • fugazied, on 10/10/2007, -1/+22How much bad press does 2clix want? I am pretty sure they just ***** off half of the tech support/admins/web devs in Australia with this.
  • daza, on 10/10/2007, -4/+9The Statement of Claim (http://whirlpool.net.au/img/article/2clix/soc.pdf) looks like they're upset by a few bad reviews and customers trying to warn others to stay away. Microsoft would have sued half the Internet over its bad reports regarding Vista if they had to follow the same action (not that I agree though, Vista is brilliant).

    The comments made were based on actual experience with 2Clix. If they can't stand the heat, they should stop selling crappy software. The Whirlpool forums have always been very good to gauge opinions on products, it would be a real shame if 2Clix would win (though I really doubt they will).
    • CAD420, on 10/10/2007, -5/+5Dugg down for this comment only: Vista is brilliant
      • Tenoq, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I thought he was making a joke. I laughed, anyway.
      • Murdats, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Have you acually used it?
        the computer company I work for has shifted all their office machines to vista aswell, and all the techs are quite happy with it.
        • GeckoSlayer, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3What kinda company is it? Just wondering, because I'm thinking of moving a part of our school to Vista computers, and wondering if the students would hit much of a learning curve. It's either a Ubuntu/Fedora computer room or Vista computer room, and the Vista one is currently much cheaper, so got any opinions on large-scale things?
          • TheSmiddy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1vista cheaper? you serious?

            ubuntu = free, will run on preexisting computers

            vista = AU$118 (if you get home basic) and about AU$600 for a system that will just run it (gig o ram, decent processor etc)
        • Murdats, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2we work of a computer equipment rental company.
          I would say try it out yourself, check to see it works fine on your machines (as you would with linux)
          but otherwise, as stated above, everyone will be using it eventually so if you are doing a mass rollout, save yourself having to do it again early next year.
      • daza, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I ***** you not fellas, I have Vista running on 3 machines in this house (2 desktops and a laptop) and I've had far, far less trouble than I did with my transition to XP. You'll all be using come SP1 time anyway :-)
  • bobbles, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14Whirlpool is an awesome site which has helped myself and many others get decent broadband sorted out.

    Am I the only one to say, "Who the ***** is 2Clix?"
    • Murdats, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3look at the discussion thread for the news post on whirlpool, most of the comments are "this sucks and who thje ***** is 2Clix"
      • UniverseJDJ, on 10/10/2007, -0/+22Clix should understand that no-one cares about them and their products.
  • darkphate, on 10/10/2007, -4/+8while it may commonly be referred to as 'whingepool' (especially by the poor sods who do tech support for aussie ISP's) the suit by 2Clix is pathetic!!
    • TheSmiddy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1www.whingepool.com

      hehehe, dunno who registered it, i think it was somebody who works for adam or 'node though
      • tommgunn, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Haha nice...

        Adam is legendary. Been with them for about 3 months, so effin happy with them. My mate on ***** bigpond 12gb @ $80+ a month is jealous as hell aha.
  • YuriSakazaki, on 10/10/2007, -1/+18I read the title and thought someone was getting sued for badmouthing washing machines and refrigerators.
  • Curlz31, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Whirlpool provides free and useful information about broadband in Australia. It has no advertisiing and no agenda except to allow ANYBODY to voice their opinions and engage in free speech. We all must fight for free speech when it is threatened, whether it be on the internet or in public areas. You can not 'regulate' free speech and confine it to particular areas. You either have it or you dont.
  • JamesTorrence, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5You know, last week I went into Google maps/local to look up a phone number for a pizza place. There were two user generated reviews posted right there on the little balloon that pops up in the map window. Both of the reviews were bad. One of them went so far as to insult the girl working behind the counter by calling her names. The funny thing is, Google doesn't intend to moderate any of these reviews. So the Pizza place is just sort of stuck with this weird defamation of a girl who may quit next week for all anyone knows. I find the whole thing pretty interesting. It's one thing to have a forum or website committed to consumer awareness or reviews producing user generated commentary, but Google maps is essentially web 2.0's answer to the phone book. I respect their stance in refusing to moderate but I wonder how much flak they'll eventually have to take in order to maintain that position. To be honest, the pizza at that place does suck, but the commentary about the "short rude blond chick who served us our ***** salad" seems to me to be a new kind of animal for them to deal with.

    In other news: Isn't the web chock full of people talking trash about each other? I can't believe you Australians are having to deal with this. It seems odd that Americans on the web are always talking about the threat to their civil liberties with our current government yet I don't think a case like this would ever show up in court here in the US these days. I mean, we have multi million dollar businesses that do nothing but monitor and trash other multi million dollar businesses. Am I missing something? Was there some aspect of the lawsuit I didn't catch?
    • autodrv, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I think you're probably right, but I'm not really sure this is an issue with "civil liberties", but more a ridiculous lawsuit grounded in stupidity. However, if 2Clix were to win, then we would have a problem. Whatever the case, Whirlpool is an invaluable website and I sure hope they sort this out.
    • merreborn, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1This suit wouldn't stick in US courts, thanks to DMCA safe harbor. However, this suit is in Australian court, which is obviously governed by a different set of laws.
  • Profitsee, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Even if the negative comments about 2Clix were removed, they've all been archived on the waybackmachine, http://www.archive.org/web/web.php. 2Clix will have to sue the waybackmachine web site, too. Its hard for me to fathom that opinons can be subject to litigation. Austrailia doesn't have freedom of speech laws?
    • redvaldez, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1There is no express reference to a freedom of speech in our constitution.
  • gooterz, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Whats stopping whirlpool members from posting this stuff else when/if it gets censored on whirlpool.... Won't everyone be spreading stuff about their software is if whirlpool goes broke... I cant wait for somoene to do a news story on this..
  • Lemon, on 10/10/2007, -1/+9Retarded. Whirlpool is one of the best consumer tech forums I've ever seen. People post honest opinions, experiences and facts about broadband, companies and products as well as a bunch of other tech stuff (good mobile phone knowledge).

    Sometimes the stupidity and narrow vision of people is mind numbing.
  • TDave00, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2Let's don't say anything bad about 2clix here. They might sue Digg. Yeah right!
  • TDave00, on 10/10/2007, -5/+3Let's not say anything too bad about 2clix here. They might sue digg. Yeah right.
    I think the Judge should throw this out of court as frivolous and fine 2clix.
  • eq2s, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5The two threads mentioned in the Statement of Claim:
    http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=628356
    http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=479484
  • ucantblamem, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6If you find Whirlpool to be a helpful service and want to give Simon a hand to fight these loosers then you're quite welcome to donate: http://whirlpool.net.au/faq-wp.cfm#4.11
  • dave2003, on 10/10/2007, -0/+42clix have just bankrupted themselves because of this, idiots.
    • carlos1984, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Couldn't agree more. One thing that these companies need to understand in the world of today is that you don't ***** off geek communities or you'll get your ass handed to you!
  • Garfunkel, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I am a regular poster on whirlpool and find the website a brilliant source of information.

    It is sad when a company supposedly looking out for the interests of consumers considers no possible advantages in allowing criticism to improve their products and services for future competitiveness.

    Backfire.
  • Error601, on 10/10/2007, -4/+2"THE founder of one of the nation’s most popular online discussion forums says a lawsuit brought by a software company threatens freedom of speech on the net."

    Bzzz...sorry Charlie. Freedom of speech never includes freedom from repercussions from your speech and everyone has a right to have their disputes heard in court.
  • synik, on 10/10/2007, -3/+3The site isn't fantastic. Anyone who posts anything that goes against the popular opinion there ends up being modded below ground level via the sites aura system. The mods also seem to have a god complex.

    That said, the broadband information there is invaluable. This lawsuit is a complete joke, and I hope it gets thrown out of court.
  • TheOtherGuy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6The importance of Whirlpool in Australia is demonstrated by the fact that all the major Australian ISPs have their own customer service representatives monitoring the threads and responding to problems from their customers. 2Clix (whoever they are) are committing publicity suicide by taking this action.
    • lcarsdeveloper, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I used to be one of those reps, it was a great job, because not only can you help someone, you can also help dozens of other people who have the same problem or question. Plus some people would check WP first before calling us to see if the question had already been answered, and it saved a lot of calls from coming through. One single post by a rep stopped anywhere from 10-50 calls coming in.
  • Darkness123, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I read this and the first thing I remembered was Sliders episode where 95% of the population were lawyers, and to buy some fries you had to have a doctors note etc to make sure it does not affect you.
    • lcarsdeveloper, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Didn't some guy try to sue Rembrandt because he bumped into an old woman? "You caused neck strain!". What a sad vision of where we're heading in this world.
  • lcarsdeveloper, on 10/10/2007, -0/+52Clix should have done the intelligent thing. They should have joined Whirlpool and asked the users "what's wrong with our software, how can we improve it?". They could have let those users help test new features and improve the product. By doing that many of the reviews would have switched around to positive, because people would feel like they're a part of the project and would know the company is actually trying to do a good job.
    • TheSmiddy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2my guess is the company is going bankrupt and this is their last chance to recoup some money.

      so they plan to sue whirlpool, if they lose claim bankruptcy and not have to pay the legal fees...or win and be $150,000 in the clear, then skip town and move to argentina.
  • chicoer2001, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4This is dumb it'll be thrown out of court. I hope 2Clix has to foot all legal bills too. What's next suing Amazon and Epinion?
  • jawbreaker4fs, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Instead of spending their resources on having a legal tantrum about this, the company should be fixing the problems identified by the users in the first place.
  • FearTec, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Donated $30
    • lcarsdeveloper, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I only had $15 left in my PayPal account so I donated that. Sorry Alex and Kevin, I won't be able to donate beer money for Diggnation this month!! Sorry London Diggers :)
  • Spacenoodle, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2Wow, Thank you Australia for not voting for a republic back when there was a referendum and we had the chance. Otherwise, god forbid, we might have a constitution which entitles us to free speech.
  • coyoteblue, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1I grew up in the town in which whirlpool has it's headquarters (Benton Harbor, MI). For a long time they have been talking about tearing down the poorer neighborhoods in Benton Harbor so that business clients have more motivation to move there.
  • ludditte, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I just sent them a nice little message on their site, all diggers should feel free to contact these 2clix jerks.
    I am sure the 2clix people will be happy to receive comments from all over the world
  • thebass, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Seems like this is what has 2Clix's panties in a knot: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=628356&p=1
  • sbolanos, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Whurlpool FTW.
  • lopla, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2The lawsuit is absurd but 2clix will likely win because the way I see it freedom of speech on the internet is hanging by a thread. Like the guys says.. movie reviews, product reviews even comments on Digg will likely be a thing of the past soon.
  • revotech, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I'm thinking 2clix will not win, as a case like this could cause the floodgate effect - i.e. if they win, many many more cases like it will appear in front of the courts, and I somehow think that the courts would not like that very much at all.
  • rolandproducts, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Further coverage of the case in today's Age:

    http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/firm-sues-forum-to-silence-critics/2007/09/12/1189276778252.html
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 57 of 57 discussions
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.