

Comments more like slander than libel - astrec
http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2008/09/04/comments-more-like-slander-than-libel/

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blogimus
One wrinkle in calling defamatory online comments slander rather than libel is
that even though the comment is made offhand and then the discussion "moves
on" (not formally thought out as a "publication"), there is still a written
record left behind. So in that respect, it is more like libel, unless the
record left behind is considered more like a tape/video recording than a
written account.

~~~
raganwald
It's true that there is a permanent record, but the judge's ruling focused on
how people perceive the comments. In this case, consider two bloggers Alice
and Betty. If Alice writes something and Betty posts a comment on Alice's
blog, the judge eems to be saying this is more casual than if Betty posts her
reply on her own blog.

It will be fun figuring out where "Ask HN," Twitter, and Tumblr fit in all of
this.

