[LOOKAYANNER]

A poster has accused the head coach of being drunk on the job. As for precedent if you have a reference to the case handy then I would be interested in seeing it. I know that th website may be protected against an action but I don't believe that there are any laws that shield individuals who wrongfully defame somebody's character, which is a threat to their livelihood, BTW, from legal action.

As for breaking rules, you must be kidding. This has become a website with many moderators and almost no moderation. Whether rules have been broken, or rules have been broken and simply not enforced is really irrelevant. Garbage like this is not good for websites and should not be tolerated.

There was a case in Georgia that I saw on the news where an anonymous person was posting on Topix that a man was a sex offender. It was posted over and over. It cost him his marriage and his job. Well, he took legal action and they tracked the person down who was making the slanderous posts. It was a woman that worked in a grocery store where the man shopped. When asked by the police why she posted such stuff, she said because he looked at her funny at times and that he just looked like someone who would be a sex offender. She had made it all up just because he fit her discription of what a sex offender would look like. She gave no regard to all the problems she caused this poor man. She would post a question on Topix about him, then use different names to answer the question so it would seem like there were numerous people accusing the man of this crime.
She was arrested and was awaiting trial the last I heard. So yes, there are repercussions for posting slanderous materal on websites, if you are caught. Sander and libel material has also gotten the National Enquirer and several other magazines in some deep trouble and has cost them financially. I wouldn't see why it would be any different for a website.