Hugo Montgomery Swan and his solicitors

[Jono]

Fleece, Grabbit & Sue,
St Paddy’s Chambers,
The Law Courts,
Never-Never Land
Tel 0800-talkingshite
Fax 0800 – howmuch
DFX 019283746


Sue/Mad/12887

5th March 2005

John Kennett Esq DFC AA DIY
Cell 1, Secure Wing
HM Funny Farm
LaLa Land
B694JY

Dear Cur,

Our Client – Jono Handsome-Bastard
Matter – Ribnet post of some time recently.

We act for the artist formerly known as Jono in relation to some very nasty things that you “ The Flanders Pigeon Murderer” did permit to be published on your evil website in a post made by someone whose name we have forgotten. We were going to enclose a copy but this newfangled technology has got us beaten. If you could be a sweetie and ask your clerk to scribe said text into Copperplate and forward it to us?

Our client is not a “Nobba” and has been mortally wounded by such a spurious allegation. To permit such postings is a continuance of this unpleasantness and really rather a poor show, old chap. Furthermore we would like it know that my client is definitely not a Nobba.

By this letter we are putting you on notice, or some such legal Mumbo-jumbo, that if you don’t, forthwith, remove the offensive posts our client will have no option but to sulk. This, I assure you is not a pretty site and we hope that you will see our client’s position and rectify your heinous (12 point word score in scrabble) crime immediately.

In addition to the removal of the offending posts our client requires written confirmation of the following

1)The statements have been removed or at least edited at my client’s whim.

2)Any further statement referring to our client as a Nobba, Tossa, Wanka or other nasty words will not be posted

3)A full apology in which the words must be suitabley grovelling.

4)Free use of any boat that you may own with no liability for damage that may or may not have occurred when my client drives it.

We look forward to your earliest response,

Ner Na Na Ner Ner,

Sir Anthony Obnoxious-Twat ARSE BBC ITV (and bar)

.....

[fred bolton]

JK I'm sure you realise that the best defence against a libel writ (Our client is not a “Nobba” and has been mortally wounded by such a spurious allegation) is fair comment. Seems fair to me See ya in Pathelli Nobbah????

[John Kennett]

Absolutely! It can only be defamatory if it's not true . . .

John

[Jono]

Fleece, Grabbit & Sue,
St Paddy’s Chambers,
The Law Courts,
Never-Never Land
Tel 0800-talkingshite
Fax 0800 – howmuch
DFX 019283746


Sue/Mad/12888

7th March 2005

John Kennett Esq DFC AA DIY
Cell 1, Secure Wing
HM Funny Farm
LaLa Land
B694JY

Dear Cur,

Our Client – Jono Handsome-Bastard
Matter – Ribnet post of some time recently.

Oh, dear! We were rather hoping that a stiff letter from a reputable firm, such as ours, would do the trick. It seems that you do not fully understand the gravity of the situation that you are putting our client in. We really, really must insist that you stop allowing people to infer that our client is a Nobba.
If this behaviour is allowed to carry on un-checked we fear for the mental well being of our client. Only last night we noticed that his bottom lip was trembling slightly. If it gets any worse we will have no alternative to look for punitive damages as well as oodles of compensation.
If you don’t do as we say immediately, we will have no alternative but to hand this matter onto our most senior “legal executive” (at least that’s what it said on his job application) a Mr Gareth Fish. You will no doubt, have heard about his skills in settling such matters in a fair and final way.



We look forward to your earliest response,

liar, liar - pants on fire,

Sir Anthony Obnoxious-Twat ARSE BBC ITV (and bar)

.....

[Jon Brooks]

Originally Posted by Jono

[B]Fleece, Grabbit & Sue,


Sir Anthony Obnoxious-Twat ARSE BBC ITV (and bar)

.....

You missed out OBE!

OBE.....Other Buggers Efforts!

Regards

[prairie tuber]

Originally Posted by Rogue Wave

If one is really really pissed off however with RI the the best way of registering your complaint is to explain why you have cancelled your subscriptions in a leter with a link to this thread and send it to the Ad managers of the companies that take out big adverts in RI. 42 registrered letters with contents similar to Nashers falling on Yamaha's desk would surely make Hugo think twice before he attempts to bully us again!

It would certainly enhance the politics of buying advertising space and cause Hugo some disruption which will make him think twice before he send the 'boys ' around to JK's again

!

[The Garfish]

Originally Posted by Jono

we will have no alternative but to hand this matter onto our most senior “legal executive” (at least that’s what it said on his job application) a Mr Gareth Fish.

i av reseeved mi instrukshuns wiv reegard too dis mattir.

1. gow to fkin bryton toot de sweet
3. do nott bennd ova unnder eny sircumstansis evun too pik munny ofn de
futpaff
2. luk forr a tenn fut torl bastud wiv a harestile like rinn tinn tinn
3. brake iz leggs, emmpty iz wollit an giv im a kik inn de bollix
4. reetirn to bayse


gArf

[gavin]

Can anybody send me old rib internationals I want to fill my anchor locker up with them to stop the anchor damaging the inner hull instead of those silly rubber matt things, when wave hopping,
I was also of the opinion that artricles on the net are outside the law, where is the server Kiev, or Unganda as for net names , who is Fjordrafting, was that name on his birth cert ha ha

[Jono]

Fleece, Grabbit & Sue,
St Paddy’s Chambers,
The Law Courts,
Never-Never Land
Tel 0800-talkingshite
Fax 0800 – howmuch
DFX 019283746


Sue/Mad/12889

7th March 2005


To Whom It May Concern

As senior partner at the firm, I feel that it is my duty to write an open letter to the esteemed members of this forum, to publicly apologize for the actions of a member of my staff. Mr. Obnoxious-Twat has, unfortunately acted in excess of any authority that he held in his instructions to our Legal executive, Mr. Fish. If he had read the full context of Mr. Fish's application to this position at the firm as I have had cause to do recently, he would have been aware of Mr. Fish's alarming propensity to administer violence as a means of communication. On reading his references from the Prison service, it has now become obvious that Mr. Fish was not a Prison Officer as first thought. Indeed I believe that Mr. Fish spent considerable time in the psychiatric unit undergoing extensive electro therapy. Still we can all make mistakes and Mr. Obnoxious-Twat says that he is "very, very sorry" about Mr. Kennett’s untimely demise during the service of the papers by mister Fish.
I am sure that when Mr. Fish said " Eye fort the lank fecka woz mukkin abowt, I did knot no hee hadd a dodgy hart" He was, in his own way, expressing remorse.
To avoid any possible reoccurrence of today’s events, Mr. Obnoxious-Twat has decided to give up his position here and take up his seat in the House of Lords. The whereabouts of Mr. Fish are currently unknown.


Yours insincerely,


Sir J Fleece DBBS MFI GPS




.....

[prairie tuber]

Originally Posted by Jono

On reading his references from the Prison service, it has now become obvious that Mr. Fish was not a Prison Officer as first thought. Indeed I believe that Mr. Fish spent considerable time in the psychiatric unit undergoing extensive electro therapy. Still we can all make mistakes and Mr. Obnoxious-Twat says that he is "very, very sorry" about Mr. Kennett’s untimely demise during the service of the papers by mister Fish.


Yours insincerely,


Sir J Fleece DBBS MFI GPS


.....

"
... and as for da rest of yas..., ya'd betta watch yer Ps & Qs or ya might find yer RIBs swimmin wit da Fishes or wake up one mornin beside a seahorse in yer bed!" - High & Mighty S**thead


Stay tuned for the Codfodder Part II...

[mstacey]

I'll say what I want when I want and see you in the European Court of Human rights if you try to bully me into not expressing my own opinions.

Course in the good old school days I'd see you break time round the back of the bike sheds to thrash out the issue.

[Jonny Fuller]

Oh Dear! I don't think that nice Mr Montgomery-Swan has done himself any favours with the UK rib fraternity!

[Rogue Wave]

Originally Posted by prairie tuber

"
... wake up one mornin beside a seahorse in yer bed!" - High & Mighty S**thead


Stay tuned for the Codfodder Part II...

Much better than a dog!

[Cookee]

Stolen shamelessly from elsewhere (OSO) Court rules Web sites not liable for postings

Says federal law offers immunity

Published in the Asbury Park Press 02/1/05

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Web site operators are not liable for electronic messages posted by anonymous visitors, even if the content of the postings is intentionally malicious or potentially libelous, an appeals court ruled Monday.

The Appellate Division of New Jersey Superior Court ruled that Stephen Moldow, whose "Eye on Emerson" Web site contained information on local government activities and included a discussion forum, was immune from liability under a provision of federal communications law. The panel's decision affirmed a ruling by a lower court.

"We accomplished what we needed to accomplish — to purge the town of this Web site," said Gina Calogero, one of two Emerson council members who sued Moldow, the site's publisher, for damages. Calogero and Vincent Donato, who both resigned from council in 2002, claimed the site's electronic bulletin board contained negative messages from third parties, which attacked them professionally and personally.

It was not immediately clear when the Web site was dismantled. A call to Richard Mahoney, the lawyer representing Moldow, was not returned Monday.

Fictitiously named anonymous posters were also named in the suit, though the claim against the fictitious defendants ultimately was dropped.

The defendants argued that Moldow had "actively participated in selective editing, deletion and rewriting of anonymously posted messages," and therefore was responsible for the content of the postings.

The appeals panel disagreed, saying Congress has crafted rules for electronic publishers that differ significantly from those for publishers of print materials, granting "broad immunity" to e-publishers in its 1996 Communications Decency Act.

Calogero, however, said she believed the ruling allows for situations in which Web masters could be held liable for the content of others within the narrow confines of the federal law.


Of course this applies to the US only I suppose!

[prairie tuber]

Originally Posted by Rogue Wave

Much better than a dog!

To each their own, I guess!

[Andre]

Guys

I have been following this thread from the very begining and must say that I do not like it one little bit. It should not have even started in the first place. A lot of posts have nothing to do with the subject of the thread but only keep it on the top as if it was the most important one. I for one do not agree of have a slagging match at HMS , I agree that HMS should hv sent JK an email instead of his solicitors .
I have known Hugo since 1998 and think he is a great guy who does not deserve this kind of publicity. I have participated in many events with Hugo and have even arranged for him to travel to Poland to participate in a rib race where the organisers provided the travel & board, have commissioned him to test ribs in Poland, translated Arek Pawelek's trip across the Atlantic which was featured on many pages of the RI magazine. Did not want and did not expect to be paid for that at all. Just good publicity was enough and getting that in RI was good enough for us.

There has been a lot of criticism on Ribnet towards HMS and RIBEX but guys lets be honest - Where can you go to a boat show in the UK and take your own rib. LBS no chance for obvious reasons , Southampton Boat Show - well I tried that and got chased away by the security guys on ribs who were just waiting for people like me and I guess this has happened to many of you.

Say if Hugo was to pack up RI which I hope he never does then I do not believe anyone would follow and the Rib industry in the UK and beyond would be left without its magazine. Instead of slagging the RI why not write to Hugo and put forward some suggestions. We should be supporting our rib magazine and not hammering it. I am sure HMS would pay attention to us ribsters cos guys he for sure is not going to pay any attention to say a car forum when there is a rib forum and my I say A great rib forum .

Anyway I have said my piece and please no criticism in my direction cos don't have the time to respond and won't even want to.

Andre

PS. Hugo, can I have an extra discount for RIBEX 2005

[Charles]

Well said Andre - let this thread die the death it deserves!!

[Alan]

Sorry Andre, but you can't make a point and then say don't disagree with my 'cos I dont want to respond can you? Bit like me saying "Parker RiBS fall apart after 10 mins" and not giving you the chance to reply which I am sure you would agree is not at all cricket. (BTW for any legally minded folk out there, Parker RIBS don't fall apart after 10mins and in this posters humble opinion are well made and good value for money )

This has all got a bit out of hand on the part of both Fjordrafting and HMS. Solicitors for gawds sakes?

When I've spent time with the guy on RB4 I got on fine with him. But his mag is crap and frankly a business plan based around we'll do a half arsed job because there is no competition so our customer base will suffer it doesn't deserve to succeed!

His customers are the readers btw not the advertisers. Although of course the independence of any magazine relying on advertising to fund itself (as most do) is questionable. MBY, PBO, Sportsboat and hairdresser weekly all are in this boat. Rib.net is not as AFAIK JK doesn't take coin from advertisers other than through subscriptions which he does for subcribers as well.

The old chestnut of write to HMS and make suggestions / contribute to RI if you want to see it improve, similarly doesn't work. He ought to be actively seeking customer feedback as I am sure both you and Charles do in your own businesses. The sad thing is that the crux of the issue here has been around HMS honouring or otherwise an agreement to pay for an article submitted. Hardly likely to make the aspiring freelance Ribbing journo submit something to RI is it?!

As for RIBEX, Last year I heard a few rib.net visitors getting short shrift from certain exhibitors when they mentioned that they were rib.net forum members. (As in "oh no not you bloody rib.net lot"). I imagine it might be worse this year. Again a shame for anyone who is genuinely interested in their customers!

[Jono]

Originally Posted by ct01

Well said Andre - let this thread die the death it deserves!!

Thread would "die" a lot quicker if people stopped posting on it.. and that includes you.
Had not the original thread pretty much "died a death" ? I think it was rekindled when JK got that garbage from the solicitors........

Yup.. just checked.. last post on that thread 19th February.. letter from DF&M dated 4th March... so who's keeping the thing alive?

[gavin]

I definately think the solicitors are trying it on, its almost like censorship, removing an article is one thing, compensation and decreeing that an individuals account is closed, that is for someone with authourity to do, not an office in London to decide.I am come out and say it , if JK has to pay any compensenation, lets be honest we all nearly buy the mag, lets all STOP BUYING 3.85 A GO BY TIMES 2000 RIB.NETTERS, BY 6 PUBLICATIONS A YEAR 46200 OUT OF THE COFFERS OF THE MAG.............NOW THATS COMPENSATION