An Arkansas woman is
suing the 451 Press blog network for $6 million, claiming one of its blogs, Teachersmackdown.com published false and damaging information about her. The woman, a former special education teacher, was once accused of abusing one of her students by putting a trash can over his head. She was arrested after a three month investigation but was later acquitted of all charges. The blog post in question claimed she had pleaded guilty when she did not, causing was she claims was "extreme mental anguish" and damage to her reputation. In addition to the monetary damages, she is asking for a jury trial and for a retraction and apology to be posted on the blog for 1 year. At press time the blog was dead and no longer had a blogger writing it. It appears it's focus was to spotlight what it felt were "bad teachers." 451 Press has had no comment on the matter so far.
451 Press was established in 2006 and last year proclaimed itself the largest blog network on the web. Of course we all know quality is much more important than quantity. A quick look at the site revealed quite a few blogs that either haven't been updated in a long time or simply don't have a blogger at all. It will be interesting to see how this case unfolds, but one thing is clear-it's probably not a good idea to use your blog for the sole purpose of publically humiliating people-especially if you don't have your facts straight.
Mr Wong
