leyton.org

Something that has been occupying my thoughts of late is how to voice opinions on traders and workmen without overstepping what you might call “the line”. By this I of course don’t mean voicing positive recommendations and so forth (let’s face it, nobody is going worry about that), but the negative ones.

The problem as I see it is that people who are unhappy with work are often far more motivated to say so, than people who are pleased or happy with work. Curse them! - I’m going to do something about it, is far more likely a response than That was done well, I’m going to tell people. It’s most likely got a lot to do with the sense of being aggrieved, and wanting some form of recompense. If you can’t get your money back, then make sure that nobody else falls down the same trap.

The trouble with a weblog though is that it loses that sense of a direct conversation. If I say to a friend “Don’t use this person/company for x“, it’s only ever going to be shared with a small number of people. But if I write it here, Google (my friend) will find it and absorb it, and archive it, for a very very long time. My opinions are seen by a wider group of people, many of whom I don’t know. If there isn’t much else being said about a trader or company, and folk start “googling them” (as they increasingly do), the effect of a minor moan could become much more significant. Let’s face it, if such a tactic for checking out businesses becomes a widespread habit, some companies could be so badly affected by one or two negative comments that they go under.

Yet it’s very easy to read recommendations and reviews on many websites. Amazon have always had reader recommendations. In fact, a book I contributed a couple of chapters to got a bad review from a disgruntled student, and that is no doubt putting a lot of folk off the book here in the UK. Dooyoo do similar for consumer items, which works very well.

So where’s the line? Is there even a line to be worrying about? Should I stand up and start voicing an opinion on every trader or business I encounter, and simply let them remain as merely my opinions. There are two risks, one is Slander, the other Libel. But the key thing in both is they relate to false statements. Of course, what one person may regard as false another may regard as true, but my doing so publicly puts me in a line of fire I’d altogether rather not tread on.

However, we do have the recognised right to freedom of speech in this country. I’m entitled to my opinions, and even to voice them publicly, and this website is just a part of that. Yet we do have some of the most unfair laws regarding libel and slander, where the burden of proof remains on the defendant to prove the case is not true, rather than the other way around (for more, read the wikipedia entry on Slander and libel, which I encountered whilst researching this, and looks very useful). But right now I’m concerned that I may expose myself if I do voice my opinions on traders who have, in my view either not done the job particularly well, treated me particularly well, or have a strongly different opinion to me as to what was said and agreed.

I’d be interested in what people who read this might think. I’ve already had a few e-mails and hits from people seeking opinions on local traders and businesses as a result of previous postings, but so far I’ve abstained from naming ones I’m not happy with.

So what should I do? I’m very confident in my version of events in all situations where I feel aggrieved or let down in some amount, but similarly I don’t want the mere fact that I’ve a website and am voicing opinions that to adversely affect businesses and traders. Should I stay quiet on the matter, even though I want to scream my take on events from the rooftops with regards one particular company?