I have decided to put the Hoboken Journal on temporary hiatus until I can resolve some issues regarding legal threats and their implications made to me for two situations...1) For a post someone else wrote that a reader considered slander.
The email sent to me on this issue was ultimately dealt with and the offending post removed. I had deemed the comments to be without foundation and removed it on the side of caution since it seemed implausible. The request was a valid one. The use of expletives, haughty tone, and accusations that I am behind such posts were unacceptable to me. I simply will not let people talk to me in the tone that some take at City Council meetings towards elected officials.
Going forward I recommend that if someone posts something that you know is false or even potentially false please email me the article and comment and I will deal with it. Please make your request in a civil tone is all I ask.
Keep in mind I don't read all the comments and I do not know the identity of the posters on my current platform of Blogger. This site is also part time and non-profit. I will not back one candidate over the other just because I think I can get more ad revenue. I don't have any. Also important to note is that even though I don't know Google likely does and I ever I was subpoenaed to divulge information in a legal case, I would oblige with respect to those legal obligations. Keep that in mind when you post. Hopefully, it will never come to that.
2) For a comment that I made that was an observation.
Yet the person who I made the remark about thought it was my attempt to out them. That wasn't my intent but I see how that could be viewed as an attempt to out them. Since I was wrong I have apologized to the real individual and suggest that the poster who I don't know would refrain from making statements that could be considered slander. I don't like to delete posts but if you call someone a crook, you better believe it to be true and have the evidence to back it up.
For those who think such threats can suppress the free exchange of ideas and information, think again and do not declare premature victory. I intend to bring this site back on some level soon but with perhaps more features to help me with such issues.
For up to date information on all things Hoboken and Beth Mason, please go to Hoboken 411 for all those valuable nuggets of information that you simply can't get on NJ.com or the Hoboken Reporter. Is sarcasm slander? :) ◦
