Shhh.... they can hear you... they're everywhere.... even the toilet isn't safe...

 

Please speak directly into the flower pot when you say that.

I like to begin all my controversial or possibly libelous/slanderous statements with the phrase "in my opinion". That way its just your opinion. You're not trying to state fact or anything that should be taken as fact. Therefore, it is my opinion, it would be harder to get sued for such a thing. "It is my opinion that girl is a skank." What the heck is anyone's opinion worth? As my old man likes to say, "opinions are like butts, everyone has one and they all stink".

 

i think the point most people are overlooking here is do chief pilots and other management not have anything better to do than monitor forums? are they paranoid people are callin them names or what?

 

Let's face it, most of them damn sure aren't busy running airlines...

 

You're not as anonymous as you think you are, waters wet and yes, bear's do make messes in woods. I saw some pictures of Ms Cohen and while "skank" isn't really a word I use unless I'm talking about Ska music I'd go on record that the pictures tell more than a 1000 words.

Turns out its a bit of a non-issue now. The 'anonymous blogger" has been identidified, it was a female promoter(admit it, how many of us imagined the suspect as being some sap who lives in his moms basement and gets turned down alot), the cat-fight may have stemmed from a boyfriend issue and Ms. Cohen has dropped her lawsuit. Again, if the shoe fits...

I'm a fan of the law of unintended consequences and this illustrates it perfectly. Google "skank new york" (you can also try "model" "blog" or even "Canada") and its obvious that no amount of litigation will seperate the plaintiff from that word now. The blogger who originally called Ms. Cohen a skank has not only been identified but is also now dealing with a rash of anonymous postings about herself. In true idiot fashion she plans to sue Google for complying with a court order to reveal her name.

In the end while we all debate free speech, legal fee's and the dying art of discretion BOTH these ladies are enjoying the attention, publicity and small bit of infamy that goes a long ways to opening doors to New Yorks party/club scene and while we're here on a Saturday night they are out getting skanky at a party neither you nor I would be allowed into! I guess all is right and well in the world again

 

At the company that I work for, the chief pilot and his flight managers do monitor this site and try to ID people rather than run the airline. They actually went as far as calling about 12 or so people when Trans States had half of its fleet grounded yet again for some self inflicted MX related issue and threatened to suspend some of them on the grounds that they were being insubordinate.

 

JO used to PERSONALLY frequent several forums, He would even debate things with people. I wouldn't rule it out, like somebody said, few airline mangers are actually managing their airline...they must be doing SOMETHING with their time.

If you're concerned, change your use name to something which does not give you away, and be careful giving up personal details (seat, domicile, hometown, previous profession/employer).

But if someone goes so far as to sue you, they can probably figure out who you...even if the website host does not have your real name, they have the IP addresses you use. If you use a permanent connection (like a cable modem) at home, they can easily find out who owns that. If you only use free wifi in public places, you are probably safe (a cell-based wireless system might be trackable via billing records). The crew room wireless is probably not safe...they could match your posting history with your reserve or duty schedule.

Just some thoughts, your actual level of paranoia may vary based on who you work for and what kind of poster you are.

 

Posting illegal, confidential, or proprietary info is one thing but the company cannot discipline you for hurt feelings or as our chief pilot says "talking about things that should be kept in-house." You are posting on the internet on your own time and there is nothing they can do about it.

 

Tell that to the people who have been disciplined or fired. Posting on the internet was never the actual reason for the termination. They just follow you until they find something you screwed up.

 

I had a guy, Robert "bob" Grimshaw, send posts that I made to the boss. Fortunately for the world at large, he was subsequently fired (I never did end up working at that airline).

You don't have to just worry about management on the internet. I'm too lazy to make up names for myself.