Start a flamewar, get sued

A man just won £10,000 for defamatory remarks made against him.  Nothing unusual, except that this was on a bulletin board...  First case in the UK.

Mr Smith, a chartered surveyor, said Ms Williams' initially "innocent enough" views hardened after they expressed vastly different opinions over the Iraq war. Together with another chatroom user, who settled for £12,500 out of court with Mr Smith, they began a campaign of words against him and his family.

"That is when it started getting out of control. I was called a lard brain and a sex offender and my wife was called a prostitute," Mr Smith said.

Believing he had been libelled, Mr Smith and his solicitors obtained a court order to force the telecommunications company NTL to hand over Ms Williams' personal details. When she failed to provide a defence, they obtained a summary judgment.The judge said Ms Williams must not repeat the defamatory remarks, or in any way suggest Mr Smith is a sexual offender, a sexual deviant, a Nazi or a racist or having any such tendencies.

More here.

Yaaawn

This evening was supposed to be spent wallpapering, but after setting everything up it turned out that all the bits of wallpaper we had left over from last time were too short (bar one) - the rolls just _looked_ full size, there were actually all about 7 foot, and the room is 8 foot 2 inches tall.  So, B&Q tomorrow, to pick up some proper wallpaper...

We did some tidying up instead, and then watched the first episode of season 5 of the West Wing.  It's the start of the non-Aaron Sorkin years, and while it's still good, it's not quite the same.  Less snappy, and less confusing and lacking a certain oomph.  Still, I'm going to keep going unless it gets a lot worse, as it's still better than pretty much all other TV.  Oh, and I'm desperate to see how the events of season 4 are resolved.

Anyone spoiling these for me will be banned from my journal.  Of course.

Now off to bed - felt dead when I woke this morning, so getting more than 8 hours sleep will be a good thing.