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Bad For Women? Online Name-Calling and Lawsuits

TresSugar — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:30:00 -0700

This is one of the most childish stories I've read in a while.

Rosemary Port, who used to blog anonymously for "Skanks in NYC," riled up a fellow fashionista, model Liskula Cohen, by calling her an "old hag," a "ho," a "skank," and a "lying psychotic whore." (You can't say Port doesn't know how to hurl insults!)

Why is there bad blood between the women? They hang out in the same fashion circles - Port is a Fashion Institute of Technology student, Liskula a model - and apparently Liskula badmouthed Port to an ex-boyfriend once. (How old are these people, you ask? Port is 29 and Liskula is 37.)

Cohen claims the site hurt her reputation and pressured Google to reveal the "Skanks in NYC" writer. (Now, Port is suing Google for $15 million for invasion of privacy.) "By going to the press," says Port, "she defamed herself. Before her suit, there were probably two hits on my Web site: One from me looking at it, and one from her looking at it."

I'm pretty embarrassed for both of them and order a time out during which they both should retreat to a corner and sit until they can behave. What do you think - are these two too old for this nonsense?

Should You Be Able to Say Anything Negative on the Internet?

GeekSugar — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:00:05 -0800

It's quite the litigious news day for the Internet, what with the news that a Yelp user is being sued for his negative review of a doctor, and a model is suing Google because of anonymous nasty comments about her which were posted on a Blogger-hosted blog.

Disregarding the validity of each case, they both present interesting cases for how we should and shouldn't use the Internet; as for Yelp, you're supposed to be able to post negative reviews (reviews tending to be one way or the other); will each negative claim be investigated? Could I be sued for not being able to prove that I found a hair in my burrito?

As for the nasty comments on a blog, I'm pretty sure this model will be told one way or another that a thicker skin is in order. Or will she? What are her rights (or anyone that's bullied) in comparison to the freedom of speech of the anonymous poster?

What do you think? Should you be able to say anything negative on the Internet? What are the limits?

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Martha To Feature Food Bloggers on New Season

partysugar — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:00:28 -0700

The new season of the Martha Stewart Show debuts today and besides proclaiming to be her "biggest" season yet, Martha has invited two prominent food bloggers to participate in Wednesday's program. Smitten Kitchen's Deb Perelman and Matt Bites' Matt Armendariz will sit down with Martha to discuss their interesting lives as food bloggers.

Always one to keep up with the current trends, it's no surprise that Martha would invite these prolific, popular bloggers to join her in the kitchen. Pearelman and Armendariz aren't the first food bloggers to appear on the show, last season Bakerella taught Martha how to make her famous mini-cake pops. I'm a huge fan of Ms. Stewart and I'm excited to see what she cooks up.

Will you watch? What do you think about the blogging show?

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Mommy Bloggers and UNICEF Unite to Wipe Out Tetanus

LilSugar — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 08:00:46 -0700

As mothers, it is our instinct to help those we see in harm's way - the fallen child on the playground, the lost lil one in the supermarket or the tot running toward traffic, but it's hard to assist those that we do not see, people who struggle just to survive. At the Pampers Mommy Blogger Event earlier this month, I had the great pleasure of meeting Caryl Stern, the President and CEO of the US Fund for UNICEF. She is both an inspiring woman and a mother of three who is committed to wiping out tetanus, which killed 140,000 babies and 30,000 mothers last year. These deaths are preventable with a vaccine that costs five cents.

Pampers has partnered with UNICEF on this cause and allowed us to screen an internal video they made for their employees. After watching this footage of Bryan McCleary (director of external relations for P&G baby care) in Angola, there was not a dry eye in the room or a blogger who wasn't committed to making a difference. We asked that Pampers release this video so we could share it with our readers and inspire them to join the movement to help fellow mothers and babies around the world. Please be warned that there is an image of a baby who contracted tetanus in the tape.
To find out how you can contribute to wiping out tetanus, read more.

Do Food Bloggers Affect the Food Industry?

YumSugar — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 06:30:18 -0700

Mario Batali recently got an opportunity to tell us exactly how he feels about food bloggers. The article, entitled Why I Hate Food Bloggers is an interesting read, however the comments are where things really get interesting. Some people feel that real journalism has its faults as well, while others agree with Mario, saying that food blogs have become too tabloidy and publish first, fact check later. The whole thing makes me wonder, do you think food bloggers affect the food industry?

Mommy Bloggers Get Pampered

LilSugar — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 08:00:00 -0700

Aside from incredibly cute commercials of sleeping babies or offering my kids amazing leak protection, I've never given much thought to Pampers. When Proctor & Gamble invited me to be their guest at a mommy bloggers event in Cincinnati, I kept an open mind, but knew the two days could end up being a corporate panel of suits trying to push us to peddle their wares on our websites. Curious to see why they were summoning women of the web and which, if any, environmental practices the company had adopted, I boarded the plane. In Ohio, I met fourteen amazing mothers that blog from across the country - New York, Hawaii, Georgia, even Appalachia. We were warmly welcomed by fellow parents, the Pampers executives, who shared the reasons why they are committed to children. To hear their stories, read more. One big wig spent time in an orphanage as a baby prior to being adopted, and another staffer traveled to Asia to adopt her two daughters. As the execs shared tales of their global efforts from taking long winter walks with mothers in Moscow to exploring inserts for children's split pants in China, it was clear these people were impassioned by their work.

My whirlwind jaunt to Ohio turned out to be incredibly informative and in regards to the company's charitable efforts, moving. Stay tuned for more posts on everything from indicator diapers to our meeting with the CEO of UNICEF and her efforts to end infant death from tetanus around the world.

Iran Considers Death Penalty for Bloggers, Russia Jails One

CitizenSugar — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:00:42 -0700

The beauty of the Internet is getting to say exactly what you want in a public forum, right?(Well that and stalking ex-boyfriends and shopping at work, but I digress.) The ability to speak one's mind in bytes and blips has landed one blogger with a jail sentence for extremism. A Russian man who called the local police “scum” and calling for the clean-up of the force he blogged that the police should be burned in the town square twice a day. For this posting, was convicted of “inciting hatred or enmity” and given a one-year suspended sentence.

Free speech activists said the ruling is creating a dangerous precedent: “This was an absolutely unjustified verdict ... This verdict means it will be impossible to make rude comments about anybody.” News of the sentence permeated Russian blogs yesterday leading some to say, "I don't know now if I should be writing here or not." For his part, new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said he prizes free speech and that Russia should use a light touch when policing the Internet. That's not the case in Iran. To see what's happening there, read more.

In Iran, they have a somewhat different interpretation to "light touch" - the death penalty. Their parliament is debating a bill that would call for death for anyone “...establishing weblogs and sites promoting corruption. . .” Though the government itself will decide what would constitute “promoting corruption." Among other death sentence crimes in Iran are apostasy (leaving a religion, in this case Islam), prostitution, rape and armed robbery.

No word on the world's reaction to the ultimate crime against blogging - starting one and then never posting again.

Is cyberspace the next battleground for free speech? Can speech on the Internet be protected as a vital outlet for those in countries with state-controlled media or oppressive governments?

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Funny Man Al Franken's Campaign Flummoxed by Blogger

CitizenSugar — Sat, 03 May 2008 09:00:52 -0700

Al Franken, former SNL funny man turned face of Air America is the Senate candidate running for election in Minnesota, interested in discussing problems that concern his constituents. You know the good issues like jobs, health care, and the environment. Enter the blogosphere. Oops. Unfortunately for the Franken campaign, what he's now being forced to discuss is his failure to pay his income taxes on time. To the tune of $70,000 in 17 different states.

Republican blogger Michael Brodkorb started the blog MinnesotaDemocratsExposed and scooped the mainstream media to out Franken's suspicious bookkeeping and calls Franken “mean spirited and un-Minnesotan” candidate behind a “desperate and ridiculous” campaign. Franken says of the blog, "when people talk about the right wing noise machine, that's what it is." Brodkorb says, "I do think it has some influence right now, but that's never what I sat down to do. This was always about a political junkie looking for an outlet."

Franken is taking on Republican incumbent Senator Norm Coleman.

But, Al - if it's true, how is it noise?

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Vote Baby Vote! Fab & The Blogger's Choice Awards

FabSugar — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 09:50:33 -0700

Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone who has voted for Fab to win a Webby! You all are so awesome. Ok, I need to ask you to keep the voting coming. If the Webbys are the Oscars of the web, the Blogger's Choice Awards are the People's Choice Awards of the web. Fab has been nominated in two categories:

Yes you do have to do a little sign up but when do you not have to these days? Your votes are MUCH APPRECIATED since Fab has a measly 18 votes as of right now. Thanks, peace and love!

We Were Nominated for a Blogger's Choice Award

YumSugar — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 11:16:04 -0700

Hey guys, check it out! We were nominated for a Blogger's Choice Award for Best Food Blog and Best Blog Design! There are tons of other amazing sites in the running and it's really flattering to have been nominated! But, having said that, it would be fun to win!

Make my dreams come true okay? If you have a quick minute, Vote for YumSugar!

Thanks everyone!