“Defamation on internet bulletin boards is more like slander than libel, a High Court judge has ruled. Mr Justice Eady said that bulletin board discussions are characterised by “give and take” and should be considered in that context.” Report on 7 August, in Out-law.com.

Thanks to post from Matt Rhodes, of the FreshNetworks Blog, which flagged this up and who makes the excellent point which serves to underline the distinctive value of online communities, especially in an enterprise context:

“For me the most interesting comment is that contributions in online communities and forums are ‘give and take’ and like a ‘casual conversation’ rather than published and printed material. This is certainly more akin to the kind of conversations and contributions we see on our communities at FreshNetworks, as I’m sure it is for anybody else with experience in this area.”