I (perhaps mistakenly) assumed that the angry people would claim that the list defames them, because it is (wrongly, or at least unprovably) saying they’re sock-puppets, which they deny. I don’t know why “defame” would be used in the other direction, other than just common online retaliation of flinging shit.
I haven’t followed any reaction to the HNN reveal, but I suspect the fallout was minimal—at first glance, it seems like false-positives are prevalent enough that a simple denial would be sufficient to shield people. Or, if the pseudonym usage is harmless, a simple “yeah, I used to do that” and move on.
It’s the case of real impact (a pseudo of a celebrity or powerful person being used for nefarious purposes) that I’d expect the denial to include defamation claims (against the list publisher).
I (perhaps mistakenly) assumed that the angry people would claim that the list defames them, because it is (wrongly, or at least unprovably) saying they’re sock-puppets, which they deny. I don’t know why “defame” would be used in the other direction, other than just common online retaliation of flinging shit.
I haven’t followed any reaction to the HNN reveal, but I suspect the fallout was minimal—at first glance, it seems like false-positives are prevalent enough that a simple denial would be sufficient to shield people. Or, if the pseudonym usage is harmless, a simple “yeah, I used to do that” and move on.
It’s the case of real impact (a pseudo of a celebrity or powerful person being used for nefarious purposes) that I’d expect the denial to include defamation claims (against the list publisher).