Message from John Fenty

Quoted from My cats dreams

Im so glad im a cat and cos the end of free speech doesnt
Effect me and probably the end of the fishy as we know it meeeeoowww

hope you have been okay tonight with the loud bangs and all, mine get very scared, there there puss puss

Reading this thread there is much confusion about what you are now allowed to post. The simple matter is if it is an opinion you can post it even if it is very critical (e.g. John Fenty has been a poor chairman). But you can't post something which isn't true (e.g. John Fenty is a major shareholder in Scunthorpe United football club).

This might help (my italics): Libel is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image

Is this letter really sent from John?

I would of thought the grammar and spelling would of been top notch.

so rob please clarify how twit of the week won't be banned then!!

The statement that an individual is a twit surely gives a negative image!!!

Quoted from GrimRob

Reading this thread there is much confusion about what you are now allowed to post. The simple matter is if it is an opinion you can post it even if it is very critical (e.g. John Fenty has been a poor chairman). But you can't post something which isn't true (e.g. John Fenty is a major shareholder in Scunthorpe United football club).

This might help (my italics): Libel is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image

So basically you can put whatever you like and then add in my opinion at the end to make it fine?

Quoted from mariner2000

so rob please clarify how twit of the week won't be banned then!!

The statement that an individual is a twit surely gives a negative image!!!

Lots of law suits then many have voted him twit of the week and yes i hate fireworks

Quoted from mariner2000

so rob please clarify how twit of the week won't be banned then!!

The statement that an individual is a twit surely gives a negative image!!!

I'm still nominating him.

Quoted from Henryscat

I think a lot of people have jumped to conclusions here. I've no doubt I'll get shouted down but I am typing this from neither a pro nor an anti fenty viewpoint. I just think people need to be more objective and look at these few points.

Firstly, the original email was from John to Rob, it was not an open letter to users of the fishy. The fact that Rob chose to copy and paste the email rather than summarise it in a post was Rob's decision and isn't fenty "throwing his toys out" as mentioned earlier in this thread.

Secondly, I think a lot of you have confused criticism (and even abuse) with liable/slander. John has admitted that things haven't been rosy (a large understatement IMO) and doesn't object to this. He objects to scurrilous rumours and untruths that have been posted. For instance it would be quite acceptable to say "fenty is a rich man with a pretty daughter who's tenure as chairman coincided with the club's demise to non-league football" all of these can be backed up with evidence. You can't however say something like (and I hasten to add I'm using this as an example) "John is the franchisee of the McDonalds outside BP and thus keeps the catering inside BP low-rate" this cannot be backed up by any form of evidence.

Lastly, the mods have been asked to remove libelous messages, this does not get rid of our freedom of speech but merely keeps Rob from being sued and this forum and website being shut down.

Sorry to rant on but I think a lot of you need to look at things objectively before spouting off.

Have to say I agree.

Think we're in danger of leaping from an issue of irresponsible claims with potential legal implications to a subjective grey area and slippery slope of what's "morally acceptable", just because people can't accept it or bring themselves to turn the other cheek or ignor it.

My opinion on the issue very loosely relates to Brian Clough's thoughts in this interview (from 3:16):



I do get bored of reading the endless swearing, moaning and "abuse" (how is that defined?) myself, but at the end of the day surely it's people's right, and surrender that at your own peril.
You've also got to ask is the forum for JF's benefit or for all GTFC supporters to have their freedom of speech.  

Ultimately up to the website owners to decide yes but if it's a case of "If you don't ****** like it dont come" then think we'll all wonder if it's a case of "only post if you're willing to agree and tow the party line".
If it should come to that maybe I'll just post on the OS without being lectured about right and wrong or having to think too much about what I should say, think or do.

But I'm hopeful maybe we can ALL vounteer(not be told) to show a bit more respect and goodwill to each other to create a more enjoyable FOOTBALL (remember that?) discussion community. I'm sure we'd all enjoy our time a lot more ?

I do feel it might help the community as a whole if everyone (through our own choice), occasionally restrained their INSTINCT to rant or slag off others.
Not saying people shouldn't criticize or show anger, passion or vent their spleen but I get the impresssion some lose their rag far too often and want a reason to do it with every opportunity they get.

I think some people are missing the point here (or, I suspect, choosing to miss the point).  Fenty was Chairman for around 8 yrs and had been on or around the board for a few years before that.  During that time he has been consistently criticised on this board but has never resorted to making this kind of statement.

The reason he has is because some people have quite clearly crossed the line - the originator of the thread about the value of BP (and a number of contributers) seemed to quite clearly question his motives and infer that JF intended to, at best, recoup his loans and, at worst, make a tidy personal profit in a move to a new stadium.  This was done with no more evidence than a newspaper report.

This board is the public domain in just the same way as the broadcast media and the law applies to you as much as anyone else!  Criticism is fine but libel is not.

Having said that, I really think Fenty needs either to employ someone or use someone he trusts to not only proof read everything he puts into the public domain but also to give an honest opinion of the content!  There is nothing to be ashamed about being dyslexic but it leaves you open to the ridicule I've read on this and Grim Outlook from some people who really should know better.

Seems all a bit silly to me threatening legal action,the best course of action would have been to ignore it.
By doing this he's anly adding fuel to the fire.

Saying that all of us at Lincoln think he's done a magnificent job and hope he continues to carry on.

Our CEO does not take any notice of the drivel on the net and ignores it and just gets on with his job.