Sacha wrote:
************************************************** *******
To state to others that they are vermin
is not only misleading but in your case it is downright dishonest
and if someone chose to take it far enough, could even be
actionable.
************************************************** *******
I'm not interested in joining the debate about cats, but I strongly
believe that the statement above is just plain wrong at best. It
would not be possible to raise a successful action against someone
who called cats vermin in a newsgroup.

Indeed. I feel, though, that pointing out that deliberately hurting
or killing other people's pets is wrong was a worthwhile thing to do.

Except that I wasn't talking solely or even mainly about Mike telling
people here that cats are vermin. I *was* talking about someone
reading his stupid assertion, believing it, acting upon it by putting
down poison for cats to pick up, the cat/s dying and the possible
legal consequences of *that* both upon the poisoner and upon Mike who
has given the wrong information deliberately and perhaps encouraged
an illegal action.

The sentence above (between the asterisks) is pretty clear. It starts with a
capital "T," and finishes with a full stop, and most certainly states that
the actionable offence is stating that cats are vermin.
Can't you just salvage a little dignity by admitting that you were angry and
got it wrong?

Martin


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