Platiquemos Hexaglot Language Program Publisher Senior Member Panama platiquemos-letstalk Joined 7190 days ago 126 posts - 141 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish
| Message 121 of 193 02 May 2005 at 10:16am | IP Logged |
I promise this will be my last posting on this subject unless PJackson does or says something to set me off.
I never posted the text of the letter I received from his lawyers. Read against the background of his repeated boasts about how much money I (and everybody else who has contributed to this thread) am making for him, and how he hopes we'll keep picking on him because his reputation is being enhanced by our dirty tricks, it is almost comical. Quoting:
"WE HEREBY DEMAND that you immediately remove any and all statements from your website concerning Learning Spanish Like Crazy and /or Patrick Jackson, including, but not limited to, direct and indirect references to Learning Spanish Like Crazy and Mr Jackson.
As a result of the defamatory and slanderous statements, our client has suffered substantial monetary damages and irreparable injury to its reputation.
Our client wishes to resolve this matter in an amicable manner without the expense of litigation. However, if you refuse to comply with all of our requests between three days of the date of this letter, we will have no other option but to commence a law suit against you and your company for slander, defamation of character and libel"
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administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7404 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map
| Message 122 of 193 02 May 2005 at 1:41pm | IP Logged |
Would Mr Jackson care to address the point about monetary losses he has incurred?
On this forum he says that he is making more money everyday because of this controversy, and in his letter to Mr Casteel he says he is making big losses.
Which one is true?
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crylant Groupie United States cjrylantwealthmanage Joined 7225 days ago 85 posts - 85 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 123 of 193 02 May 2005 at 5:32pm | IP Logged |
Mr Casteel
Please don't misunderstand me. I do not think all lawyers are dishonest and I do not think all companies lie as part of their marketing. I do however think misleading marketing is very common in todays world. I have many close friends who are attorneys so I do not dislike attorneys.
I enjoy debate and I am trying to express the opposing view to a basically one sided argument. I understand circumstantial evidence and do not think a judge would make an award in your favor in this case, but I am not an expert nor do I have experience in this field. This is simply my opinion, right or wrong. I do not agree with the way Mr. Jackson has marketed his product but I am not as bothered by it as you are, obviously because I am not the one being attacked. I hope this clears up a misunderstanding. It is somewhat difficult to express thoughts with text alone.
Although I enjoy debate, I agree that we have beat this issue to death.
Edited by Malcolm on 02 May 2005 at 7:03pm
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Platiquemos Hexaglot Language Program Publisher Senior Member Panama platiquemos-letstalk Joined 7190 days ago 126 posts - 141 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish
| Message 124 of 193 02 May 2005 at 7:14pm | IP Logged |
Ah, Crylant my friend, but what about a jury? It seems to me that with only one or two exceptions every member of this forum who has commented expresses NO doubt that the "reviews" in question were rigged, directly or indirectly, by one P. Jackson. In civil law, "without a resonable doubt" is replaced by "the preponderance of the evidence". I hope it never comes to it, but I'd have a lot of faith in a jury of regular folks in a case like this.
By the way, I sure hope Francois isn't holding his breath waiting for a response from PJ to his question about contradicting himself regarding monetary gain/loss.
Edited by Platiquemos on 02 May 2005 at 7:24pm
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crylant Groupie United States cjrylantwealthmanage Joined 7225 days ago 85 posts - 85 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 125 of 193 02 May 2005 at 7:56pm | IP Logged |
A Jury? Lets wait and see what the the verdict is here in my home town of Santa Maria on the Michael Jackson trial. That will help me decide my faith in the jury system. You are probably right though.
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heartburn Senior Member United States Joined 7235 days ago 355 posts - 350 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 126 of 193 02 May 2005 at 8:14pm | IP Logged |
Without something to offer, I doubt that we'll ever hear from Mr. Jackson again.
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heartburn Senior Member United States Joined 7235 days ago 355 posts - 350 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 127 of 193 02 May 2005 at 11:11pm | IP Logged |
François has created a wonderful forum here. It is the single best place that I've seen for language learners to share ideas. It is only months old, but this forum is becoming very popular very fast. There are new members nearly every day.
One has to wonder how much of that popularity can be attributed to threads like this one. There is a lot of appeal here in a Jerry Springer kind of way. I know that I can't stay away from these topics. As Mr. Jackson is so fond of telling us, "Nothing sells like controversy."
François has worked very hard to make this site successful and I'm sure that he wants to see it grow. Popularity can only be a good thing. The more members we have, the more ideas there are to share. Riveting topics can only help to make the site more popular. From that perspective, it would be foolish to remove this thread.
Then there's the matter of Mr. Jackson. He's certainly not going to come back here just for a spanking. Maybe that's ok. We've got sixteen pages of exciting and informative reading to display. But what about the false testimonials that are still floating around on the Amazon.com website?
Well, Mr. Jackson would never agree to remove the reviews. How could he? That would be admitting his guilt. What incentive would he have to do something like that? The only incentive I can think of is an offer to remove this thread.
Stacey Tipton once chided us for trying to protect the world. Well, I've spent some time thinking about that. We are all members of a language-learning community. As members of a community, I think we have a responsibility to protect and inform each other. We've exposed a deception. Does our responsibility end right here?
The review system on Amazon is an ailing institution. When anyone can anonymously post arbitrary propaganda virtually anywhere on the site, something is wrong. But isn't that Amazon's problem?
So that's the dilemma in a nutshell. What's the right thing to do?
I have absolutely no idea.
Edited by heartburn on 03 May 2005 at 2:10am
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heartburn Senior Member United States Joined 7235 days ago 355 posts - 350 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 128 of 193 03 May 2005 at 12:58pm | IP Logged |
Wow. It sure got quiet. I didn't mean to throw a wet blanket on this thread. I was really hoping for some ideas. Well, here's one.
The nice people at Amazon must know that there is a problem with their review system. It's quite possible that they would be interested in making an example of someone who posts fraudulent reviews. It may not take much more than a few eloquently worded complaints referring to this thread, along with some well organized and annotated evidence, to get the ball rolling. At the very least, they will probably delete the remaining reviews.
Then we can keep this thread, let Amazon clean up their own mess, and feel like we've accomplished something.
How's that sound?
Edited by heartburn on 03 May 2005 at 3:35pm
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