Could You Back Up Your Up-rating Accusations in Court?

This afternoon as I was browsing through content on Associated Content, I noticed yet another accusation leveled against a new content producer, implying that he had up-rated his own article and had his friends up-rate his article as well. In some ways it made me want to laugh, because the perplexity of the new content producer, evidenced by his response to the accusation, made it obvious to me that he had no idea what the person was talking about. I could just imagine the clueless look on the guy's face. It was a comical moment.

Unfortunately, however, in reality, such a response to a new content producer is a really nasty way to "welcome" someone to Associated Content, and is anything but funny. Can you imagine being brand new to Associated Content and the excitement you feel over discovering a seemingly great place to submit content, only to have people "welcome" you with false accusations? That would cause many new content producers to question what kind of place this is, anyway.

For most of us, junior high was a long time ago, but apparently some people still reside there on an emotional level. This is evidenced by people's tendency to be overly concerned with what other people are doing. They just know that people are cheating, are out to get them, and are unfair.

Of course, such accusations come from all sorts of issues. Some people are afraid of someone else getting their piece of the pie; an example of scarcity mentality at it's finest (or worst, depending on how you want to look at it). Others don't like it when people they disagree with succeed. Still others just seem to have a negative bent. And no doubt some people really believe the false accusations they are making.

Whatever the motivation of the accuser, I've wondered what would happen if people who are falsely accused begin filing lawsuits against the accusers. Would these people be able to back up their accusations in court? Do they have hard evidence for the accusations? Obviously not, if they are false. Even if they are true, people would be hard pressed to prove the accusation in court.

In my previous article, "How to Respond to False Accusations," a lawsuit wasn't one of the things I listed. Honestly, I've never sued anyone, and I can't imagine doing so now. But I certainly wouldn't cry too hard over the serial accusers being sued, if such a thing were to happen. Interestingly enough, the false accusers are relatively few in number, but their tendency to do it multiple times would make it quit easy to prove that they have a bit of a problem in this area. It would also make it quite possible for multiple people to join forces in a legal case against these accusers, should they desire to do so. The accusers may not have any hard evidence against those they have accused, but the evidence against the accusers is substantial.

Do I think that lawsuits will be filed against people who have made false accusations here at Associated Content? Personally, the pennies earned for page views would hardly make it worth the legal fees, but I would imagine some people would do it for the sake of principle.

Honestly, the main thing I'm hoping to convey in this article, is not that I think that people who have been falsely accused should file lawsuits. The real point is that if people can't back up the accusation in court, making the accusation is not the smartest thing to do. In the end, the false accusations make the accuser look stupid and desperate, and who knows, they may also one day result in a lawsuit against them.

A wiser course of action would be to put their time and energy into regularly producing killer content, rather than worrying about what everyone else is doing. Cream always rises to the top in content production as well as everything else in life. If a content producer is producing cream, they don't have to worry about whether or not someone else is cheating.