Fri
Oct 24 2008
12:10 pm
By: Tamara Shepherd

Not to be mean-spirited on this subject, but I've actually been taking calls at home yesterday and today from people wanting to confirm the rumor...

Yes, it's true that the poster Anonymously Nine is gone from the News-Sentinel's website since Thursday, along with his "body of work."

In a conversation containing many transgressions, his most uncivil act was to post the court records of his opponent's personal bankruptcy, and to inform lookers on that they were the records of this formerly-anonymous poster with whom he happened not to agree.

Nothing more I can say about that that wouldn't be unkind.

In any event, don't bother to phone, please. I couldn't care less.

Bbeanster's picture

What?

What?
Somebody's suing him for libel?
And what's an "opponent"?
Somebody with whom he's feuding?
Court records are public and are per se not libelous, although I suppose there could be an invasion o privacy issue involved.
I am totally in the dark on this one. Perhaps he will sign on here and explain.

Tamara Shepherd's picture

I think...

Betty, I think it was that he linked the court records to the "opposing" poster, who's choice it had been to remain anonymous at the site.

Revealing that "opposing" poster's name was a violation of the N-S user agreement.

Anonymously Nine's picture

Just a little censorship...

What?
Somebody's suing him for libel?
And what's an "opponent"?
Somebody with whom he's feuding?
Court records are public and are per se not libelous, although I suppose there could be an invasion o privacy issue involved.
I am totally in the dark on this one. Perhaps he will sign on here and explain.

No one is suing me. They couldn't if they wanted to. Public domain is public domain and the truth is an absolute defense against libel. Queue the Butterfly to try to say it isn't. But then again, only the Butterfly knows what the truth is.

I wasn't feuding with anyone. I observed the Sentinel did something that wasn't good journalism. Tamara is less than truthful in her account of this.

I have no idea why my account was deleted. I have asked the News Sentinel twice what the reason was. I have had two replies from Jack Lail that might as well have been written in Braille. The replies are meaningless and unintelligible.

I am still waiting for the Sentinel to explain their bizarre actions. My guess is they will restore my account on November 5th. This is about the Charter Amendments. That "free speech" stuff can get in the way of the end game.

As far as to the complaint about "libel" or "invasion of privacy", that is completely ridiculous. It took one minute to find the information on Google. Each was a public domain document. "Shannon S" is well know to most people on KnoxViews and was/is notorious on KnoxNews having been banned three times before she made a deal with the Sentinel to play nice. I used to defend her on KnoxViews before I learned all the information. I made a mistake. No more defense for Ms. Shannon. She is big pals with Paone and Tamara. Which is so typical.

Tamara is Tamara. No surprises with her glee or her involvement. Another of Jack Mac's posse.

As far as legal action, if there is any, it will come from another direction. This is a good test case. Metulj, our friend the Butterfly, raises some interesting points that should be tested. I would like to see what the Sentinel is made of. I know they have a great attorney, but he didn't write their User Agreement. Which by the way is complete crap.

(link...)

R. Neal's picture

Damn, that's harsh. Even

Damn, that's harsh. Even when KnoxViews has a Stalinist Purge and bans people we don't get rid of their body of work, just the most abusive and offensive individual post(s) that got them banned.

Anonymously Nine's picture

Harsh, or just plain extortion?

Damn, that's harsh. Even when KnoxViews has a Stalinist Purge and bans people we don't get rid of their body of work, just the most abusive and offensive individual post(s) that got them banned.

I know of no Blog, Blab, or comment section of any newspaper anywhere that deletes every single comment from a person. It is unheard of. It is unique. It is censorship.

Two email requests to Jack Lail at the Sentinel to find out what the reason was for this extreme action have gone unanswered. I think it might have something to do with the Sentinel’s position on the Knox County Charter Amendments.

The Sentinel has had an extensive email communication with me offline for several months. More than a few threats from the Sentinel were made. I am surprised with the position they have taken. They keep changing the user agreement while at the same time they violate their own user agreement at will. They also allow some users to violate the user agreement with their approval.

At this point I can only observe that unless you play by their very narrow rules and say nothing negative about the columns and editorials everything you have ever written is at peril. It helps a great deal if you don't oppose the Charter Amendments. It is their way or the highway. They hold your work hostage unless you comply.

I notice today that commenting is down at the Sentinel. People probably wonder if it is worth the time if you have to bow to unseen censors using rules that change at will and are not uniformly enforced.

Andy Axel's picture

____________________________

____________________________

the distance between black & white is much further than i would like until now i never noticed that fascism has many disguises -d. boon, 1981

Justin's picture

What a sad little man you

What a sad little man you are.

Andy Axel's picture

Submitted for your appproval...

Digit's Law:

"As #9's interaction in a community forum becomes more involved, the probability of #9 being banned from the website approaches one."

____________________________

the distance between black & white is much further than i would like until now i never noticed that fascism has many disguises -d. boon, 1981

gttim's picture

If x = number of post made

If x = number of post made by #9, the probability of his being banned is:

Pr[#9 being banned] = x/(x+1).

WhitesCreek's picture

9's nuts. Let's not wish 9

9's nuts. Let's not wish 9 any more ill than sanity and to have to live inside his own head.

Terry Troll's picture

Taking a page from...

Maybe the KNS is taking a page from the Communists. When one fell into disfavor they ceased to exist and never had existed. I remember the Gary Trudeau strip about it. "What happened to Madame Mao? Reply; Who?" You go KNS!

smalc's picture

There is a new poster at

There is a new poster at KNS. Number6.
(link...)

Is it the one and only? Maybe at 2/3 power?

Nobody's picture

censorship

Hey BB do you believe in freedom of speech? With out it, you would be out of a job and the many men and women who have fought and died for our beliefs will have died in vain.Amazing isn't it? kind of like bill ayers calling for the cops when he needed them, trying to kill and maim them when he didn,t. This really smacks of gestapo tactics and history shows us where that leads.Bruce

Bbeanster's picture

Go back and look at what I

Go back and look at what I wrote.
I asked what's going on.

Being in attack mode 24/7 will stunt your growth.

Sam's picture

I believe Nine is

right that his censor was brought on by his been anti- KCP. The KNS violated their own rules and outed Nine by his name at least one time. I think everybody and their brother already knew his real name.

I don't believe Nine was banned for outing freechoice as ShannonS since she has a unique way of writing, etc. misspellings example "herd" for heard and other errors: anyone who has read some of her stuff recognized it instantly no matter what users name she posts under.

I believe Nine was silenced because of his anti-KCP and nothing else. If the KNS was playing fair they would remove the comments where they called nine "LP" after he went to their meeting and spoke.

Rachel's picture

If the KNS was playing fair

If the KNS was playing fair they would remove the comments where they called nine "LP" after he went to their meeting and spoke.

He's "long playing" alright.

Sam's picture

Well, according to one of the

KCP group it was love portion number nine. lol

tennesseevaluesauthority's picture

Freedom of the press belongs

Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one. -- AJ Leibling.

Anonymously Nine's picture

The worst paper ever...

I believe Nine was silenced because of his anti-KCP and nothing else.

David Keim, Assistant Editor of the Sentinel, violated the Sentinel's own rules and attempted to out me several times. A day later he removed his own post, after it was irrelevant. You would not believe the threats Keim made. During this time the Sentinel had a massive overhaul of their User Agreement. One of the changes was you must give them your real name. If you look closely the Sentinel ignores that rule for their attack dogs. Even Tamara post under another name. Shannon S is listed as "Elisabeth P". She can hide about as well as another blogger who has unique grammatical errors. I asked Keim how they planned to verify peoples names. Would they require a TDL?

This is about the Knox Charter Amendments period.

The hypocrisy and tactics of the Sentinel are a lot like those of Mayor Ragsdale. They are the champion of situational ethics. This explains why those people get along so well. Shannon S has and is harassing dozens of people in her weekly email blast which goes to both Mayors, the County Commission, and the President of the United States. After banning her three times now at the Sentinel she has made a deal with the Sentinel to be their attack dog. Team Sentinel is a strange bunch.

The User Agreement which the Sentinel has revised so many times is a one way street. It doesn't apply to the Sentinel staff or their Lieutenants.

Commenting at the Sentinel is easy. Agree with them or be censored. I wonder if they will win an award for this?

Anonymously Nine's picture

The great defender...

You used to work for the Sentinel Metulj.

(link...)

They can do no wrong in your eyes, I can do no right. So what?

Bizzy's picture

Why now?

Not that I am taking up for the Sentinel, but Nine you have been commenting on the KCP for many months. If that is truly their motivation in banning you, why now? I don't know who Shannon is, I'm not in the loop, but did you cross a line?

Anonymously Nine's picture

I have no idea...

Not that I am taking up for the Sentinel, but Nine you have been commenting on the KCP for many months. If that is truly their motivation in banning you, why now? I don't know who Shannon is, I'm not in the loop, but did you cross a line?

No line was crossed. There isn't a line to cross. The Sentinel has yet to explain their behavior so I have no idea what the complaint is. If the complaint was outing someone that is ridiculous. Their own editor David Keim outs people. Their user agreement is fiction. The Sentinel allows people to be outed all the time. Their posse get to violate the user agreement at will and are protected. It really isn't like any other place on the Internet.

The Knox Charter Petition's website links to several Sentinel editorials and stories. Now those editorials and stories have no comments from one of the major critics. It is just an easy way to purify and censor what people read.

The Sentinel knows the vote will be close. Desperate times require desperate actions. This would be a big loss for the Sentinel if the Charter Petitions fail. They want to keep the power they have left. Too many people already get their news from reliable weeklies like the Halls Shopper and the Knox Focus. Too many advertisers have gone away. This is serious business. When the Sentinel gave Knox Charter Petition $7,500 of free advertising they were all in.

Bbeanster's picture

Nine, What did you do

Nine,
What did you do regarding Shannon, and why?
Did you post court documents? If so, why would you do that?
If not, who is falsely accusing you?

Thanks in advance
BB

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